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“Come on, Dax. Like it’s a secret.” She walks to the opposite sofa and drops into the seat next to Rose. “Dax booked that balloon for you.” Jasmin grabs her phone and angles the screen toward Rose. “I got some great shots of you going up in it.”
Rose is looking at me instead of the screen. “You told me it was a promotional thing.”
“It was.” I hold her gaze, as her bright blue eyes search mine. I smile softly. “But we could have advertised some other way. The balloon was for you.”
“He means, we’re all grateful that you came along and put a smile on his ugly face,” Logan says.
I flick my eyes to him. He’s relaxed back into the sofa cushions again, his feet up on the coffee table as he smirks at me.
Fucker.He’s told me multiple times that he likes Rose and is glad she’s here. He said it feels like I’m properly back with them now. Not just a shell of my former self, working constantly, and never taking time to have a laugh.
Or have after-work drinks.
“Thank you.” Rose bites her bottom lip and then beams at me, before she drops her eyes to Jasmin’s phone, and they start scrolling pictures together.
Logan and I drink in easy silence as the girls look through the photographs, chatting happily about each one.
“You want another?” I ask Jasmin when her glass is empty.
“It’s okay, I’ll get it.” She walks over to the sideboard to refill her glass. “It’ll have to be my last, though. I’m going out later and need to drive.”
“Hot date?” Logan pipes up.
My shoulders tense, and I immediately snap my eyes toward her. But she avoids my gaze.
“No. Just seeing a friend.”
She blinks a couple of times, refusing to look at me. It’s one thing we used to argue about before I went away.Boyfriends.Or men, in general. I know how guys’ minds work. And after the things I heard in jail, I would happily cart my sister off to a nunnery, if it meant she would stay safe.
A fact Jasmin is well aware of and likes to argue with me about whenever I voice my opinion too loudly. The only small positive is that as far as I’m aware, there has been no one since before I went inside.
And I’m happy to keep it that way.
“I can feel your disapproval from here,” Jasmin snorts into her glass. “Don’t worry, big brother. I’m not getting sent dick pics by any older, sleazy businessmen.”
I knock back the rest of my drink, sourness coating my mouth.
Julian Young.
Just the thought of his name is enough to have me gripping my glass with white-knuckle force.
“Relax.” Jasmin’s voice softens and she offers me a small smile. “I’m fine. You need to stop worrying. Leave the past where it belongs.”
I huff, slamming my glass down. I know she understands that he gets to me. She’s listened to me talk about ways I’d like to kill him often enough. More when I was first locked up. But even now, she’s my sister, and she knows me well enough to see when I’m not entirely over something.
Not that I could ever get over what that prick did to me.
Stole a part of my life I will never get back.
Time that’s gone forever.
“It’s in the past, Dax,” she repeats as she wraps her arms around me, hugging me. “I’ve got you back. That’s all that matters.”
“Yeah.” I force a smile and place an arm around her.
“Hey, Jasmin. Some Alistair just texted you. You want me to read it?”
“No!” Jasmin jumps out of my arms and rushes over to Rose, her arm outstretched for the phone. “No, it’s okay, thanks.”
