20

I DON’T KNOW WHY I expect my life to be easy peasy. Nothing ever goes as planned.

“Who’s this?” Mick asks as I walk into the family room with Alissa next to

me.

Arranging my face to look as cool as possible, I gesture to the couch. “Go

ahead and have a seat, Alissa. Rebel and Teagan will be right up.” She looks at Mick with a tiny smile and then follows my orders.

“Mick, this is Alissa. Alissa, this is Mick. He’s Rebel’s brother.” Mick walks over and holds out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” she says, giving him what looks like a very limp handshake. “Can I get you a drink of water or something?” he asks.

“Sure,” she says. “That would be nice, thank you.”

He turns towards the kitchen and frowns at me when he’s no longer facing Alissa. “Can I talk to you for a sec’, Quin?”

I shrug. “Sure.” Alissa’s already been through enough crap for one day. I don’t want to make a scene in front of her by arguing with Mick, so I follow him. Besides, I still need to apologize about twenty times