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I was getting a Lila headache. "What sort of self-care?" What the fuck is self-care, anyway?
"Botox for my lips. They're too thin. And I was thinking I need a breast lift, too."
The silence between us stretched over the phone. "You want plastic surgery?" My sister was twenty-five years old, and she was stunning. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I know you live in a bubble, Ave, and that you have a gorgeous millionaire taking care of you now, but the rest of us aren't living like that." My sister paused dramatically. "Eighteen-year-olds have their lips done now. Haven't you watched Keeping Up with the Kardashians recently?"
"No. I haven't." Thank God.
"Well," Lila continued, "I need to do these things so that I can feel good about myself. I spent my whole life feeling bad about who I am. Don't you want me to be happy? Don't you want me to have proper self-esteem?"
Honestly? I was pretty sure she didn't want to hear my answer at the moment.
I took a deep breath. "Where are you?" I asked again.
She didn't answer me for a minute. "I'm down South," she said, noncommittally.
"Down south where, Lila?"
"In Tennessee."
"With Jessica and Pax?"
"I'm not with The Tooth Fairy," she said.
Even though I'd already known where she was, my stomach still sank like a stone. It still crushed me that she would take this step. That she would betray me so blatantly.
"Why don't you ask Jessica for the money to get your lips plumped up? It looks like the sort of thing she knows all about." An image of Lila and Jessica getting their lips injected side-by-side came to me. "You know what, Lila? I hope you're having fun with her. She seems about your speed."
"Actually, she's kind of bitch," Lila admitted.
"No," I said, in mock surprise. "You don't say."
"If you and Chase give me the money, I won't do what she's asking." Lila sounded earnest, and I knew from a lifetime of experience that meant I was about to be played.
"What's she asking?"
I could picture Lila twisting her hair, calculating how much money she could haul in from all of us. "She wants me to go to the press with your story."
"Lila. The only way Jessica knows about my story is because you got in touch with her and told her. And I'm sure you're trying to get a ton of money out of her, too, while you're busy sponging off them and simultaneously calling me, looking to double-dip."
Lila sighed. "If you don't help me, she's the only one I can turn to. You know I don't have anybody else."
I didn't know what to do with my sister. She was the only family I had left, but she made it seriously hard to love her sometimes. "I'll get back to you." At the moment, that was all I could promise.
Chapter Twenty-Two
CHASE
When I was this upset, there was only one thing that could make me feel better. So I took matters into my own hands.
I called Reggie and asked him if he'd meet me to play catch.
I wanted to call Avery as I drove out to the field. But I felt desperate, off-balance. And in my book, that was the opposite of desirable. I couldn't let her see me like this. My face was still red and puffy from…you know.
I wouldn't see her until I got my shit together.
I threw the ball repeatedly at Reggie, but my head wasn't in it.
