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Graham leaned on the arm of the couch, remaining by my side while everyone told me everything they’d been up to in the past twenty-four hours, amazing me to no end. “What can I do to help?” I repeated, but they waved off my insistence that I make myself useful somehow.
Graham placed his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe we should go. Let them do their thing.”
The front door opened before I could respond, revealing Gabby, Katrina and Rachel with baskets filled with my clothing, all folded in neat little piles. Gabby dropped the laundry basket on the floor and ran to me, scooping me up off the couch in a hug I reminded myself would be abnormal to resist. I would get good at hugging, so help me. Ezra would be so proud if he could see me now. “Oh, kid! We’ve been so worried about you! Jessica and I were blowing up your phone until the voice mailbox came back full. How are you? Sit down already! You’ve just been through the worst of the worst.”
I didn’t have it in me to explain that I’d only stood because she’d hefted me up for the hug. “I’m fine. I can’t believe you’re all here, cleaning my house. I don’t know what to do with the shock of that on its own. It’s so sweet of you guys. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it. Really, you’re all wonderful for this.”
Gabby pulled me up and hugged me again. “We’ve been so worried! I mean, how awful, right? Did they catch the bastards who did this to you?” Before I could answer, she called into the bedroom, “Ollie! Could you bring me Bait’s hairbrush?”
Ollie worked out a strained, “I’m kinda in the middle of something, Gabby. It’s in the bathroom in the second drawer.”
“We’re going to give you a makeover,” Rachel gushed, taking the next hug. “You’ll feel so much better when you don’t look like death warmed over.”
I was overcome with several urges that I knew I couldn’t act on. I wanted to punch Rachel square across the face for telling me I looked like death when I’d just had death cuddled up in my arms. I wanted to run from the prospect of a makeover that I knew would involve instrumentation and a whole big show. I wanted to rage against the machine and rant that I didn’t owe being beautiful to my own house. It didn’t matter what I looked like; I was grieving.
The doctor had warned me about postpartum depression and mood swings and whatnot upon being discharged from the hospital. Maybe I should’ve paid better attention to him. I’d gone from weeping in public, to hugging Jordan, to chewing on my venomous rage at something that probably wasn’t actually all that offensive. Gabby loved me, so I smiled up at her as best I could and simmered my tart response down to a quiet, “Sure. That’s real nice of you guys. Thanks.”
Graham sat on the arm of the couch next to me and scooped up my hand, pulling hard to keep me from laying out my girlfriends in one misguided blow. “Now, now. My sister’s lovely even without her hair fashioned.”
I leaned my head to his hip, sighing as I deflated. Despite my aversion to pulling when we weren’t reaping, I was grateful for Graham. “Thank you. I needed that.”
“I know, darling. Take it one moment at a time.” Graham squeezed my hand twice.
“I’m glad you’re here. You’re a good big brother.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Katrina saddled up beside Gabby, sizing up the new British meat. “And who are you?”
“Graham Vandershot, Miss. Ezra sent me to look after October for the day.”
“Vandershot, eh? Von’s brother? You sure are a handholding kind of family. Bait practically runs away when we try to hug her, but she’s got Von’s family on a leash. First Von, then Boston, and now you.” She let out a throaty laugh that had the edge of bitterness slicing through it. I’d made the capitol offense – gotten close to the new guy without letting Katrina take him for a spin first. The urge to lash out irrationally and punch her flooded me. I’d never felt so unbalanced, so ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. It was a thing of fortune that Graham held tight to my hand.
Graham’s polite smile stayed in place. “I’ll not argue with that. Boston and I love our little sister. She takes care of us every bit as much as we look after her.”
Katrina’s simpering smile told me she’d never cared about me, not that I was surprised at that. She’d been nice to me in the past because I was a kid to her – no competition at all. Now that her conquests and future toys looked my way? I was a threat that apparently needed to be neutralized. She was the Queen Bee of the group, and everyone knew to scatter when she pounced. “That’s nice. Von’s not with you?” She looked around to verify that the guy she’d slept with a few times wasn’t there. “I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s a lot to deal with. Getting engaged because of the baby, and then when there’s no baby, he takes off on you.”
Gabby and Rachel gasped, looking to my face for confirmation of the horror that I’d been jilted. Jordan threw his hands up in the air. “Jeez, Katrina. Retract the claws. Bait’s just a kid. You don’t need to pick on her like this just because Von passed you over for her. Your boobs are still amazing, your legs are still smoking, and you know, pretend I said all the other things you need to hear to know you’re still the center of the universe.”
I didn’t feel the need to defend myself or Von to her, but Graham sure as Sunday did. I shifted closer to Jordan when Graham slid down from the arm of the couch to squeeze in next to me. “Von and October are to be married, just as they were before. He didn’t ask her to marry him because she got pregnant. They’re very much in love.” Graham held my hand up to display my audacious ring as proof. The square-shaped diamond sparkled, announcing to the world that I was one-hundred percent off the market.
Katrina’s eyes bulged, and she actually stumbled back a few steps. She fell off her game momentarily, but pounced again with vengeance. “Nice how they can make cubic zirconia as big as they like without the guy having to put out hardly any extra cash.”
Graham’s nose crinkled. “It’s a real diamond, of course. My brother wouldn’t skimp on something as important as her engagement ring.” His arm draped around my shoulder, pulling me tight to him as if to shield me from the verbal attack. In that moment, I didn’t resist the shelter Graham provided. My head rested against his collarbone, and he held my hand to his chest to keep my ring clearly displayed. “Is this girl actually your friend, darling?” Graham glared protectively out at the woman who verbally attacked me, and the other two women who let it happen. I finally saw clearly why Ollie had never taken that next step with Gabby. Ollie would fight to the death for something he loved. Ollie was a fighter. Gabby was a follower.
I didn’t answer. The whole showdown had taken place without me having to say much of anything. Just like the Manas, existing had been enough to warrant an attack, and I was tired of the fight. I remember battling against a zombie army once upon a time. Now I could barely hold my chin up through a catty slice at my morale. I tried to remind myself that I was grieving, and that I’d get my moxie back when I was ready.
Katrina forced out another throaty laugh. “Oh, we’re just playing. Bait knows I’m only kidding.” She paused, taking in our body language that had me tucked in Graham’s arms like a shell-shocked kitten. “Looks like someone should tell Von he’s got some competition from the home court.”
Ollie barked from behind me, making everyone in the house jump. “Katrina! Knock it off. If you want to have sex with Graham, you don’t need to run my sister down to do it.”
Graham’s mouth fell open that he was the source of Katrina’s steady needling. “I... Um... I’m sure I don’t...” He clung to my hand now to steady himself, and I was grateful he didn’t desert me when his pure intentions were brought into question. “Perhaps we should go out for lunch and come back later.” Graham stood, gently tugging me up next to him. He turned to Ollie and jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward Katrina. “When we come back, I trust you’ll have escorted this one out?”
“Are you serious? I just got done doing her laundry! Newsflash: if you want to keep Von around, I’d invest in some lacier underwear. I mean, when Von was with me, my panties barely stayed on. But still, for show and all. Might want to upgrade.”
“You’ll not have a laugh at my sister’s expense!” Graham roared, clutching me tight to his chest in the middle of the living room, like I was something precious. I felt used and worn down, like a tool meant to be abused until it lost its will to serve its purpose. But somehow Graham didn’t see me like that. In his arms, I was a prize, haggard and beaten by life as I was.
Katrina was astonished, and I understood why. I was the quiet one in the group who didn’t make a fuss about much. Now fuss was being made for me, and I wasn’t the joke anymore. I was an actual woman. Not a kid. Not Bait. A legit woman who could be friends with a man without jumping in the sack with him.
Graham turned back to Katrina with his chin in the air and his arm around me. “October’s the lady of this house. You’ll not set foot in this place again after going to such lengths to insult my sister. She just lost her child. All you lost was a casual fling. You’ll not trouble my sister again with your foolishness.”
Katrina scoffed, looking around at Gabby and Rachel, who had taken a step back from the lightning bolt-sized wrath she was incurring. “Are you seriously trying to tell me what to do? These are my people, you foreigner. This is how we do things. If Bait wants to play with the big girls, this is how low we swing.”
Graham kissed my fingers when I tried to offer up a weak protest. “It’s really fine, Graham. It’s just how it is.”
He leveled his gaze at me and said his words like a promise, loud enough for everyone to hear. “You are not a joke, and I’ll not stand for you being insulted in your own home. You’re a queen.” My heart lifted at his grand words that only had sincerity and kindness to them. Then he turned Katrina around, and marched her out the front door. He didn’t pause when she scrambled for retorts that were mingled with desperate apologies. For all his gentlemanly ways, Graham shoved Katrina through the front door and locked her out, ignoring her fists that pounded for us to let her back in. “Does anyone else want to make jokes about my sister who just lost her daughter? Or are you all here to be good friends and help the girl you care for?”
Ollie clapped in appreciation, and Darius pointed his finger at Graham. “I like you, man. You ever need a job, you come see me.”
“No,” I warned Darius. Graham wouldn’t go near Judge’s empire.
Graham kept his hands pressed together while he spoke. “While I’m clearing the air, I don’t much care for the nickname Bait. My sister’s not here for your amusement, nor is she a lure for mindless men. She’s a prize, so if you can get onboard with being respectful and kind, you can stay. Ollie would love to have help from people who actually respect all our sister’s been through.”
My lower lip trembled, and I knew I was seconds away from another waterfall. A solitary tear dripped down my cheek, burning a trail of humiliation for all to see. “I really do appreciate you guys helping fix up the house. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Are you kidding me?” Gabby said, her smile trying to break the tension. “After all the times we trashed it? It’s the least we could do.”
I didn’t argue with her there.
“Let’s let them surprise us with how good they can be to you. How about I take you out for lunch?” Graham coiled his arm around my back as he escorted me out past a red-faced Katrina, who called me all the dirty names she’d been holding back. Each insult stuck to me like an arrow, sinking into my skin and leaving a mark.