Page 134 of Keep Me
“There was a fire,” Thea croaked out between coughs. “At the sorority.”
“Are you serious?” Tanner asked, and when she nodded, he cursed. “For fuck’s sake. I knew that place was trouble.”
“What happened?” Britt was next to Tanner, eagerly awaiting Thea’s response. “Did someone set it on fire?”
Thea coughed loudly again. “They haven’t been able to find the object that started it, but I was, uh, close by.”
“How’d you get out?” Tanner asked.
“I walked.”
Jackson raised his hand. “Whoa, wait. You’re telling us you walked out of a burning building and then came here?” He looked her up and down, and his lip curled with something other than disgust. For the first time since I met him, I could have sworn he looked impressed.
“Well, yeah. They wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t want to hang around.”
“Why not?” Jackson asked.
She shrugged. “I figured once they found out who my brother’s girlfriend was, they’d think I set the place on fire to get revenge?” A strange conclusion to jump to, but this was Thea.
“Did you?” Jackson was smiling now. Wider than I’d ever seen.
She shook her head, making the ash fall out of her hair. “Of course not, but I knew I’d be implicated once they saw what was on my record.” She gave Tanner a knowing glare, but no one noticed because Jackson barked out a laugh.
“What the fuck is on your record, you badass?”
Tanner just shook his head, ushering Thea to the couch. “I told you moving there was a terrible idea.”
“Well, don’t worry. I can’t live there now. You’ve had your dream come true. I’m homeless again.”
“You’re not going to be homeless,” I said, stepping forward. “You can stay here.”
All three of them turned to me. Tanner and Thea looked at me with wide eyes while Jackson’s were narrowed, but there was much less venom there than usual.
“No, she can’t,” Jackson said.
Thea raised her hand. “As much as I appreciate how long you guys let me sleep on the couch, I can’t do it again. My back would never recover.”
“Drama queen,” Jackson mumbled with a smirk on his face.
“Watch it,” Tanner retorted. “My sister was just in a fire and you’re still going to act like an asshole toward her?”
Stepping forward, I stood behind my wife before saying, “You don’t have to sleep on the couch, Thea. You can have my room. I’ve paid for the rest of the year, and I’m not going to be in it, so you might as well use it. You’ll have your own place to stay, and Jackson will have nothing to complain about.”
“I’m sure he’ll find something,” she said, glaring at him.
“Are you serious?” Tanner asked.
“Of course. The room would be empty otherwise.”
“And used as your sex room. We know. You don’t have to keep telling us.” Jackson sighed.
“Sex room?”
Thea’s nose wrinkled, but Tanner strode past her. “She’ll take it,” he said, opening his arms and hugging me before his sister could say anything else.
Thea sighed loudly and somewhat dramatically. “When am I going to have control over my own li—” Thea bent forward and a coughing fit ensued, only calming once Jackson rested his hand on her back.
“You good?” he asked.
