I quickly glance at Lexi, whose face has turned pale as she listens. She looks at me, and I open my mouth to stop this conversation before it gets any more heated, but Lexi shakes her head slightly, her eyes now narrowing as they go to Roman and then Gray, neither of whom are aware she’s standing there.
“If you’d get over yourself for just one full minute,” Gray snaps at him with ferocity, “you’d understand that this is a team, and the whole is more important than your overinflated egotistical self.”
Roman’s face turns red with anger and he bites back at her just as fiercely, “And if you’d get off your high horse for just a minute, and quit punishing me for a variety of offenses that are in the past, you’d probably get what you want from me.”
Gray snarls something back at him, but it’s at this moment that I see Lexi’s face morph into complete frustration and disappointment and she quietly turns away from the living room, passing out of my eyesight, but I know she’s headed for the front door.
I don’t call attention to her impending exit but instead stand from my chair, which effectively causes the room to go silent.
“Where are you going?” Gray asks in quiet surprise, perhaps even a little chagrined to have indulged in this pettiness.
“Away from you two children,” I snap at her, and without another look I follow Lexi.
The foyer is already empty by the time I get there and I quietly slip out the front door, seeing her walking down the long, dark driveway, her body hunched against the icy cold.
Trotting to catch up to my daughter, I sidle in next to her as I match her pace and put an arm around her shoulder. She stops midstride and pulls away from me, turning to me with tears in her eyes.
“What in the hell is wrong with those two?” she asks angrily, and I’m buoyed by her spirit. She’s not broken. She’s pissed.
“They’re acting like brats,” I tell her simply.
“Ugh,” she says in frustration, and stomps her foot. “Why can’t they just get along for my sake? I mean, how hard is it to be nice to each other on my birthday?”
I shrug, because if I knew the answer to that, this shit show would have never happened. “I suspect they both care for you a great deal, but they’re letting their petty differences overshadow that.”
“Well, glad at least someone in this family has some common fucking sense,” she mutters, then she dips her head in apology. “Sorry…excuse my language.”
My hands come to her shoulders and I give an encouraging squeeze. “Listen, honey…this is all new and everyone’s trying to find their footing.”
“No,” she says angrily. “We’ve had weeks to come to grips with this. Weeks in which Roman’s come to care for me and weeks in which Gray has accepted a new sister into her life. They’ve had weeks to get over this shit, and I’m so damn tired of listening to them tear each other down, trying to be supportive so their opinions matter to someone, all while walking a fine line so I don’t offend them at any given time, I want to just slap the shit out of them.”
I chuckle, then I laugh, because an image of Lexi doing just that is as funny as it is appealing.
“Perhaps now is the time to make your feelings known,” I suggest to her. “Maybe you need to quit playing so nice with them.”
Something resolute filters into Lexi’s eyes and she squares her shoulders, tilting her chin, which is an exact replica of mine. “You’re right. Give me your car keys.”
“What?” I ask dumbly as I reach into my pocket.
“I’m leaving,” she says sweetly, but with a tinge of menace in her voice. “You can go back in there and tell everyone I said thanks for a lovely birthday, and in case you’re missing my meaning, that’s me being sarcastic.”
“Okay,” I say slowly as I hand her my keys. “What do you really want me to tell them?”
“Tell them to bite me,” she says as turns toward the garage that sits off to the right of the house but is attached by a glassed-in walkway. “Now, I assume you have some way to open this garage from the outside so I don’t have to walk back into that house?”
“There’s a code panel,” I tell her as I follow along behind her.
“Good,” she says, her voice now determined and making me now feel slightly sorry for both Roman and Gray for whatever lesson she’s about to teach them. “Tell them they are both forbidden from contacting me again until they work their shit out. If they can’t, then…well, tell them again to bite me and have a nice life.”
I grin to myself, because Lexi’s is too damn adorable in her ire, and yet I have no doubt she means every word she’s saying. This daughter of mine is confident enough in herself that she’s never going to settle for anything less than she deserves, and I can’t say I blame her. She deserves the world.
Within minutes, I’ve got the garage opened, accepted a fiercely hard hug from Lexi, and watch as she drives my vintage Jaguar—which I never let anyone drive—away from her family, her man, and her birthday party. When the headlights are out of sight, I turn back to my house with a determined step.
It’s time for Brian Brannon to say what’s on his mind now.
Chapter 27
Roman