Page 24 of Cusp: A Renzo + Lucia Companion

TWELVE

Diego

“You’re really doing this, huh?”

Diego resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but the desire quickly melted away when he lifted his gaze to find his sister’s husband leaning in the bedroom doorway. It wasn’t Trevor’s actual presence that had him checking his attitude, but rather … the way the man stared at him.

Or the gleam in his gaze.

The pride.

Diego stood a little straighter, feeling like he should. The open luggage on his bed was nearly full. Rose had another for him to use, but he’d have to pay extra for that to take it on the flight. It wasn’t that he didn’t need the extra shit in LA because he would. It was just that he could have it sent later with everything else.

“Yeah,” Diego said, nodding. “I’m doing this.”

Trevor chuckled. “You’ve never paid a bill, and you do all your banking on an app. You don’t even have your license, and I’m still not sure you know how to check if the chicken is cooked all the way through.”

“Hey. Rose showed me how.”

That had Trevor laughing.

Even Diego grinned.

“I’ll be okay,” he said. Knowing that’s what Trevor was trying to get at in his own way. A conversation, or a few, between all of them, including Ren and, well … Diego had a better understanding of the people around him.

How much they cared. The way they loved him. How terrified they were because they had spent their entire life looking after him and now, he was about to jump all at once into this thing called adulthood. Without a safety net. Still just seventeen, almost eighteen, but feeling invincible all the same.

Look, Ma, no hands. That kind of thing. His siblings had grown up so much faster than he ever needed to because of their circumstances.

They—specifically his sister and Trevor—understood a lot more about him, too. Which was why he found himself packing for LA with the support of Rose and her husband. Even if they did worry that he was making a mistake.

It was still his to make.

“I promise,” Diego said when Trevor didn’t reply. “I will be okay.”

His brother-in-law quieted.

Diego did, too.

“Yeah, we know you will, kid,” Trevor muttered, glancing down at the hardwood floor of Diego’s bedroom. “Gonna be quiet here with you gone. You know, we were trying to plan something for your graduation. She’s not even going to get to see you walk across the stage.”

He still did it, though.

Graduated.

Rose said that was what counted.

“You can watch me do other things instead,” Diego pointed out.

Trevor nodded, clearing his throat. “Yeah, we will. And I’ll mail you that diploma, huh?”

“Better. Probably need it.”

“We are proud of you, Diego. I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

“I couldn’t imagine doing this at your age. My mother washed my clothes on the weekend for my first four years of college.”