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Jesse
Just found out I finish up in nine days. Wanna do a movie next week?
I swallow despite having a dry mouth and type back a quick affirmative before silencing my cell and letting my head fall back against the seat, eyes squeezed shut lest the tears start to fall.
Eyes on the prize, Summer. Eyes on the fucking prize.
* * *
CADEN
“I still can’t believe that other piece of shit came as Super-fucking-man.”
Henry, having shucked his Batman mask, scrubs his hands down his face, smudging the black face paint around his eyes. “If you make one more jibe about my sister and herunmentionablelife—”
I cut him off, throwing a wink at a smirking Liv. “Hersexlife? Is that it, DeMarco?”
He throws up his hands in exasperation. “I’m out of here, North. You’re a prick and a half.” Slapping me playfully on both cheeks, he then pinches them with a grin. “Tell Bella we’ll see her next week for that sleepover.”
I nod, my grin widening as I shove his hands away. “She’ll love it. She thinks Bash is her own personal doll.”
When Bella had blown out her candles earlier, she’d wished for a sibling. My heart sank, but Liv, always quick thinking, jumped forward and asked if Bella would like to be her helper with their baby son, Sebastian.
Bella can’t pronounce his full name, so he’s been Bash since he was born last spring.
“She’s a great help, and he settles easier when she’s around.” Liv’s voice is quiet, but even so, the sound rouses the sleeping infant in her arms.
Henry is quick to scoop his son into his arms, pressing him softly against his chest, and Bash calms immediately.
Liv narrows her eyes as Henry smugly side-eyes her. “Show-off.”
Henry tips his chin in farewell, lest he waken his overtired son, and the trio make their way toward the front door, the final stragglers to leave the party.
I loosen my tie and shrug out of the deep purple Joker jacket I’ve been wearing all day, tossing it across the back of one of the chairs at the breakfast bar.
“Mr North?”
At the sound of my name, I turn to find Serena standing just inside the kitchen door.
“Bella is in bed, but she’s asking for you to sing to her…”
She trails off sheepishly. We both know this is a usual occurrence from Bug. I’ve never denied her. And Ineverwill.
“That’s no problem, Serena. You can finish up for the evening. We’ll see you in the morning.”
She smiles softly, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. “Of course. I won’t be far if she needs me. Goodnight, Mr North.”
My heart swells in my chest, hearing the genuine love and concern in Serena’s voice, only to crumble to pieces when I think of how her mother, Layla,shouldbe like that. But she isn’t, and it kills me that I refused to see it for so many years.
The knife twists deeper when I admit to myself that she was right that day in the hospital in Miami. I saw her toxic behaviour long before we ever got together, but stupidly, and out of blind loyalty to my brother, thought I could fix her. That I could bring her back to the girl he’d known.
The girl he’d loved.
My mind unwillingly wanders back as I slowly meander up the stairs towards Bella’s attic bedroom. Searching the depths of my memories in an effort to find where everything had gone so spectacularly wrong, I finally light upon a long-buried memory best forgotten.
And, even as I tell myself that blatant lie, my heart skips a beat as images soar through my head.
* * *
