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Simply because they have no idea he exists.
My plan: show up on their doorstep with him and hope to hell they’ll let us stay. We only need a place to crash until we move into an apartment that’ll preferably be close to my school and the job I have yet to find. I would’ve told my mom about him given the opportunity, but I can’t remember the last time I spoke with her. It must’ve been at the beginning of my trip. When exactly was I supposed to slide into our nonexistent conversations that I have a boyfriend?
“Okay, so fill me in on your family drama. What’s the Kingstons’ story?” Haze steadies his elbow on the arm rest and props his chin in the palm of his hand. I smile at his cautious and focused expression.
Crazy to think that, while Haze knows every little stupid detail there is to know about me, he doesn’t know much about my life back home. Knowing my favorite color, first pet’s name, and favorite band doesn’t tell him what’s waiting for him once we get off that plane. Yet, he chose to come with me. We’ve talked about my family a few times in the past. But compared to our conversations about his family, we’ve barely scratched the surface.
“Meh, it’s nothing special, really. Mom had me when she was sixteen. She raised me by herself until she met Harry, my stepfather. They got married. He’d just lost his wife to cancer, and he already had a kid of his own, Jaden, who’s fourteen now. We’re technically not related, but we grew up together, so we consider each other siblings. Then, five years ago, my sister, Maika, was born.”
“So, you and your sister share a mother?” Haze asks.
I nod, omitting to tell him that while we were brought into this world by the same woman, that woman treats us completely differently. With Maika, she’s this caring, sweet mom. With me? Don’t even get me started.
“When my Dad got sent to Seattle for his work, my parents decided to ship me to Maria until I graduated, as you know. My mom followed him, since she’d just been laid off, while Jaden and Maika stayed with their grandma, Harry’s mom. They just got back.”
“Why didn’t you stay at your grandma’s place, too?”
“That’s the thing. She’s not my grandma. She says I’m not her granddaughter since I don’t have Harry’s blood in my veins.”
Haze winces.
“Yep, that’s the usual reaction.” I crack a laugh.
My stepfather’s mother was always narrow-minded. She believes people that get married should spend the rest of their lives together, no matter if they’re happy or not. In her eyes, holy matrimony should be sacred and a vow of eternity. She was always against my father remarrying. They didn’t talk for years when she first told him she’d never see me as her granddaughter as I came from his second marriage. Harry’s dad, on the contrary, is kind and sweet, which, in my opinion, played a big part in his son turning out all right.
Haze reaches for my hand. “And the rest of your family?”
“You already know them. Maria, Kendrick, and Kass. They’re all I have on my mom’s side.”
“What about your mother’s parents?”
“They died before I was born. Car crash. My mom said they wanted to put me into the system. They thought she was too young to take care of a baby.”
Haze keeps quiet for a while, as though he’s trapped in his own thoughts. Then, he speaks.
“Wow, both our families suck.”
I give a faint laugh.
“Tell me about it.”
“Can I ask what happened to your biological father? You know… why he isn’t around?” His tone hints at how hesitant he is. He’s right to be. I usually change the topic whenever someone brings up my sperm donor, but somehow, right now, with Haze’s compassionate blue eyes pointed at me, I don’t want to.
“I don’t know much. My mom said he was one of the bad kids. Came from the wrong side of the tracks. He was nineteen when they met. Then he just took off running the second she told him about me. Like I said, nothing special.” A sharp pain cuts through my chest, and my eyes drop to my feet.
This feeling right here. That’s why.
Why I’ve desperately avoided this moment ever since I could talk.
“Hey, look at me.” Haze’s voice is low but firm. “Look at me.”
I finally do.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to kick his ass.”
Smiling, I reach over to place a quick peck on his mouth, which results in Haze pulling me back in for the real deal. His lips move slowly against mine, but just like every damn time he kisses me, my heart wants to come out of my chest and say hi.
“So, your siblings, cute or monsters?” he asks when we pull away for air.
