Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 174544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 698(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 698(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“It’s Donnelly,” Kinney says with bite. “He hurt her.”
No.
The word is lost inside my swollen throat. I start to shake my head, and Farrow looks out at Kinney like she’s so wrong. Thank you!
“He’d never hurt Luna,” Farrow says like it’s unfathomable.
She humphs, arms still crossed.
His brows rise. “He’d sooner hurt himself, Kinney.”
She snaps, “You’re just saying that because he’s your friend.”
“No, I’m saying that because I know my friend.”
“But you don’t know what he did!” Kinney charges forward, and our dad puts a hand on her bony shoulder, stopping her in place. “He was in her room! And then he left, and she looked…she was…” She lets out a frustrated, upset huff. “We don’t know what he did, okay? He could’ve broken her heart or made some kind of unconsented move on her.”
“Whoa,” Farrow cuts in with arched brows. “Let’s take a giant step back here.”
“I’m not talking to you. You’re biased. Dad.” She rotates to our dad, who has been gazing out the ajar window like Donnelly might still be on the roof. It’d be too much to hope he’s wishing for Donnelly’s peaceful existence. It’s more likely he’s hoping he can drag him back inside and grill him.
“Luna and Donnelly are friends,” Xander pipes in before our dad can. “I’m with Farrow—he wouldn’t hurt her. This is probably about her fics.”
“You’re biased too.” Kinney turns on him. “Donnelly is your bodyguard. Dad is the only rational one here.”
Xander groans. “You’re always going to take Dad’s side.”
Kinney glares. “No, I’m taking Luna’s side. Our sister. I know a broken heart when I see one because mine has been pulverized. What has yours been? Fully intact. Never toyed with. No signs of scar tissue. Nothing.”
Xander stares deeper into Kinney. “So what?”
“So you would think this has to do with her fics because the media is your horror, but heartbreak is hell. And to quote one of your fictional favorites, ‘You. Know. Nothing.’”
Xander’s chest collapses.
The Game of Thrones reference lingers tensely in the air.
“Kinney,” Dad says a quiet reprimand, his hand still on her shoulder.
“What?” She twists her head to him. “It’s true, Dad. She has to be upset about Donnelly. I just know something happened, and we’re just going to do nothing?! Let’s hunt him down.” No. “Threaten his stupid mortal life and the lives of his future ugly children.” No. “That’s the least we could do—”
No! I splinter open. “He didn’t do anything except want to be with me!” I shout with everything inside my heart, my throat searing and scratched.
“What?” Kinney squeaks out, jaw unhinged.
Xander goes motionless, his hands on the headphones at his neck.
Mom with her broom and Maximoff with his son are in the doorway. Not sure how long they’ve been here, but Baby Ripley is perched on my brother’s waist. The one-year-old is totally quiet looking from Farrow to Moffy, as though his dads have the answer to the strangeness of tonight.
My cheeks feel warm again, and I imagine they’re beet-red and tear-splotched. But I pick myself off the ground, Farrow right behind me. All this time, I’ve felt protective over Donnelly. Over us. Over what we share together.
And I can’t let anyone in my family think the worst of him.
I just can’t.
I’d rather they know the painful truth. “He didn’t do anything except want to be with me,” I tell them more clearly.
“And you didn’t want to be with him?” Kinney asks with confusion. She glances to Dad. “We still might need to hunt him down.”
“What?” our mom’s eyes widen at our dad like the witch hunt was erected in her absence. And I guess it kinda was, but not by him. “There are no hunts of people. This isn’t The Hunger Games.”
“Thank you, Lily,” Farrow says.
“But it could be,” Kinney notes.
“Oh my God,” Farrow mutters and then looks at Moffy like, your sister, man.
Maximoff scrunches his brows. “Why would we hunt down Donnelly? He’s a good person.”
Kinney glowers at him. “You’ve been absent for half the conversation. So don’t come in here thinking you know what’s going on.”
“Jesus, Kinney. I’m just trying to understand.”
“And I’m just trying to protect Luna!” She throws up her hands. “What are you all doing?! Dad is with me at least. Dad.” She turns to him again.
“Shelve the pitchforks, Kinney,” he says gently and more quietly than softly, but then again, my dad’s voice is almost never soft.
“Not pitchforks. A sharpened knife.”
He squeezes her shoulder. “Shelve the knives, battleaxes, all weapons. We’re not pointing them at Paul Donnelly.”
It takes me aback. The certainty of his voice. Is he really not against Donnelly anymore?
Kinney frowns. She’s searching for an adversary of my broken heart. In the battle of good and evil, Kinney needs the villain of all villains to attack. “But Dad—”
“If you want to point a blade at someone, it’s going to be me—not him.”