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Friends.
We’d become friends. Or at least, I thought that was what we were doing. Even Jonas seemed to behave like we were. When I did the lyrics for his song, I never asked him what he was planning to do with it…
Then Dad called him one of his kids.
One. Of. His. Kids.
That hurt way more than it should have.
His singingthatsong in particular only served to dig fingers into this fresh wound. At the end of what had been a fantastic night, and with my lips tingling from the kisses I’d shared with Jonas, I had no idea what to do with the burn of that revelation.
Jonas seemed surprised. I didn’t even think that was manufactured, but he gave the song to Dad. Fine. Whatever.
Then Dad dedicated it to him.
That…that was taking a lot longer to get over. We tap danced around the step sibling drama. I thought we’d begun to find a natural rhythm living together. My issues with the other douchebags aside, I’d actually started to let myself forget they were douchebags.
Big mistake.
Huge.
“Can I do anything?” Yvette asked on the phone while I painted my toenails. Aubrey glanced over at me from where she was working on her nails.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Like every single time I think I have a handle on this normal life shit, it just all goes sideways. I talked to Frankie a few days ago and she said that sometimes, life just sucks and you can only push through it, and if I wanted Jake to beat the shit out of the boys, he was in.”
“Oh, I vote for that,” Yvette said with a laugh. “In fact, I’ll come down and help. I’ll ask Jean-Paul to come as well.”
“Oh, ho,” Aubrey pounced verbally. “The mystery man has a name and it’syourex-boyfriend?”
Sighing, Yvette said, “Oui. My ex-boyfriend.” The mocking tone just made me grin wider. “‘Course, he is now my boyfriend again and we have been working on our communication skills and figuring things out. He is attending college here and we ran into each other…”
“And one thing led to another,” I said. “Then your clothes fell off.”
“Oh no, I threw them off. Jean-Paul has always had a magnificent dick, and to be honest, I did miss it.”
Laughter spilled out of Aubrey, and I grinned. “Well, good to know his dick is still good.”
“Magnificent,” Yvette corrected. “But that is beside the point. As I said, I will volunteer Jean-Paul to help Jake and possibly Ian. He is very protective, too. They can come beat up those irritating boys because how dare they…”
Yeah. How dare they. The douchebags were just—douchebags. Aubrey and Yvette devolved into a debate about how awful the guys were, and I only half-listened while my toenails dried.
My one remaining guitar had come back from the shop “good as new,” but it wasn’t the same. Even though they’d done a great job of repairing it, it even felt different each time I tried to pick it up.
“Kait,” Aubrey said, and I dragged my attention back to the present. “How are things going over here?”
“Fine,” I said. “Perfectly polite. He does his thing, I do mine.” We were just two step-siblings sharing a suite. We didn’t watch shows or share meals, and though he still shadowed me on campus, he kept his distance.
Lachlan and Ramsey had both been there, on the periphery between the dance and spring break. Now I was back on campus and we were looking down the barrel of the end of the year.
Classes were getting tighter, but I cared less. Or maybe I’d just gotten used to it all.
Graduation was coming.
* * *
Mid-April turned warm on the campus. Warm, gorgeous skies and beautiful flowers helped me go back to running full-time. I needed it. Mom had emerged from her self-imposed exile to let me know she was considering taking another movie role. That she was ready.
They told her she was ready.
