Page 29 of The Road Back to Us

Slowly, she turned on her heel and faced his friends. I had to cough into my hand to hide my laughter when I saw the terrified looks on their faces as she took a few steps and approached them.

“I’m guessing that you two are the friends he made a bet with about sleeping with my niece?” Lyric asked, crossing her arms over her chest. I pulled Kara closer to me and wrapped an arm over her shoulders protectively as she trembled slightly.

“I asked you a question,” Lyric said with a tone that had me standing at attention.

“Yes, ma’am,” they both murmured before lowering their heads.

“I see. Well, as you probably already know, my niece is not the slightest bit interested in Tommy, or either of you. If I were you, I would seriously question your friendship with him because nothing good is going to come of it. If I find out that any of you do anything to make Kara uncomfortable, I will come down here and deal with you myself. You don’t get to look at her or even talk to her without her permission. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I grinned so hard that my cheeks hurt, but I had never been more proud of Lyric than I was today. It was hard to believe she ever doubted herself in this role, because she was fucking killing it when it came to parenting and protecting these kids.

“Good. I’m glad we have that settled. I would really hate to hear that Kara had any trouble at school, so let’s not let that happen. Okay?”

They both nodded, their heads shaking so hard I worried they might fall off.

Lyric turned back to Tommy and pinned him with another look.

“Stay the fuck away from Ben and Kara, or I will be back to finish what I started,” Lyric said, giving him the most motherly look I had ever seen. “And clean up your face. You’re getting blood everywhere.”

She turned and walked off, heading to the truck as Kara and I followed behind her.

Twenty-Seven

Lyric

My whole body felt like it was going to explode as the adrenaline started to wear off. Kara and Cole had been talking the whole ride home, but I didn’t say anything. I was too busy processing what had just happened and was stressing about what legal ramifications I might face for punching a student. I knew that he was over eighteen, which made him an adult, but he was still a student at the school, and I had already pissed off the principal.

We pulled up in front of the house and waited for Cole to put the truck in park when the front door opened and Ben and Chloe came out to greet us.

“What the hell happened?” Ben said, grinning from ear to ear as he held his phone up. “My phone has been blowing up with news of Tommy getting his ass beat by some crazy lady.”

“Crazy lady?” I asked, masking the rising panic bubbling up inside of me with a laugh. “They think I’m a crazy lady?”

“I wouldn’t call you crazy,” Cole said with a grin. “Pissed off, definitely. Protective, absolutely. But not crazy.”

“Aunt Lyric punched Tommy and made his lip bleed,” Kara announced as we all walked into the house. “Then she threatened Kason and Clark. I thought they were gonna piss their pants, they were so scared of her.”

“You punched Tommy?” Ben asked in disbelief as I set my phone and purse on the counter and turned to face him.

I nodded, trying to find the right words to say when he reached in and hugged me.

Cole caught it as he closed the door, stopping to take in the moment as my heart hammered in my chest. I knew Ben wasn’t my biggest fan when I first showed up in Willow Falls, so this level of unsolicited affection surprised me. He was hugging me because he wanted to, not because he had to.

He pulled away and studied my face as I smiled softly at him.

“Yeah, it wasn’t the best idea, but it kinda just happened.” I shrugged, hating that all of the attention was on me as they all stopped what they were doing and watched me.

“It’s not nice to hit,” Chloe said as Cole picked her up and put her on the counter as he stood behind her.

“I know, sweetie. You’re right, it’s not nice to hit. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Sometimes people have to do things that aren’t nice because that’s how we protect ourselves and our family,” Cole said, smiling down at her. “Aunt Lyric was protecting Ben and Kara from a bully and making sure he wouldn’t try to hurt them again.”

“Yay! Aunt Lyric! You’re my hero,” Chloe sang happily as she clapped her hands.

“I’m no hero,” I said with a smile, not wanting to break her heart. “I just did what needed to be done.”