AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I love watching you dance. My point is everyone loves watching you dance so damn much, I don’t think any of us ever realized you didn’t want to do it anymore. You’re not me. You’re not fighting for it. You’re giving in to it because you want the little fat kid who shouldn’t have Oreos to smile.”
“Jesus Christ, Cal,” Maddox groans.
But not me.
I turn to him—this man who has only lived on this earth for five days without Evie and me—and throw my arms around him. “You should always smile, Callen. You have a great smile.”
He wraps his big arms around me and squeezes. “We can’t tell you what to do, Gracie. If we do, we’re as bad as everyone else.”
I shake my head. “They’re not bad because I never told them either. I’ve spent so much of my life being afraid of disappointing everyone that I didn’t see what was right in front of my face...” I swallow down my overwhelming emotion and stand up. “I was making them happy by making myself miserable. And they’re all going to be so mad when they find out.”
Maddox stands up and hands me the now-melted ice cream. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll have time to figure it out while I find a job.”
GRACE
“She’s been like this for days.” Brynn’s voice bounces around in my mind, like a bad dream I can’t wake up from.
“What do you want me to do about it?” Okay, why the fuck is Maddox in my dream?
I yank the blanket over my head and try to tune them out.
“I don’t know. Fix it.” Dream Brynn sounds annoyed. But bonus points—if she’s annoyed, she still cares, right?
“Why me?” Madman sounds scared. That’s weird. Nothing scares him.
“Because I’m not talking to her, and I can’t call Everly. You’re neutral, and Killian said she came to the penthouse the other night all fired up. Whatever you said to her broke Gracie. And I really don’t want to have to tell her sister that good twin broke on my watch.”
Fuck this shit.
I throw my blanket off my head and glare at the two of them.
“Oh, Gracie... When was the last time you showered?” Brynn momentarily forgets she’s not speaking to me to personal-hygiene shame me. Got it.
“She didn’t look like that when she left the penthouse the other night,” Maddox defends himself. I look from him to Brynn, then back to him where I can fixate on the Sweet Temptations coffee cup in his hand.
I sit up, and they both back up like they’re about to be attacked by a zombie fromThe Walking Dead. Shit. How many new Negan episodes did I miss? Whatever. I grab the coffee cup from Maddox and take my first sip of anything besides water in two days.
“I’m sick, you assholes.” No sooner have the words left my mouth than I run to the bathroom and dry heave because there’s absolutely nothing left in my empty stomach.
Maddox’s voice filters in, but I’ve got no clue what he’s saying.
Brynlee, however, walks in, runs cool water over a washcloth, and runs it over my forehead before she lifts my hair and lays it over the back of my neck. “Have you been running a fever too?”
“Like you care,” I manage to whisper pitifully between heaves that leave my stomach even emptier than it already was.
“That’s not fair, Gracie. I’m allowed to be mad at you and disagree with you and still care.” She grabs a hair tie from the counter and pulls my hair back, then moves around the bathroom and turns the water on in the tub before she leaves me alone.
I curl up on the floor, lacking the energy or will to move.
I close my eyes and just want this shitty week to be over already.
“Come on.” Brynn’s hands force me up and into the tub.
“I’m in pajamas,” I croak.
“They’re booty shorts and a tank top with puke stains. They’ll survive, and when they do, we’ll burn them.”
