Page 105 of This Reckless Home

“Love you, Jus. See you soon, okay?” My voice is thick, and it’s painful to push the words out, knowing that I can’t hold him either.

“Love you too, big bro. See you soon.”

I hang up before he does, because if I don’t, I won’t and these calls are expensive as fuck.

“He good?” Steele asks, and taking an inhale, I turn around, meeting his eyes and knowing mine are glassy from unshed tears.

“Yeah. Tina and Blossom are looking after him,” I reply, all of us moving together away from the phone and towards a group of chairs around a table. “He says Blossom is sad. And crying a lot, though she’s not showing it in front of the kids.”

“Of course she isn’t,” Nox comments, his brow furrowed. “She’ll be killing herself over this, thinking it’s her fault when it’s her cunt of a sperm donor’s.”

“I know,” I sigh, and I can picture her blaming herself, convincing herself that she’s no good for us, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

We sit there in silence, not knowing what to say but I can practically feel how hard we’re all thinking. How we’re all wondering if my promise to Jus was an empty one.

“STILL HAVE YOU” BY FREYA RIDINGS

BLOSSOM

I’m in the kitchen, tidying because I just need to do something with my hands otherwise my mind spirals, when Jus walks in. He sits at the counter.

“Ant called.” I freeze, my heart turning summersaults in my chest. “He asked if you were okay.”

Tears spring and fall before I can pull them back, and Justin’s brow furrows. He looks down at the counter, giving me a minute.

“He said to tell you they’re okay.” I nod, unable to speak as I try to get my emotions under control. “And he said to tell you thank you. That you’d know why.”

My heart feels like it expands and constricts all at once. Like there’s barbed wire wrapped around it, that digs in when it gets too big.

“He sounded— he sounded like Ant. You know? Like himself.”

“That’s good,” I manage to choke out, and he looks back up at me.

“He told me not to give you shit, as if I would ever do that.” There’s a twinkle in his eyes, which shines brighter when I laugh.

“Of course not,” I reply, my lips tugging up despite myself. “Though you really should work on your language, Justin. Cursing so much at your age.”

“I will when he does,” he quips right back, and a small laugh escapes me because that is not likely to happen anytime soon. “He’s coming back soon, Miss. Blossom. They all are.”

I look at him, my heart mending and breaking all at once for this boy who’s had every promise ever made to him broken, yet here he is, making one to me.

“I know.”

Justin gives me a nod, then gets up, takes a step to the door, pauses, and then comes back, wrapping his arms around me. Something in me loosens a little, and my arms come up to hug him back.

“Thank you, Justin,” I whisper, and he gives me a little squeeze before releasing me.

“Night, Miss. Blossom.”

“Night.”

He leaves, and I sit at the counter, Ralph’s words from this morning swirling in my head.

Your mother built you a weapon. She just hoped you'd never need it.

I think about Wilson —because I refuse to call him father anymore — sitting in his car, watching my guys be taken away. I think about all he did to my mother, the fact he tried to take my inheritance. The fact he never once has faced a consequence.

I see Steele’s head hitting the wall when that officer used his baton. Nox’s silence when slurs were aimed at him. Ant being shoved in the back of a police car as his little brother watched on with tears streaming down his cheeks.