Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 9) by Addison Moore Page B

around me once again.
    “I don’t care about all of this bullshit anymore. I just want us to be a family again. If Mom and Dad can’t pull it together, I think at least we should.”
    “I agree.”
    Knox groans while staring me down. He’s been a bit harder on me than Trixy these days. As much as I’ve tried to protect our mother, he’s fiercely guarded our father.
    “Don’t look at me like that,” I plead with him. The three of us were always close. I’m with my sister. Enough of this bullshit already.
    “Like what?” He gives an indifferent shrug. His biceps bulge as he flexes. He’s grown out of that lanky little boy body and has beefed up enough to where he could play for WB when it’s time. He’s already starring on his high school team. I’ve told him so a dozen times already, but he keeps refusing. Knox loves football as much as I do, and I have a feeling the only thing keeping him from pursuing football at WB is me.
    “Stop looking at me like you hate me.” There, I said it. I cut that wound open with the serrated, rusted blade of the truth, and it feels damn good even if I understand that we might die from the infection.
    “Then stop acting like you hate the rest of us,” he barks back. “Dad didn’t do anything to Mom on purpose. He didn’t set her up for the fall like she thinks he did. He feels bad about what happened.”
    “Then try to open up to her. She says you both give her the cold shoulder. She can’t get but a couple of words from the two of you. Somebody has to show her the affection she deserves.”
    Trixy buries her head in her hands a moment. “I will. I don’t want to be like this anymore. I miss her. Even though we physically see one another, she’s right. I’ve pulled away. I’ve let all of this bullshit poison me.” She pulls me into a deep embrace. “I’ll change.” The chlorine from her hair stings my eyes, and I welcome the burn in an effort to shelter the tears.
    “Thanks. I know she’ll like that.” I nod over to my brother. “We’ll get together soon. Everything will work out. You’ll see.”
    “It will,” he says it stern as if he doesn’t really believe it.
    I’m not so sure I believe it either.
    I hop into my truck and stare at my phone a moment before shooting a text off to Scarlett. We were in a study group together last fall for Spanish II, thus the number exchange. She was the redheaded señorita all of the boys couldn’t stop drooling over. We didn’t say more than a few words to each other because at that point it was painfully clear our parents were an item. In fact, we’ve spent the rest of the school year being less than friendly toward one another for exactly that reason.
    Where are you? We need to talk. I wait a few minutes, and sure enough, she fires right back.
    Deep in the woods. Don’t bother looking for me. We have nothing to say.
    This doesn’t surprise me. Scarlett is obsessed with archery. I learned this first from my mother’s intro last summer, and I’ve witnessed it a few times during the unpleasant forced gatherings we’ve had thrust upon us.
    In the woods. Huh. Near the Witch’s Cauldron? The least she can do is give me a hint.
    Maybe.
    I start the engine and head out in that direction. “All right, Little Red. I’m coming to find you.”

    * * *
    N o sooner do I hit the Witch’s Cauldron than I spot Scarlett’s black Jeep tucked in a clearing not too far from the start of the trailhead. I hop out as the blazing sun baptizes me with its fiery glory. The sharp scent of jasmine and the woodsy evergreens takes over my senses, and that alone has the power to make me feel lighter than air. The thousand-pound burden of my parents’ nightmare magically releases from my shoulders as if this elevation has the power to cure anything that ails me.
    “ Shit .” The hiss of a female voice comes from my left, so I make my way around a couple of scrub oaks, only to find Little Red herself reloading an arrow onto her