My Bad Boy Best Friend

Chapter 22: Doomed Fantasies

I did eventually return to the Crisis House. I stood in front of the house, all alone, having dropped Nick off where he'd left his car. He offered to come with but I didn't want him to be there. I had to come to terms with it. Sooner or later. I tried not to think about Nick too much. It was so fragile it almost felt doomed.

It was late. Very late. I wanted to stay the night but Nick convinced me to go back home. Or in this particular case, back to the Crisis House. I guess that made him a good influence? One who didn't quite understand why this was all so scary, but meant well.

I rang the doorbell and Uncle Jay answered almost immediately. "She's home," he called out and then hugged me. "Where's my phone, Lex?" He asked.

"Oh, me? I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Good for you, now hand my phone over." He said, pulling away.

I placed it in his hand. "Yeah and the next time you do that to your parents, you're losing your title of favorite niece."

"Why? Once wasn't enough?" I snorted.

"I'm being nice." He said, ushering me inside.

Mom, dad, Tytan and Danny we're all just sort of sitting there, starting at me. This was going to be awkward. Tytan was the only one who offered me any semblance of reassurance. Seeing him made everything better. It just did. I couldn't even properly explain it. Somehow the relief on his face made me feel relieved too. Not nearly as much as I needed but still, he was getting me there.

"Grounded," Mom said, shaking her head at me. Snapping my attention away from Tytan.

"If you sell the house, where are you even going to ground me?" I bit back. The wild rage still bubbled fiercely under my skin. And it wasn't going away.

"She's got a point." Uncle Jay said.

"Yeah, because what she just pulled is exactly the kind of thing you would do!" Dad snapped at him. I had seen him snap at Uncle Jay before just not like this. A part of me knew that it was aimed at me.

"You freaked her out and sprang a surprise on her, what did you expect?" Uncle Jay was on my side? It didn't make sense but I guess it did. Dad and him always had their differences.

"That she'd behave like an adult. Not that you'd know anything about it," Dad wasn't holding back.

"I'm going to go to my room now because you're obviously too tired to think straight." He said, walking away.

Dad sighed, "I'm sorry," he called out.

"Get your shit together!" Uncle Jay responded before slamming his door shut.

"Hey, matter at hand," mom said, passing a hand over dad's arm.

"Lex, we expected better from you," he said, looking at me.

"You shouldn't have." I shrugged.

"Do you realize why what you did was wrong?" Mom asked, disappointed. I wanted to glance over at Tytan. I needed a reprieve. But looking away would mean losing and I wasn't ready for that.

"What? You guys are never home, I never ask you anything." I didn't even know where this was coming from. But it wouldn't stop.

"You can go wherever you want to, just inform us or leave us a note or answer the phone when we call you. And yelling at us? Throwing a tantrum? It's disappointing, Lex," mom said, looking truly exhausted. She passed a hand through her blonde hair.

"It feels like we failed you in some way," dad said. Mom squeezed his arm.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure everything out with the new kid. Maybe that one can be less damaged." I was spiteful. Angry. A day of fucking Nick Lovestone had somehow not fixed this. The closest anyone had come was Tytan. With silent, soft glances my way.