Inked Fighter: Book One (BBW New Adult Romance) Read Free Page B

lunatic. Regan, my older sister, stood in the doorway, her eyes as wild as her hair. While Zoe was slender and blond with fine features, Regan was Amazonian with kinky red hair that was so disheveled I felt mortified she had been out in public. We all looked different in our own way, but we each had the Parker eyes. They slanted slightly in an almond shape. Regan’s eyes looked like twin green voids.
    She slammed the door and strode to the piano in the living room. Her long fingers flipped open the lid of the upright with a crash of strings. Zoe and I watched in shocked silence as Regan’s fingers fell over the keys. Her playing was frenetic, chaotic. Her talent was painfully obvious, and if I weren’t so annoyed at how loud she was being, my heart would hurt for her.
    It was something by Beethoven. The chaotic pounding twisted in my brain, and I wanted her to stop. Her head bobbed over the keys. She didn’t acknowledge us. She was in one of her moods. That was the nicest thing to possibly call it — a mood. It was too difficult to call it what it was.
    I heard Rose scream from upstairs, and I stood. I let out an exasperated sigh and rolled my eyes. I gave Regan one last disgusted look before I ran up the stairs. If I said anything, she would probably flip out. I’d rather listen to her pounding on the piano than have her freak out at me.
    I opened the door to my bedroom and picked up Rose from her crib. I held her to my chest, soothing her the best I could. I heard Zoe’s voice downstairs. “Could you shut the fuck up, Regan?” Damn it, Zoe! The piano slammed shut, causing a sickening jolt of piano strings.
    “What did you say, you little cunt?” Regan’s voice sounded threatening but low.
    I held my whimpering baby in my arms as I charged down the stairs, hoping I could defuse the situation before it got too out of control.
    Regan gave Zoe a death stare, but she looked away once she saw the baby. She ran her hands over her face and twisted out of the piano bench. Wordlessly, she sprinted up the stairs. Her door slammed, and it made me jump.
    “Don’t antagonize her, Zoe,” I pleaded.
    “She needs to be in a psych ward.” Zoe looked down at her magazine like she’d just said the sky was blue and not that our sister was mentally ill. I let a deep breath rush out of my lungs, and put Rose in her high chair next to Zoe.
    “Please don’t, Zoe. We went through all that after Mom. It didn’t help.”
    I riffled through the kitchen for something for Rose to eat. A nearly empty box of baby cereal sat in the cabinet. There wasn’t much else. I ran warm tap water into the bowl and mixed in the cereal. Bradly sniffed at the air and got under my feet. I ordered him to his bed, and he skulked away. 
    “I just don’t see why we have to deal with her crazy shit.” Zoe flipped the page of her magazine and scowled. I’d be irritated too if I’d just been called a little cunt.
    I sat down and scooped cereal into Rose’s waiting mouth. What the hell was I supposed to do? Demand she take her meds? Threaten her? None of that ever worked. I couldn’t force her to leave. Regan was only twenty-two. She didn’t have a job or even a driver’s license. I wasn’t going to make my sister live on the street. 
    Zoe huffed. I understood. We were all struggling. After I finished feeding Rose, I pulled the last package of cheap spaghetti from the cabinet and filled a pot with water. Zoe took Rose out of her high chair and carried her into the living room to play with the mess of toys strewn across the floor.
    Sunlight streamed over them from the window on the far wall of the living room. Dust motes twirled into the air as they played on the ratty old carpet. The sight of them made my heart twist. They both deserved much better, and I couldn’t give it to them. 
    I placed the pot of water on the glowing electric burner and looked in the cabinets for anything else. There just wasn’t anything there. I opened in the fridge