Page 41 of Read With Your Heart

I’m in so much trouble.

When Lena comes in, Tricia doesn’t move. My sister catches my eye after noticing my fingers in Tricia’s hair. She offers me a cheeky smile.

“What?” I whisper.

“I got your number, big brother.” She tips her chin at me like the girls back home years ago, and I pray my sister isn’t one of them. She’s so rough around the edges, but she doesn’t need to be. Not here.

“You got zero,” I remind her, but her eyes drift to how I’m touching Tricia, as if I can’t stop my own damn hand from moving through her silky strands.

“I like her,” Lena whispers, and I look down at Tricia. I like her, too. I’ve been trying to avoid her because I like her. I can’t be around her chatter and her charts and her plans. It’s too much. I’ve tried to separate as best I can but tonight? Tonight, I had to give in.

A promise.

Man, I am as good as my word, and now I am screwed.

“I’m going to bed,” Lena says, and I lift my phone to watch it flip to midnight. Looking up at my sister, she glances back at me, bracing for a fight.

“Did you have fun?”

She shrugs, holding the bannister, preparing for flight up the staircase. “It was all right.”

“You doing okay with the kids at school?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me.

“People being nice to you?”

“Now you sound like her,” Lena says, nodding at Tricia and chuckling at the comment. Could be worse, I think. I could sound like Rina, not caring about another person’s feelings. My ex was a piece of work.

“Worse people to sound like,” I reply.

“Sound like her again.” Lena chuckles. We hold each other’s stare for a second. She’s eighteen years younger than I am, but there is no denying we are siblings. We share the same silvery eyes, jet-black hair, and angular cheekbones.

“Thanks for being home when she asked.”

“I did it for her,” Lena says, defending herself, and I get it.

“I know you did. I’ll tell her.”

Lena nods again, and I say, “Good night.”

The sentiment surprises my sister almost as much as thanking her did, and without a word back, she takes the stairs up to her room.

I sigh in relief. At least we didn’t fight.

Lesson 16

Headaches need proper attention.

[Tricia]

I woke when he stopped stroking my hair, embarrassed that I’d fallen asleep on him.

“Lena’s home,” he quietly tells me, and I sit upward, my head rushing.

“What time is it?”

“Just after midnight but she was home with a minute to spare,” he says.