Page 99 of Carson

“Luna seems better,” he says, turning his focus to me.

“Yeah.”

“Mila finding her in the playhouse worked out pretty well.”

“Yeah.”

He sits forward. “What’s going on, Carson?”

I rub my hand over my head. “Nothing. It’s just … oh, I don’t know. Luna is busy helping everyone else, but she needs help too.”

“With?”

“I don’t think you really want to know.”

He takes a deep breath and relaxes back in his chair. “You’re right, I don’t.”

Luna tips her head back, laughing and spinning in a circle with Natalie. A couple of the club guys have them up and dancing.

“Carson, you’re looking too far ahead. Just stop for a fucking minute and look at how far she’s come. Luna stopped running. She’s here, introducing your family to the one and only childhood friend she ever had. Don’t you realize how incredible that is?”

“I know, I just don’t want her to spend so much time on everyone else’s problems that she forgets her own.”

“She’s interacting with Mila and me. I’d say that’s moving forward. I wouldn’t worry about it until she stalls out. That’s when you need to worry.”

“I guess you’re right. I just want her to be okay, you know?”

He kicks his boot against mine. “No, I don’t know. When the fuck were you going to tell me you were dating my sister?”

“I don’t know. Never.”

He laughs, but then he turns serious. “So, where are you and Cole at?”

“He told me tonight that he’s moving into the warehouse.”

“He’s scared. Things are changing. He hates change.”

“No. I’m the one who hates change. Cole loves it.”

“Yet you are the one stepping forward, and he’s running away to avoid it.”

“Are you saying I don’t know him as well as I think I do?”

“I think you’ve put your brother on a pretty high pedestal. He’s done the same to you. Fuck, what an amazing thing to have someone love you so much they’re blind to your faults. Cole thought you were always going to choose him first.”

I open my mouth to argue that I shouldn’t have to choose between them, but he beats me to it.

“And you thought Cole would never ask you to choose between him and the woman you love. But, goddammit, man, you guys need to take each other off the pedestal and realize you’re both human. It’s okay for you to feel happy and him to feel sad. You don’t have to do and feel everything in sync. Besides, it was fucking creepy. This is much better. More normal. Brothers aren’t always supposed to get along.”

I laugh, looking over at Cole. He does look sad, and I am in fact very happy. It throws me off-kilter. Maybe Rage is right. Cole and I have always agreed on everything. Now I’m wondering if we’ve always agreed, or if one of us has always bent to the other.

Maybe Cole is right. Maybe we do need to live apart.

I don’t know, but right now, I haven’t seen nearly enough of Luna today. I’m tired of sharing her.

But I don’t get her to myself until we have Natalie settled in the guest room at the warehouse … and we’ve checked on my parents. Then and only then do I convince her it’s time to go home.

She hovers near the door. “I should …” she points to her van.