A fractured fairytale

49

Rose didn't let go of my hand the whole way home and I certainly wasn't complaining. I was content to hold onto her, especially after today. I didn't know what I would have done if something had happened to her. It didn't bear thinking about.

Dad was right, mom made a huge fuss when we got home. She was in tears as soon as we walked through the door and as soon as she laid eyes on my blood-soaked bandage, she broke into full on sobs. I reassured her over and over and over again that I was fine but she just held onto me and cried like I was dead or something.

"Mom, seriously, I'm completely fine."

She shook her head. "You got shot."

I scoffed. "I didn't get shot, it just grazed over me as I jumped out the way." I rubbed her back, trying to calm her down but it didn't seem to be working. "Remember when I got the flu when I was a kid?" I asked her.

She sniffed and wiped her cheeks while nodding. "Well, that was way worse than this. I promise, it doesn't even hurt that much."

"Well, I'm checking on you every hour and we need to change your bandages pretty often and keep an eye on it." She turned to where my dad was standing, arms folded over his chest, watching us in amusement. Any traces of humour wiped off his face, though, when she pinned him with a look. "We don't want it getting infected like that soldier of yours who had to have his arm amputated."

The smirk flickered back across his face. "Baby, the bullet went through his arm and it was weeks before he had it treated. I don't think that's going to happen to Matteo."

Mom only rolled her eyes. "Well, you better hope it doesn't because I'll never, ever have sex with you again if something happens to Matty."

This time, he barked out a laugh while I cringed. "Please don't mention my name in a sentence about you two having sex," I begged, turning away from the look in my dad's eye. It got him all riled up when mom made a fuss of us and I didn't need to see it at all. Neither did Rose. "We're going upstairs," I told them, taking her hand and darting off before they stripped and started going at it right there in the kitchen.

"They're insatiable," I grumbled when I shut the bedroom door behind us.

She laughed. It was absolutely my favourite sound and I couldn't hold myself back from kissing her. Her lips curved upwards when I did. "Guess that's where you get it from."

I rolled my eyes and pulled her closer. It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with how fucking tempting she was all the damn time. Nobody would be able to resist kissing her, I was just lucky I got to her first. The thought of anyone else getting to feel this had me pulling her even closer.

A knock at the door had us pulling apart.

I groaned. "Yeah?"

I was expecting my mom to walk in, just to check I was alright during the walk from the kitchen to my bedroom, but instead, it was Vi who pushed the door open. She kept her head down, eyes trained on the floor, hair hanging partially over her face. She shifted from one foot to another and through the strands of hair, I saw her pull her lower lip between her teeth.

"Can we talk?" she asked softly, glancing up long enough for me to see her eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them red and puffy.

I squeezed Rose's hand before nodding and following my sister out the room. My stomach churned as I did. It had been a while since we'd had a civil conversation, but she was clearly still worked up after the shooting. We stepped into her room and I shut the door behind me. Chris and Em had a habit of eavesdropping and I didn't want them hearing this conversation.