AllFreeNovel
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“Coming where?”
“Birthday party. Oh, don’t tell me you forgot! It’s little Mary’s birthday. The kids can’t wait to see you. Octavia says you haven’t visited in weeks!” Only my mom would make it sound like a war crime. And I saw Octavia not so long ago, two weeks, tops. “And you have to see how much little Max has grown.”
Shit. Mary and Cole are Matt’s kids, and I love them like my own blood, and Max is my sister’s son. I love the little tykes, but I hadn’t been expecting to face more family today.
“Merc?”
“Here.” I rub at my forehead as I walk between cars, spotting Matt and his head mechanic, Evan, in a heated dispute over an engine. “I’ll be there.”
“Octavia made the coffee cake you like. Remember to bring the kids those cupcakes they’re so fond of? And don’t worry about presents, we all know you’re busy with your studies. Gigi said you’re swamped, so we got them something.”
Gigi said that? “Good. I, um, I’ll get the cupcakes.”
“See you later, love.”
Matt nods at me as I approach. “Merc.”
“What’s up, man?” Evan says, looking up from the gutted car they’re working on, quirking a faint smile at me.
“Evan, good to see you.” We shake hands, and he goes back to tweaking things in the engine. “Hope everything’s fine back home.”
He was away for a while, taking care of his house back in Destiny, apparently. His property and family, but that’s all Matt has told me. He’s very cryptic when it comes to Evan—why he moved here, where he disappears sometimes.
“Yeah,” he grunts. “Quiet. Same people.” He tsks. “I saw your old man.”
“Say what?” I still, my hand halfway up to shove my hair out of my eyes.
“Saw old Jasper. He owes me some money. Not that he gave it to me. He…” He chuckles. “He said he’d carve
me up and give my innards to the vultures to feed on. I swear, that motherfucker gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
“He does?” Matt asks. He just makes me wanna smash my fist into his damn face. “That cunt.”
His voice seems to come from a distance. Black spots swim in my eyes. I lean against the car, my head strangely heavy all of a sudden. “Carve you up?”
“He always spouts bullshit like that,” Evan is saying. “I give up. He can keep his fucking money. I don’t give a damn.”
“Man is crazy,” Matt adds. “I’m gonna head inside, grab a coffee. Want one?”
I nod, say something, I don’t even know what. Watch as he walks away from the car, nod when Evan speaks to me.
What is this new hell? Am I sick? Between screwing it up with Sophie—I mean, Cosima, dammit—the nightmares getting worse and feeling like shit without really knowing why, I bet tonight’s family gathering will be pure joy.
“So… Sophie, huh?”
I choke on the cake. “What?”
“Saw your new friend on Facebook.” Gigi waggles her brows. She looks ridiculous. “That your new girlfriend?”
“You stalking me now, sis?”
“Someone has to.”
That’s Gigi logic in all its glory. “No, actually, nobody has to. Would you want me poking my nose into yours and Jarett’s affairs?”
“Jarett and me, we’re fine,” she says primly, then giggles when Jarett tugs on her ponytail and grins at her wolfishly. “It’s just that you’ve been pining for that girl for ages, Mercky. Tell me she’s the one.”
“The hell I have.”
