Broken kingdom

Three sets of eyes widen in surprise. 

“What do you mean it was you?” my dad questions. 

“Well,” I start. “I found Oakley’s weed and set it on fire in the bathtub.” I hold up a finger. “In my defense, I didn’t know the tub was made of fiberglass.” 

That was definitely a not-so-pleasant surprise. 

Mouth agape, my dad stares at me. 

“Dude,” Cole comments. “Not cool.” 

Jace pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why the hell did you do that?”

I shrug. “Because he pissed me off.” 

Looking up at the sky, my dad sighs. “Bianca, sweetheart, you could have seriously hurt yourself and others.” 

Batting my eyelashes, I put on my sweetest, most i

My act works because he totally melts, and my brothers concede. 

I can practically feel Oakley’s broody gaze boring holes into me. 

Fortunately, the firefighters come to the rescue. 

“The bathroom is destroyed, but the fire is out and everything else is intact.” 

“Thank you,” my dad tells them. “I appreciate it.” He looks at Oakley. “I’ll be away on business this week, but I’ll hire a crew to rebuild the bathroom while I’m gone.” He takes out his phone. “In the meantime, you can take one of the spare bedrooms in the house.” 

I can tell Oakley wants to argue, but he’s in no position to. 

Turns out my plan worked even better than I expected.