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“You’re reading?” Sage asks, his normally deep tone spiking a little high in surprise.
“Um, yeah.”
“Where’d you get the book?” The question is muffled from a fry he’s pulled from one of the takeout boxes.
I panic for a brief second. “A friend loaned it to me.”
“That’s cool.” He rolls up his sleeves. “God, I’m fucking starving. I’m going to eat before I shower.”
He pulls out plates and starts piling food on them. I ordered us each fries and a BLT. He passes one to me, already stuffing a bite of sandwich in his mouth.
“Did you have lunch?”
He shakes his head. “No, didn’t have time. There was a mishap and some computers stopped working. It was chaos.”
“That sounds rough.”
“It was.” He plops on the couch with a tired groan.
I join him, pushing the book out of his reach in case he picks it up. I’m not sure if he’ll know Lachlan’s name if he opens it, but I don’t want to risk it. I’ll have to ask him why he writes his name in his books, because I don’t get it.
“I’m sorry you have so many hours by yourself before I come home.”
“S’okay.” I cover my mouth as I chew. “It gives me a chance to do my homework and relax.”
Actually, I mostly sit around bored out of my mind. My homework is usually finished at school so when I get home there’s nothing to do but watch TV or sketch. But I don’t love drawing like Ansel does and I can only do it for a little while before I get frustrated with my pathetic lines that barely form a shape. Today, the book has helped occupy my time. I might have to give more books a chance.
“That’s true.” Sage sounds relieved, and I’m glad I can alleviate the burden from his shoulders even if it’s a white lie. “This is really good. Where’d you order it from?”
“It was some sandwich shop a couple miles away. I had Uber Eats deliver it.”
“Hmm,”
he hums, most of his meal devoured while mine is barely touched.
“I think I’m going to go eat in my room if that’s okay?” He looks over at me in surprise since I never ask to leave. “I kind of want to read.”
“That’s fine, D.”
I get up with my plate of food and the book. I pause at the edge of the hallway before I disappear completely from his sight. “Sage?” He looks up. “I love you.”
He smiles, his hazel eyes softening with something like gratitude. It’s such a simple thing to tell someone you love them, but those three little words can mean so much.
“I love you too, sis.”
Chapter Seventeen
“You have strange taste in books.”
I drop the heavy, five-hundred-plus page, book onto Lachlan’s desk. He jumps, not having heard me come in since he was so absorbed in something on the computer. I’m sure he has a ton to do with seniors gearing up for college applications to go out.
“You didn’t like it?” He closes the browser and takes the book. He flips through the pages before closing it with a snap.
“I loved it. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t strange. I mean, I know multiple personalities are a real thing and all but this was intense.”
He leans back in his chair, his easy smile making my stomach flip-flop.
“What’d you think of the end?”
