“Lex. Car. Now,” he grunts at me. “Addison, how are you?” His tone shifts, softens to the one he uses with my sister.
“Ah, I’m good, Mr. Petrov. Thank you.”
“It’s Mikhail. I’m going to need you to come too,” he says.
“Why?” I ask him.
“I got a call from the dean this morning, Lex. Want to tell me how that frat house went up in flames? Not to mention some kid’s throat was slashed?”
I keep my mouth shut. I’m not stupid enough to antagonize my father.
“It was my fault,” Addison says.
“No, it wasn’t,” I tell her.
“He’s right. Nothing that happened is your fault, Addison. Come on, my wife is looking forward to seeing you.” My father holds out a hand.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to Addison as we walk past him. I sit in the back of the car with Addison, my father in the passenger seat next to his driver.
“Is Lex in trouble, Mister… Mikhail? Because I can just say he was with me all night,” Addison offers.
My dad turns around to face us. “You don’t need to lie for him, Addison.”
“I know, but I can.” She shrugs.
Dad shakes his head and turns back.
I look at Addison. I know we haven’t seen each other for a really long time, and there is a lot about her that’s changed. But being with her now… it feels like no time has passed. I reach out to hold her hand, and she stiffens before pulling away.
“Sorry,” she tells me under her breath.
“You don’t need to be sorry, Addi.”
When we get to my house, my father instructs me to take Addison into his office and wait for him.
“You realize you aren’t actually in trouble here,” I assure her when she looks like she’s gonna be sick all over the hardwood floors.
“No, but you are. Why does he want me here?” she asks.
“Probably because he knew I wasn’t leaving that college without you.”
“Honestly, I wonder if your mother dropped you on your head sometimes, Lex. You can’t be serious,” she says.
“It’s the Russian part of his DNA. That side of the family is all heathens, Addison,” my mom says as she enters the office.
“Oh god, I’m sorry, Mrs. Petrov. I didn’t mean…”
“Relax. It’s fine. I’ve often wondered where I went wrong with this one too.” Mom smiles.
“I’m your favorite child, Mama.”
“Not today you’re not.” She sits down. “You just got kicked out of NYU. You better have a damn good reason for throwing some kid out of a window, Lex.”
“And burning a frat house down,” my father adds.
I peer over at Addison. I’m not telling them anything she doesn’t want to share. “He looked at me the wrong way.” I shrug.
“He looked at you the wrong way?” my father repeats with the slightest uptick of his lips.