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I didn’t even move as her words washed through my head like a tsunami. I’d never really thought of the principal as a deep person, but those words were deeper than I could have ever imagined and they stuck with me even as I walked across the stage to shake her hand and accept my diploma.
Chapter 4
Harris
“Move your ass, Harris. We’re going to be late.”
I flipped Jace’s back off as he sprinted toward the auditorium where his girlfriend was graduating in just a few minutes. I wasn’t in the mood to watch a bunch of high school kids graduate. Fuck, I wasn’t in the mood for much of anything most of the time. I especially wasn’t in the mood to see Lucy.
Liar.
I gritted my teeth as Jace glanced over his shoulder to see if I was following him. Seeing that I wasn’t keeping up with him, he stopped and turned to glare at me. “You make me late for this and I’m gonna kick your ass. Hurry the fuck up, asshole. I’m not missing Kin walk across that stage to get her diploma.”
Kin was the only reason I was even out of bed on a Sunday before noon. She hadn’t just sent me an invite to her graduation but had asked me personally. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her no. She and Jace had been my rocks over the last few months and without them I wasn’t sure where the fuck I would have been. Showing up today was the least I could do for her.
Muttering a curse, I jogged to catch up with my best friend and he gave me a nasty glare before leading the rest of the way inside. The place was already full to capacity and at least fifty of the attendants were either rockers or the family of rockers. As soon as we stepped inside I heard Jace’s name being called and then my own.
Turning, I glanced up at the rows of faces and immediately found my parents and little sister waving at me. Jace, seeing Kin’s stepfather and stepsiblings, told me he’d see me after the ceremony. I nodded and took the stairs two at a time. Before I could reach them, my little sister rushed forward and I scooped her up in my arms as she threw herself at me.
Trinity grinned, making her matching dimples pop and I was helpless not to smile back. “Hey troublemaker.”
Blue-gray eyes identical to her mother’s narrowed on me. “I’m the good one,” she reminded me with the kind of sass her mom was so well known for, making me chuckle. “Missed you, Harris.” Her tiny arms hugged my neck and she held on tight.
I hugged her closer, breathing in her sweet little girl scent and finding a small taste of peace that I’d been desperate to find for so fucking long now. “Missed you too, Trin.” Not letting her go, I climbed the rest of the stairs until I reached our parents and took her empty chair beside Natalie.
My stepmother gave me a welcoming smile before reaching for my tie to straighten it. “I thought you were going to shave,” she said with a huff.
I shrugged. “Didn’t feel like it.” I didn’t feel like doing anything most days. If it weren’t for work, I would stay in bed all day, hating the world.
Hating myself.
Trinity turned around on my lap. “Daddy is taking me and Mommy to lunch afterward. Wanna come with us?”
“He’s coming, Trin.” The rocker’s voice left no room for arguing.
I shot a glare past Natalie to where my dad was sitting, watching me like a hawk. “I have plans already,” I told him.
“To do what? Go home and stare at your walls?” He rolled his eyes. “That’s bullshit. Your ass is going to go eat with us. You look like you need a few steaks, dude.”
“Jace is giving Kin a party at her apartment. I’m going.”
That had both my parents lifting their brows. “Kin…and Lucy?” Devlin Cutter said her name almost hesitantly, as if he knew just how much hearing her name would affect me. There was no way he couldn’t know that just the mention of Lucy’s name sliced into me like a hot blade.
I forced my hands to unclench and stroked my fingers through Trinity’s long dark hair. To have looked at us right then most people would have assumed that she was my daughter and not my baby sister. I looked so much like my father, and Trinity was the perfect female clone of the both of us.
“Yeah,” I gritted out after a long silence where both my dad and stepmother just sat there watching me. “Kin and Lucy.”
“Good,” Devlin said with a nod, making his own long dark hair fall over his shoulder. “You’re still eating with us, though.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Natalie turned toward me in her chair, her maternal instincts taking in every little detail about my face and finding all the unspoken answers that she needed. “Stop arguing. You’re going with us. Now shut up. The girls will be out soon.”
Trinity shot me a smirk, having gotten her way. I tapped her on the nose before turning her on my lap so she could watch the ceremony that was about to start. Seconds later the lights in the auditorium went dim and the stage became brighter as the seniors all walked out.
As each student stepped out in their cap and gowns my heart sped up a little more. Halfway through, I saw Kin. With her height and long red hair, she was hard to miss. I yelled out for her along with my parents, Jace, and her family, refusing to turn my head when I heard a chorus of other people whistling and calling out to her from across the auditorium. The Demons had welcomed Kin with open arms from the first day Lucy had brought her home with her. I watched as Kin smiled and lifted her hand to wave at everyone as she took her seat.
Ten students later and my heart was no longer beating my chest to death. It stopped as all the air in my lungs expelled and wouldn’t fill back up. With five-inch heels and her curls bouncing around her shoulders, Lucy walked out and the people around me went crazy as I tried to find the will to make my lungs work again.
