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Otherwise, I would go for greasy junk food, as I only got it when out with someone.
I hadn’t indulged in any form of junk food since moving to Dragon Heights. I’d gone for cheap staple foods I could stretch in a pinch.
“That would have stood a good chance of working. I’m ready to be yelled at.”
“How long were you skulking outside the kitchen waiting for me?” To make it clear he’d been working out, he rolled and dumped me onto the floor. I landed with a grunt, and Tourmaline left my shoulder to scold Erik in a series of chirps, whistles, and clicks.
“It’s okay, Tourmaline. Why don’t you go make sure Garnet is eating her potatoes rather than wearing them?”
The bird zipped off into the kitchen.
The handcuffs made me easy prey for Erik, and he pinned me to the floor, using his weight to keep me from wiggling away. He pressed his nose to mine. “Well? How long were you skulking outside the kitchen?”
“I was hiding around the corner long enough for it to be embarrassing. I have learned you have your mother’s eyes.” Our position forced me to stare into his or close mine to avoid him. I mustered my courage and met his gaze. “I also learned your father is the commissioner.”
“We yellows can’t help ourselves. Law enforcement calls, and we answer. It’s not a good deal being the commissioner’s son. Our father is a tyrant, and we’re expected to be the best of the best. Half of my siblings fled Dragon Heights to have a fair chance at working in the force. Otherwise, we’re long in the tooth before we escape the academy.”
“I heard that, punk,” Erik’s father said from the nearby living room. “Get off her, and if you feel a need to cuddle, you can do so on the couch until dinner is ready. Chester, go help your mother in the kitchen, and make sure your brother stops doing whatever it is he’s doing. I’m sure he’s doing something inappropriate. He’s still breathing, after all.”
“He’s pinning her to the floor so she doesn’t escape, Dad.” Chester made an appearance, gave Erik a soft kick to the ribs, and stepped around us. “Shouldn’t you call in the others?”
“They’re doing their best to be good brothers and sisters for a change. While I don’t care if Erik is embarrassed, I do care if Kinsley is, and extra witnesses amplify general embarrassment. She got the hard part done, though. She showed up.”
In some ways, I found the absurdity of the situation to be comforting.
Erik had a crazy family, too—one who loved him as much as mine loved me.
Erik chuckled, dropped a kiss on the tip of my nose, and got off me, hopping to his feet before offering his hands. As getting up with handcuffs would be a challenge and result in more embarrassment, I allowed him to help me upright. “Are you embarrassed?” he asked.
“A little,” I admitted. “I mean, I’m meeting your family while dressed like a brothel worker.”
He took his time looking me over. “Well, you definitely have my attention.”
If he was anything like me, and I had every reason to believe he was, we both had a great deal of frustration to work out. “It took longer than I appreciate to squeeze into these pants. They barely fit.”
Erik heaved a sigh. “I could help you out of them.”
“Are we going to posture, debate the situation, and otherwise discuss the circumstances before I’m helped out of these?”
“That seems mandatory.”
I could work with a conversation and a resolution of everything that had torn us apart. “All right. We can do that sometime after dinner. Also, we’re going to have a conversation about that beautiful car that’s sitting outside!”
Erik laughed. “I rescued her out of a junkyard.”
I gasped, lifting my hands and pressing them to my chest. That beautiful car had been condemned to be reduced to scrap metal and a memory? “No!”
“I did. I was checking to see if they had any parts for another project and spotted her in the lineup to be crushed. I bought her for three hundred dollars.”
I went to the front door, pressed my nose to the glass, and stared at the beauty of a car. “She was in a junkyard?” With a despondent wail, I threw myself onto the entry bench and allowed myself to have a tantrum over the abuse of such a beautiful, old car.
“What on Earth is going on in there?” Erik’s father asked.
“Kinsley is expressing herself regarding the blatant abuses my car suffered through before being welcomed home and adopted into the family. Give her a few minutes, and she’ll be fine. It’s a safe outlet. And really, Dad? I did the same damned thing the instant I got home from buying her. I even used the bench to express my opinions.”
“I am aware, as you begged your mother and me to transform and haul your mechanical child home so you could begin repairing her. Then you did pitch a fit in the entry, as your mother barred crying over the car in the house proper. The only reason she let you into the entry while you were doing that was because it was raining. You coerced me into being a flying pack mule.” Erik’s father came in and laughed. “You two are birds of a feather. And yes, Erik did the same thing, Kinsley. When we hauled it over, she was not in nearly as good of a condition as she is now. In fact, we called her Rusty for the first six months of her life with us. He had to recruit three iron dragons to restore her body and parts. The iron dragons also pitched a fit, but they did so outside.”
I allowed myself one more wail over the situation before getting to work restoring my composure. “You’ve treated her well, Erik, if she started her life with you as a rusty wreck.”