Page 69 of After the Burn

“Robin!” she yelled right before pulling me into a tight hug.

“What the hell is happening?” I mumbled into her shirt.

Wren pulled back and then grabbed my face with both hands. “Where in the hell have you been?”

“I-”

She pulled me back into her arms and squeezed me tighter. “That doesn’t matter. I’m just so happy that you’re here now. My precious sister.”

“I’m not your sister,” I muttered with my face pressed into her shoulder.

Wren pulled back again, then wet her thumb with her tongue and wiped a dirt smudge off my face.

That broke my paralysis. “What the hell?” I jerked out of her reach, wiping frantically at my face. “I don’t know you!”

“Yes, you do.” She gave me an indulgent smile, her eyes suggesting I was the one acting oddly.

“No, I really don’t.” I took a couple of steps back.

Normally, I’d punch a bitch in the nose for grabbing me in the first place, but obviously, something wasn’t right with this woman.

Wren put her hands on her hips. “You’re always such a jokester, Robin.”

“Lady, I don’t know who the hell Robin is. My name is Taryn.” I took another step back as she stepped closer.

Lila started giggling. “I don’t know. You definitely look more like a Robin.”

I gave her a very unimpressed look. “Shut up.”

She crossed her eyes at me and started laughing harder.

I startled when Wren hooked her arm through mine. “Come on, Robin, and I’ll show you where we’re staying now.”

“Wren,” Harper said gently, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

“I’m not your sister,” I stated for the second time.

The look she gave me was the same look adults gave toddlers who insisted the moon followed them home.

Patient.

Affectionate.

Yet completely unconvinced that I knew what I was talking about.

“Of course you are.” Wren smiled, and it shocked me again to see how beautiful she was beneath all the dirt and sunburned skin.

“Wren,” Harper tried again. “That’s not Robin.”

Wren finally looked at her, but only for a second. Then her gaze shot right back to me. “Yes, it is. I think I’d recognize my own damn sister.”

And before I could dodge, she wrapped both arms around me again.

Right when I was about to force her to let go, tired of this bullshit, she whispered in my ear. “You came back. Thank God. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on alone.”

The words hit me square in the chest, and the emotion left me more than a little uncomfortable.

She sounded so genuinely happy and relieved that I didn’t know what to do.