Falling Up

26. Talk

Sitting at her desk next to the window, Riley looked out upon the open field that was essentially her backyard as the early morning light bounced through her room. The return of Jason had her in a state of anxious and nervous exhaustion. 

Noah had informed her yesterday that Jason was staying at Tyrus's place for the night but it did nothing to ease her worry and she spent much of the night tossing and turning. And not just about what Jason would do when he found out she had been drinking and high as a kite. But also the thoughts of Kain which kept roaming around in her head.

Surprisingly she remembered most of the night in question, except the really fuzzy part about how she ended up in Kain's bed. She managed to leave that little detail out when she was retelling her story to Noah. Thankfully she got away with it. Her brothers would probably lock her in the basement never see the light of day again if they found out.

Her focus turned back down to her desk, turning the pages of her book mindlessly. She wasn't actually ready but simply biding her time until Jason came home. And soon enough, she heard the dreaded click of the front door followed by the heavy set of work boots stomping on the floor and a set of keys being placed carelessly on the kitchen counter.

She gulped.

Voices echoed softly through the air, too softly for Riley to hear what was being said but loud enough to know that Noah and Jason were talking. Most likely about her.

After a long five minutes, the footsteps started again, this time heading closer to her room. Only a few additional seconds had passed, but to Riley, it felt like hours of torture as she painfully waited for the footsteps to come to a halt outside of her bedroom.

There was a knock on the door, not that loud, but her anxiety caused her to jump in her seat. "Come in," she said quietly, trying to calm down her racing heartbeat.

In walked Jason, as she expected. She knew as soon as he came home that he would want to talk. And after what happened the other night when he stormed out of the house, she was surprised he didn't just burst into her room and start yelling at her. He always had an anger problem that was difficult for him to control.

But instead, he walked in calmly, closing the door behind him. Without saying a word, he took a seat on the edge of her bed, the only sound being the squeak of Riley's chair as she swirled it around to face him.

There was a long pause as Jason looked at Riley and all she could do was keep her eyes downcast as she fidgeted with her thumbs.

"That will never happen again Riley. Am I understood?"

Jason's eyes lingered on her as she dared to take a peak at him which she instantly regretted. His eyes were dark with a fire she rarely saw in him. She had really pissed him off this time. Yet he was also shockingly calm, so unlike the Jason she was used to dealing with. The normal Jason would have come in here, angry and shouting at how irresponsible she was. This was new and she had no idea how to deal with this which caused her to keep her mouth closed as she tried to process this new behaviour.

"I said, am I understood?" he repeated again, calm but louder than before.

She nodded quickly, afraid of delaying the answer any longer.

"And you will come home straight after classes or work. There will be no more parties. You are grounded."

"For how long?" asked Riley, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Until I say otherwise. Until I can trust you again to not do something so stupid. Getting stoned and drunk? What the hell were you thinking?"

Noah told Jason what happened. Great. This was a familiar feeling to her. Both of her brothers, ganging up on her again. It was always two against one with Riley.