Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,34

table, Willow beamed up at Mason and announced, "It was the best day, ever."

I did a double-take. It hadn't seemed so great to me. Other than the tense encounter with Veronica, Willow's day had been pretty standard. Or at least, she'd said nothing to indicate otherwise.

With a dubious look, Mason said, "That good, huh?"

Willow's smile only widened. "Oh, yeah. We saw Veronica."

Mason didn't smile back. "Is that so?"

"Oh, yeah." Willow's eyes brightened. "Cami slapped her. It was awesome!"

I stifled a gasp. "What? You saw that?"

Willow beamed over at me. "Oh, yeah. I was super glad."

Oh. My. God.

I wasn't glad. Far from it. And, now I felt like crawling into a hole and hiding. "I, um, didn't realize you saw that. I mean, I thought you were facing the other way." I swallowed. "Weren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Willow repeated. "But I saw the whole thing in the mirror."

Double crud.

Obviously, she meant the rear-view mirror, which only confirmed that she'd seen the whole sorry spectacle. And now, I was so flabbergasted, I could hardly speak. Somehow, I managed to stammer, "And, um, you didn't say anything?"

Her smile faded. "You looked sad. But I wasn't sad. I was happy. I just didn't want you to cry, that's all."

Funny, I had felt like crying, even if I'd been working hard not to show it.

It suddenly struck me that during the drive home from school, Willow had told me knock-knock jokes non-stop, including all of my favorites. At the time, I'd been beyond relieved, thinking it meant that she'd seen nothing of the ugly encounter.

Turns out, it meant just the opposite.

Now, I felt like crying all over again, but not because I was in trouble. "Awww…that was so nice of you." And I meant it, too. Still, I had to tell her, "But you don’t need to worry about me. I'm supposed to be looking out for you. Remember?"

She smiled. "We can look out for each other. You know, like sisters."

As I smiled back, something squeezed at my heart. God, I loved this kid. But I needed to set a better example. "Just so you know," I said, "I never should've slapped her."

"But why?" Willow said. "She slapped you first."

Well, there was that. "Yeah, well…" My words trailed off as I considered the truth. In reality, I wasn't sorry that I'd returned Veronica's slap. I was only sorry that Willow had seen it.

Still, I had to wonder, what would've been worse? For her to see me shrink away and not give as good as I got?

Even though I wasn't the type to start fights, I'd grown up in a big, noisy family. We never hit each other, but we didn't let ourselves be bullied either.

Willow said, "You're a really good slapper."

Oh, boy. I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "Um…thanks?"

From beside the table, Mason's voice cut through our conversation. "Tell me," he said, looking to Willow. "Did she ever slap you?"

My gaze snapped in his direction. "Hey! I would never slap a child."

This was the unvarnished truth. And I wasn't saying this only for his benefit. I was saying it for Willow's benefit, too. The last thing I wanted was for her to worry that I'd get all slappy with her.

In reality, Veronica had been the first person I'd ever slapped in my whole life. If I had my way, I'd never slap anyone again.

From beside the table, Mason turned and gave me a good, long look. Speaking very slowly and clearly, he said, "I wasn't talking about you."

Heat flooded my face. "Oh."

And now I felt stupid. Dang it. I should've realized that. But as usual, Mason was making it hard for me to think. His anger was supremely unsettling, even more so because he was doing a surprisingly good job of containing it.

And yet, I could still see the signs – the set of his jaw, the look in his eyes, and his unnatural stillness that for some reason, seemed more dangerous than a full-blown tantrum.

I felt myself swallow. He might look reasonably calm on the outside, but inside? A storm was definitely brewing.

Our gazes locked for a long, tense moment until he looked back to Willow and said, "So tell me. Did she ever lay a hand on you?"

Willow frowned in obvious confusion. "I don't know."

Mason practically growled, "What?"

Across from me, Willow was looking not only confused, but nervous.

I could totally relate. I spoke up. "What he means is, did anyone ever hit you? Or slap you? Or pinch you or