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There were already vehicles everywhere when we pulled up. The driveway was overflowing, and people had parked on the street, all of them there for Nevaeh’s birthday party. Climbing out of the back, I double-checked that the present I’d brought for her was still in my pocket and then followed everyone to the house.
Emmie rang the doorbell, and only a moment later, the door swung open. One of Jesse Thornton’s twin sons answered the door. Luca and Lyric were identical, and in the past, the only way I’d been able to determine who was who was that Luca seemed to have Shane Stevenson’s daughter by his side at all times. Then they had started inking their bodies right after their eighteenth birthday, so I’d been able to tell which one was which easier.
“Welcome,” Luca greeted, smirking at his aunt, the sleeve of ink on his left arm telling me which twin he was. “Come in, if you dare.”
“Fuck,” Nik muttered. “What have you done this time?”
Luca’s expression turned wounded, but there was amusement shining out of his eyes that constantly changed from one shade of brown to another. “That hurts, Uncle Nik. Really, you hit me right in the feels, man.”
“Yeah, whatever. Now what did you do?”
Luca’s answer was to wink and step back, waving us in. “The birthday girl isn’t here yet. Guess it’s cool to be late to your own party. I mean, I didn’t even show up to mine, so whatevs.”
“No, he was too busy getting in Megan Hawthorn’s pants to care he had people waiting to wish him happy birthday,” a voice that was so sweet I almost missed the bite to it said.
I glanced over Luca’s shoulder to see the girl he was normally with shoot daggers at his back as she walked by. He clenched his jaw, muttered something under his breath I didn’t hear, and shut the front door with unneeded force, causing his father to shoot him a hard glare.
“Excuse me while I go set the record straight. Again,” he said before turning and following Violet Stevenson. “It only makes the two hundredth time.”
“That girl can make that boy sweat without even trying,” Nik said with a deep chuckle as we walked farther into the house.
Halfway across the living room, I caught sight of Nevaeh’s mom, and she quickly left the group she was talking to. She hugged me tightly. “This is the best surprise,” she said as she pulled back, a beaming smile on her beautiful face. “Nev is going to be so happy you made it.”
“Where is she?” I asked before I could stop myself, needing to see her, touch her.
“That is a good question. She was supposed to be home by now, but knowing Jordan, it’s hard to tell what kind of trouble those two got into.” She grimaced. “If she doesn’t get home soon, I’m sending out the big guns.”
“Aunt Gabs is here?” Mia asked as she glanced around.
Lana shook her head. “Not yet. She and Liam are on their way, though. Or so he told Drake about fifteen minutes ago. If she gets here and Jordan hasn’t shown up, I’m going to sic her on him.”
I barely paid their conversation any attention. Jealousy was eating through me, and I was two seconds away from pulling out a few big guns of my own. Mia’s best friend visited us every few weeks. I liked him… Until he flirted with Nevaeh. Then I wanted to rip his arms off his body and beat the living hell out of him with them.
Now she was out with him, doing fuck knew what. She was legal now, could do anything she wanted, with whomever she wanted.
“There you are,” a deep voice said from behind me. “Do you realize how hard it is to find you, woman?”
Turning, I saw Jordan coming toward us, with no Nevaeh in sight. He walked up to Mia, threw an arm around her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. Barrick clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything about it. He was used to their relationship and trusted Mia, but I knew just how jealous he was right then. That same jealousy burned through me whenever the guy so casually did the same with Nevaeh.
“There’s this thing called a phone,” Mia sassed him. “You use it to call, text, even send social media messages. It’s all the rage these days. Maybe you should try it.”
“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t get to see your beautiful face, and that really should be considered a crime.”
“Um, excuse you,” Lana said with a mock glare at him. “You should have had my child home half an hour ago at the latest. Where is she?”
“Sorry, we lost track of time. She’s
changing now.”
“Perfect.” She touched my arm, then pushed me. “You should go help her with her zipper,” she suggested with a grin. “She had the worst time with it when she was trying it on at the mall earlier.”
—
The first time I’d ever set eyes on Nevaeh, my heart had stopped.
I was sitting on the couch with Sasha beside me, and Mia answered the Skype call from her cousin. Her beautiful face appeared on the laptop screen, and even as she was yelling at her sister, I’d felt something wake up inside me for the first time in my life.
It was like she’d hit pause on my heart because it didn’t beat, while other parts of my body came alive for the first time since I’d lost my leg. She’d blinked, her blue-gray eyes looking huge behind her glasses, like some animated kitten about to pounce on her unsuspecting prey.
