10. Penelope

10

PENELOPE

THREE YEARS AGO

“ L inc!” I burst through the front door of the Sterlings’ massive home. I never do that, but I’m furious. I could kill him. How could he do that to me?

“Lincoln Sterling! Get down here!” I shout up the stairs from the family room.

Colt comes out of the kitchen, holding a sandwich, looking horrified by my crazy shouting. “Pea? What’s wrong?”

“Where’s your brother?”

“Upstairs.” He walks to me, concern dripping from him. “What’s going on? Why are you so upset?”

I don’t answer him, I just fly up the stairs in a fit of rage, pushing open Linc’s bedroom door and busting in. He’s sitting on his bed, looking at his cellphone, but he doesn’t look all that surprised to see me.

The asshole probably heard me screaming downstairs and just sat here in wait.

“What’s wrong, P?”

I glare at him, one hand on my hip, annoyed with his cavalier act. “You know what’s wrong.”

“Well, I don’t.” Colt takes my hand in his, urging me to face him, but I don’t. I stay focused on Linc.

“What the hell were you thinking? You beat him up?”

Colt looks over at his brother in shock. “You did what? Who? Her foster father?”

Now, I know with certainty Colt wasn’t involved in this. Although, I was pretty sure before his face showed me how shocked he is. How could Linc do this? I asked him not to, but when I sat down to dinner tonight, my foster father’s face was beat to hell. And not just a black eye but also a broken nose and a swollen cheek.

Linc just sits on his bed, his legs out straight, unbothered by my anger.

Releasing my hand, Colt takes a step closer to his brother. “You assaulted someone? How the hell could you do that?’

Linc’s eyes lift slowly to Colt’s face, his voice cold and low, “How could you not do that?”

Colt stands straighter. “She asked me not to do anything. I promised her. That’s so like you, Linc. So reckless.”

Now Linc rises from his bed and moves right into Colt’s face. “One day, you’re going to have to branch out and stop doing only what they expect you to do.” He leans in close, and I see Colt tense. “You’re going to have to grow a pair.”

“Oh, like you, Linc? Drinking and partying all the time? Sleeping with anything that moves? All just to give Mom and Dad the finger?”

I can’t stand to watch them fight. Linc and Colt are a true conundrum. They’d die for each other if they don’t kill each other first.

“At least I’m not too afraid to use my dick, Colt.”

Linc’s eyes slide to me in a challenge, and I know it was to rile Colt up, but it hits me too. Our conversation in the kitchen on Colt’s birthday comes to mind. It’s as if Colt has positioned me on a pedestal, keeping me clean and in as in pristine of condition as he can. Linc, he’s different. I feel like he’s always trying to pull me down and make me as dirty as I feel I am.

“Stop.” I stand next to Colt, looking at Linc. “How could you do that? I wasn’t trying to hint that I wanted you to help me. I wasn’t begging you for help because I was too afraid to seek help myself. I didn’t want to report it because I don’t want to move.”

“That’s bullshit, P. You can’t fucking stay in a place where they beat you up.”

“There are worse things, Linc.” I fight the shudder threatening to run through me as I look in his eyes, thinking about those worse things.

His eyes darken. I hate how he looks at me, as if he sees the real Penelope, the one I’ve been trying to bury deep for years. “What’s worse than getting beat up? And why are you so scared?”

I can feel Colt’s curious eyes on me. If he knew the real me, the things I’ve seen and the way I grew up, he wouldn’t look at me in the same way. It’s not his fault. Colt is just so positive and good, and he grew up in a good home. He wouldn’t understand, and it’s why I don’t often talk about my life.

I glare at Linc. The only time I talk about my life is when he pushes me to. “Don’t worry about it? I cannot believe you. What if he presses charges?”

Linc doesn’t miss a beat, his privileged life a precursor for all his bad behavior. “My father’s lawyers will handle it before he makes it to the police station. And I let him know that.”

“Jesus, Linc.” Colt runs his hand through his soft, brown waves. “It still wasn’t your place.”

“You’re right, little brother.” Again with the male dominance game, Linc crowds Colt’s body that has recently caught up to his size. They’re evenly matched now. “It should have been you.”

“Linc . . . don’t,” I warn because I see the fire in his eyes. I know he won’t hold back, and things are quickly getting out of control.

“She asked me not to. I respect her enough to trust her.”

“Bullshit. We all know it wouldn’t have stopped. He would have done it again. Or even worse, what if he comes in drunk and horny?” He nods in my direction. “You think P isn’t going to look good to him then?”

“Don’t talk about her that way.”

“Your girlfriend has developed into a fine piece of ass, Colt. You’re going to have to grow a fucking pair and keep men away from her.”

Before I can get one word in or even call Linc an asshole for his description of me, Colt lunges at his brother, knocking him to the floor and throwing a fist that Linc dodges.

This is not good at all. I’ve seen them wrestle before, but this is driven by rage.

Colt throws another fist, and this time, it lands on Linc’s jaw before Linc punches him in the stomach and pushes him off, but Colt jumps back at him as Linc stands up. I do the only thing I can do. I move right between the two brothers, hoping I don’t get punched in the face, but not caring because I can’t watch them kill each other.

“Stop!” I shout as Colt pulls his arm back and thank God stops the trajectory of his fist before he connects.

“Pea, move.”

“No. This isn’t about you two assholes. Stop this. Now.”

“This has been brewing for a while, P.”

I turn to Linc. “Don’t do this. You had no right to go after my foster father. End of story.”

Colt is out of breath, and I hear Linc panting with rage from behind me. I lock eyes with my boyfriend, begging him to stop this. I’ve never seen him act like this before, and it’s frightening. He’s always so calm and under control.

I turn back to Linc, his face already swelling where Colt hit him. Part of me wants to bruise the other cheek. “Do not fuck this up for me, Linc.”

“Fuck what up for you, P? A home where you’re getting beat up?”

“Like I said, there are worse things.”

“What the fuck could be worse than that?”

“Just drop it.” I turn back to Colt. Standing a foot from him, I brush his cheek with a kiss. “I’ll see you later.”

“Pea.” He takes my hand in his. “You don’t have to stay there.”

I’m so furious at Linc for pushing this, for showing up at my house. I just needed a day or two more to heal. “I’m okay, Colt. It’s fine. Two more years, and I’m free.”

The worry won’t shake from his face, and I hate the concern I see there. I look at Linc, so fucking angry I could scream. “Stay away from where I’m living. Stay out of my life.”

His eyes darken, and I see the challenge in them.

“I mean it, Linc.”

I turn and leave his room, feeling angry and embarrassed and unsure how to handle it without imploding.

I catch the bus and go to the only other place I love as much as the Sterling house.

I need to fix the distorted image.