Chapter 176

James and I marched up to Grandma Jo's house. James was leading the way and I could feel the anger in his footsteps as they hit the ground.

I never thought that I'd say this, but James was scary, especially when he was mad. Right now, I was just happy that James was on my side and that I wasn't the one he was upset with.

The betrayal we both experienced tonight felt like an open wound, and now it was time for us to confront it head-on. We were about to figure out exactly what had happened.

Without knocking and without a moment's hesitation, James swung open the front door. As it slammed the wall, I flinched and shot daggers up at James.

He was going to break Grandma Jo's door!

"Lucas! We need to talk!" James's voice thundered through the entrance.

Suddenly, I realized just how upset James was. He wasn't going into this as calmy as I thought he would. He was coming in full force, ready to start an argument.

Nervous pricked the back of my neck as I spotted Lucas and Victoria sitting on the couch in the living room.

My eyes immediately went to his face, and he tried giving me a small smile as he stood. My chest hurt at the sight.

Apparently, James didn't appreciate Lucas's attempt at friendliness because he stormed toward him. He stopped in front of Lucas until their faces were only inches apart.

James lightly pushed Lucas back with a vengeance in his eyes.

Victoria and I both exchanged glances of shock. It seemed we both feared that the tension between them would escalate into something more worrisome, like a physical fight.

"James, back up!" I shouted, rushing forward to intervene.

James ignored me. "What? Too scared to talk now?" he asked Lucas, pushing him again. "You'd rather do it behind our backs?"

"That's enough!" Victoria, who was standing nearby joined me in an attempt to pull James away from Lucas. "We can have a civilized conversation."

"Why would we want to do that?" James moved when Victoria tried to touch him as if she had burned him. "It seems like the both of you don't care how we feel, why should we act like this is normal?"

"Would you just give us a chance to explain?" Lucas finally said, his eyes moving from James to me. "Please?"

"Oh, don't pull the innocent act now, Lucas." James rolled his eyes. "Where was this attitude earlier? Why couldn't you be honest with us from the start?"

"I'm not pulling an innocent act." I could tell Lucas was getting more and more upset by the way he kept balling his hands into a fist. "I want to be honest now."

"Oh! Now you want to be honest?"

Lucas took a step toward James, causing their chests to touch. This was not going in a good direction.

I looked to Victoria, signaling for her to care for James while I stood behind Lucas.

"Guys, you're friends, let's not fight." Victoria tried putting a hand on James, but he brushed her off.

"We're not fighting, we're talking." James gave Lucas a pointed stare.

Before Lucas could say anything else to James, Grandma Jo came rushing down the stairs.

When she reached us, there was a stern expression on her face. "No fighting in my house! What is going on here? What's all this commotion about?"

James and Lucas continued their chest-to-chest standoff, each refusing to back down.

The tension in the room was palpable, and I worried that things might spiral out of control.

"Why don't you ask him?" James said, glaring at Lucas. "All of this is his doing."

"You won't even let me explain anything for one godsdamn second!" Lucas shouted at him, only riling James up further.

"Enough! Stop this nonsense right now!" Grandma Jo's voice echoed through the room, and miraculously, both James and Lucas took a step back.

James, visibly seething, tried to calm himself, taking deep breaths.

Victoria approached him, attempting to offer comfort, but he flinched away from her touch.

"Stop trying to comfort me," he said, looking at her with squinted eyes. "I don't want you touching me right now."

Even though it was harsh, I understood how James felt. I couldn't bring myself to look at Lucas, the pain and anger was too raw.

Looking at him, and even looking at Victoria for that matter, only seemed to make things worse.

James and I had shared something that felt real with the other person, and now it was all tainted by lies we didn't understand.

"What's going on? I have a right to know, it is my house after all." Grandma Jo put her hands on her hips, looking at James and Lucas.

I'd never heard Grandma Jo raise her voice before, and honestly, she was pretty scary. I didn't think that a five-foot eighty-year-old could be so intimidating.

Lucas and James both spoke almost in unison, "We can explain."

With her arms crossed, Grandma Jo glared at the two of them. "Then explain yourselves, but no more fighting. This is a place of peace, not a battleground. I'm too old for this, and so are you! You're both adults, act like it."

The room fell silent as Grandma Jo waited for them to explain what was going on.

"It's a long story..." Lucas started to say, but Grandma Jo wasn't having any of it.

"Go on then," she said. "I've got time."

Lucas nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he said, "I lied to Shana and James."

"Lied to them about what?" Grandma Jo asked, her tone cutting through the tension in the room.

"About everything," James said for Lucas. "He moved into Kendrick's in order to pay off Shana's debt, but he also failed to tell us that he was getting engaged to Victoria again. Shana and I only found out today and showed up at their engagement party."

Grandma Jo's eyes widened in surprise. Clearly, this is not the news she was expecting to hear.

She appeared disappointed as she looked at Lucas. "Is that true?"

Lucas looked ashamed as he nodded. "It's true."

Grandma Jo seemed to process that and regarded all of us. "I'll give all of you time to discuss this, but Lucas, I want to talk to you once you're done. I don't want to hear any more yelling or shouting. You will all speak in a civilized manner in this house."

"Yes ma'am," James said for all of us as Grandma Jo went back upstairs.

I was surprised she would leave us all here to talk. If I were her, I would be eavesdropping on the conversation to hear exactly what happened.

Maybe that's exactly what she was doing.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice at you," Lucas said to James finally. "You have every right to be upset with me, but I shouldn't have done that."

James nodded his head. "Apology accepted, but like you said, I have every right to be upset. I don't regret yelling at you."

I had to hand it to James, he was not afraid to speak his mind.

"Now that that's out of the way, isn't there something the two of you would like to share with us?" James asked growing impatient with all the dilly-dallying. He stood tall beside me, showing his full support. "We’re ready to hear your side of the story."