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Even if they constantly piss me off to no end.
A silver sedan pulls up to the curb and I check the license plate number against the one in my Uber app. “I’m going home to calm down and have some space. I’ll see you in two hours.”
They don’t stop me as I climb into the car. After greeting Tris, I settle against the seat and check the time, do a quick calculation and decide it’s not too late to call Desi.
She answers on the second ring. Her face, so like mine, bright and happy as she grins at me. Her dyed red hair is pulled into a messy bun and the nose ring in her nostril glitters as she squeals. “Ro-Ro!” I see the telltale signs of a pub in the background behind her and know immediately that she’s drunk.
I force a smile to my lips and lean my head against the car window. “Hey, Des.”
Her brows lower over her hazel eyes, and she frowns. “What’s wrong? What happened? Do I have to kick one of your boyfriend’s asses?”
I huff out a laugh. “Can you kick all of their asses? Cause they really landed me in some shit.”
“Oh, no! What did they do?”
I shake my head. “Well, you know how I got that internship for the summer?” I hate lying to Desi. Fucking hate it so much. But she doesn’t know anything about this new world I’m living in. She doesn’t know about witches and magic and covens that want to kill me. Even though she’s dating Hardin’s sister, who, as far as I know, is also a witch, she’s so completely unaware. And that really fucking bothers me.
“Yeah, of course I remember that. What happened? Did they fuck that up for you?”
I shake my head. “No. Mom took me out to a goodbye lunch, and they showed up, even though they weren’t invited. And now mom knows.”
Her eyes go wide. “She knows?”
“Sheknows,” I confirm.
My sister scrambles up from her chair and I know she’s going to step outside so that we can have a more private conversation. When she settles onto a bench, she looks back at me. “Okay. How did she handle the news that you have four boyfriends?”
My driver makes a choking sound, but I ignore her in favor of answering my sister. “Well, she called me a whore and accused them of passing me around, so about as well as you can expect, I guess.”
Desi’s cheeks puff out. “Considering our mother, that’s pretty mild.” I nod, not quite meeting her eyes. I can feel her peering at me through the screen, her older sister senses tingling. “What else aren’t you telling me, Ro?”
I pick at a thread on my skirt and look up at the screen of my cell. “I may or may not have called her out on all her bullshit and then told her I’ll never see her again, unless she reaches out to me.”
My sister stares at me wide eyed.This is it,I think.I’ve forced her to choose between me and our mother, and if she says she’s on mom’s side, I’ll really be alone. For the rest of my life, I will have no family.
“Can you say something, Des? Please?”
She blinks and snaps her mouth closed. “I’m sorry. I’m just coming to terms with how much of a badass my little sister is. You really called her on it? What did she say? God, I wish I could have been there to see the look on her face!”
I chuckle, though the situation isn’t even the least bit funny, but Desi has a way of making me feel better. “She didn’t say anything, but really, I didn’t give her the chance. I was at my limit of frustration and I didn’t want to start shouting in Hearthfire, so I just left.”
She nods slowly. “I’m sure she’ll come around once the shock wears off. I mean, that’s what she’s always wanted. A wealthy man to take care of her. It’s why she goes up to Seattle for all of those conventions and parties. It should thrill her you snagged four. That way, if you break up with even one of them, you’ll still have three left.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Yeah, well, if it was you, she’d probably come around, but you know she’s different with me.”
The car slows to a stop and I glance up to find that we’re outside the small two story blue craftsman house on the east side of Olympia. “Oh, Des, I gotta go. I need to pack as much of my stuff as I can in the next two hours.”
She nods. “Call me tomorrow after your first day at the internship. I want to know how it goes.” Internally, I wince at the lies I’m going to tell her over the next few months, but outwardly I nod as I push open the door, flashing a smile of thanks at my driver.
“Will do. Love you most, Des.”
“Love you more, Ro.”
I hang up and navigate to the Uber app, leaving a sizable tip and giving five stars, and then start toward the front door.
I don’t miss Hardin’s fancy shmancy car pulls up to the curb and parks. He doesn’t get out though, apparently respecting my need for space, while still making sure I’m safe.
It’s amazing how quickly you can pack up an entire lifetime’s worth of belongings. To be fair, most of my stuff was still packed from Septem Stellae—Seven Stars—so the only things I really needed to pack were my clean clothes and the last few knickknacks and pictures that I absolutely cannot live without.
