Page 121 of Wrong For Me

I narrow my eyes. They better not be here to lecture me.

“Ew,” Violet says, coming into the entryway. “Why are there grownups here?”

“Nice, kid,” Cash says, ruffling her hair. But I can’t help but think he still looks worried, no matter what Reed said about our parents being fine.

“What’s going on?” I demand.

Reed shifts on his feet, looking uncertain and uncomfortable. That sends a fresh wave of cold rushing through my veins. Uncle Reed is one of the most together people I know, always commanding and in charge.

“We’re having some press issues,” he finally says, voice gentle. “We wanted to bring you guys back home.”

“I don’t want to go home,” Violet says, and she must be picking up on our uncles’ mood because there’s fear in her eyes. “Mom and Dad aren’t there. I want to stay with Rose and River.”

“Rose and River are going to come with us, too,” Reed says. “We’re all going to go to my house.”

I share a glance with my brother. What the hell could be so bad that they don’t want us in our apartment?

“What kind of press issues?” River demands.

Cash looks at his phone. “We can talk about it when we get home. Ash and Vi, go grab your bags—”

“Wait.” I step closer to him. “Tell me what’s going on.”

He meets my gaze and my breath catches. There’s worry in his eyes. Worry and…pity.

“Uncle Cash?” I whisper.

He places his hands on my shoulders, his touch gentle. “We can go into more detail once we get you back home, but there’s a story hitting some gossip blogs within the hour and there will probably be paparazzi here.”

“So we’re going to go back to the neighborhood,” Reed adds, and I don’t need him to clarify that statement. The gated neighborhood, where photographers can’t get to us.

“Who’s the story about?” River asks, clearly worried. But I don’t need to hear the answer. I saw that pity in Cash’s eyes. The story is about me.

I turn to the twins, plastering a smile on my face, determined not to scare them more than they already are. “We should go,” I say. “We can finish our game at Uncle Reed’s house.” I ruffle Violet’s hair. “We’ll take a picture of the game board so we can pick up where we left off. I bet Vega and Santana will want to play, too.”

She’s not buying my bright tone. Her eyes, so like our mom’s, are narrowed at me. “I want to know what’s going on.”

“Me too,” Ash says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Guys.” Reed is looking at his phone again, frowning, and his voice is sharp. “We can talk about it at home. Let’s go now.”

The expression on his face scares me as he taps at his phone. Who’s he talking to? What’s he saying?

I meet River’s eyes and I know he’s thinking the same thing as me. If paparazzi are coming, we need to get out of here. If it was just us, that’d be one thing, but I’m not about to scare Violet and Ash by forcing them to run through a field of shouting photographers.

“Grab your bags,” he says to the twins, already striding out of the entryway. “I’ll put the leftovers in the fridge.”

“What aboutyourbags?” Violet asks, her voice high with fear. “You’re coming too, right? You’re going to stay with us?”

Violet has spent countless nights sleeping at each of her cousins’ houses. She feels about as comfortable at Uncle Reed’s as she does at home. But she’s clearly freaking out right now, and she doesn’t want to go anywhere without us.

“We both have some things at Mom and Dad’s,” I assure her. “We don’t need to pack.”

My own phone dings and I reach for my pocket out of habit.

“Don’t,” Reed says sharply, and if I had any doubt before that the story is about me, it’s gone with that single word.

But my phone won’t stop dinging with messages. Then the calls start, a sharp ring that grates on my already fragile nerves.