Page 16 of Bane's Beginning

“Who's calling you?” My brother asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“A friend,” I said and gave the asshole a smug look.

“Got a lot of friends these days, don’t you?”

“Not like you’d know,” I said as I stabbed a piece of broccoli a little too aggressively.

“Why are you out of money already when I sent you enough for the entire summer?”

Were we really about to get into this right now in front of everyone?

“I told you that I got kicked out. I had to pay off my landlord.”

He squinted his eyes at me like he didn’t believe me. He was about to ask me another question when my phone started ringing again. Fucking Marcus.

“Who keeps blowing up your phone like that?” My brother said, trying to get a look at my phone as if he was trying to accuse me of something. I just wasn’t sure of what.

“Dude. Can you chill with the third degree? I came down here to eat, not get investigated,” I sneered. “Matter of fact, you’ve ruined my appetite so I’m just going to head up to my room.”

I got up from my seat and he grabbed my arm.

“Give me your gun,” he said sternly.

“What?”

Annoyed, he repeated himself, “Give me your gun. You almost shot a kid today.”

Is he serious? “I didn’t ‘almost shoot a kid.’ I shot at the sky above a grown-ass man, which I wouldn’t have had to do if he had just opened the gate.”

“I don’t care,” he said as he reached out his hand, waiting for me to put my gun in it.

Rolling my eyes, I reached into my bag and grabbed my gun, then hesitantly handed Stella to him.

“Got anything else?”

“I have the 26 in my car,” I sighed.

“Damn,” I heard someone shout and another person whistle.

He nodded. “Where’s the 19 I got you?”

“I sold it. Didn’t like carrying something that big,” I lied. I had really left it with Chase just in case they had any issues after I left, but he didn’t need to know that.

He nodded again, and I took that as a good sign and turned around. But then I heard him say, “At least you were carrying when you went home with a stranger ten years older than you last night.”

Fuck, so Bane did recognize me. I whipped my head around and saw a stupid smirk on his face and I flipped him the bird.

“Last time I checked, I’m an adult, asshat.”

He laughed. “Blowing your rent money, skipping town because of schoolgirl drama, going home with men you don’t know fuck-all about. None of that sounds like being an adult to me,India.”

He threw the last part in my face and I couldn’t help but look at Bane and the others around us who were all, once again, staring. I didn’t feel like arguing anymore, though. I was tired of being a spectacle because he didn’t know how to talk about things in private.

“Wow, you really are starting to sound like a dad,” I said, taking a few steps towards him. “You gonna abandon this one also?”

I took a few seconds to just stare at him and I saw the way his jaw tightened. What I had said had gotten to him. Good, I thought. Maybe he’s starting to realize how much of a jackass he’d been. After I realized he wasn’t going to say anything else, I turned around and headed up the stairs.

Chapter Eight: Maverick