I place my hand gently on her back. “You’re showing off your cookie, sweets.”
“Oh.” She drops her hand and props it on her hip instead. “You still don’t get to tell me what to do, Alex.”
“What are you two even doing here? Since when have I ever said it was okay to use my condo as a fuck pad?”
“We came here to talk.”
“Yeah, well, that sure as hell didn’t look like talking to me. Butterson, put some damn clothes on!”
“Don’t talk to Miller like that!” Sunny shouts.
“It’s my damn condo. I’ll talk to him however I want to. Get dressed, Sunny. I’m taking you home.”
“I’m not going home with you, Alex.”
“You don’t think so?” he challenges.
“You wanna be belligerent with me, you go right ahead, Waters. But don’t think I’m gonna let you talk to Sunny like that.” I grab my pants from the floor and jam my legs into them.
“No one is fighting!” Sunny shouts.
Waters puffs out his chest like he’s getting ready to take me on. Sunny streaks over and gets right in his face. She’s shaking. “I am so done with this overprotective crap. I’m almost twenty-one. I can make my own decisions, and that includes what I do and who I do it with.”
“It doesn’t include fucking on my damn couch.”
“Are you even serious with this, Alex? How much of a hypocrite can you be? You had sex with Miller’s sister in your team locker room during a game! Everyone walked in on it! Everyone! The whole team talked about it for weeks!” She pauses to breathe. “And we weren’t fucking! We were having make-up sex because you keep interfering and messing up my damn life.”
Waters looks shocked, whether because of the outburst, Sunny swearing, or her standing up to him I can’t be sure, but I want to snap a picture of the look on his face and frame it.
“I’m not trying to mess up your life; I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt.”
“How are you keeping me from getting hurt?”
“I—”
She cuts him off. It’s epic. “By trying to run my life? By overreacting every time you see a picture of Miller with anyone but me? By breaking my boyfriend’s nose? You’re not protecting me, Alex, you’re being an a-hole. Have you even apologized to Miller for what you did?”
His lips mash into a thin line, his eyes darting to me and back to Sunny.
She throws her hands in the air, and we narrowly miss another beaver shot. “Honestly! You promised you’d apologize!”
Waters shoves his hands in his pockets. “I haven’t had a chance.”
“Well, here he is.” She gestures to me. “The opportunity is yours.”
Waters stares at a spot above my head. “I’m sorry I broke your face.” He doesn’t sound like he means it. Not even a little.
Sunny calls him on it. “That’s the worst apology ever. Try again.”
He heaves a sigh and runs a hand through his hair. This time he looks me in the eye. “I’m sorry for being an asshole.”
Sunny motions for him to keep going.
“And for breaking your nose.”
When it’s clear she expects more, he rolls his head on his shoulders. “And for interfering. I just want what’s best for Sunny. She’s my only sister. Up until I met Violet, I wasn’t a very good role model. I guess maybe I was trying to make up for it, and I took it too far. I know you care about her, Miller. I can see that. I haven’t been very fair. So, yeah. I’m sorry. Can we call a truce?”
He steps forward and holds out his hand. I meet him halfway, then think about where my fingers have been. “Uh, maybe props would be better.” I make a fist and hold it up.
His brow furrows, and then he makes this face. He gets what I mean. “I had that coming, didn’t I?”
“After the locker room? You sure fucking do.”
We bump fists.
“See? That wasn’t so bad was it? I mean, you’re gonna be brothers anyway, so you might as well start getting along, right?” Sunny gives Waters a quick hug and then throws her arms around my neck.