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“Fucking hell,” I huff. “Who has such good hearing at her age?”
“I hear you,yahmal!”
Lik shrugs. “You’re the oldest. I’m thedo-whatever-the-fuck-you-want-est.”
Isn’t that the truth.
I roll my eyes and turn back to my girl. “Here, take a seat.”
Only when I find a space for Alex to sit do I notice the death stare Emma is throwing my way. Just like that, reality comes back to hit me in the face.
Spending time with Alex is like living in a bubble. A pink bubble that smells like jasmine and where everything is soft and bright, and the only feeling that exists is the one of flying. She’s warm, smooth, and light. She’s a summer evening relieving my heart of the stress of life. My stomach gets that same feeling when an elevator goes down multiple stories. Except we never reach the ground. Alex and I…we just keep flying.
Seeing Emma today is a stark reminder of why I started going after Alex in the first place. Guilt replaces the peace my sweet girl brings me, and I feel the weight of everything falling back on my shoulders.
What a fucking mistake bringing her here.
Dinner goes kind of okay if we forget about my mother refilling Alex’s plate three times and her having to dodge everyone’s stare when she started eating like she was at the Queen of England’s table. The stress makes her mutter random things to herself, and I can see Lik noticing. Every time, he gives me an inquisitive stare and I pretend to ignore him. Alex does that all the time, and I wish he would just fucking leave it.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Lik asks Billie as we settle in the living room again. We always play a game before everyone heads home.
“My fiancé, you mean?”
“Yeah, not in this lifetime,” Emma snorts. It’s the only thing she’s said tonight. She’s been in a fucking mood because of me, and I’m ready to give it right back to her.
Billie rolls her eyes at her sister and addresses Lik. “He’s with his family.”
Billie is dating a King. We might have accepted if she had started dating someone who was part of the Kings’ crew, but the girl fell in love with not only our rival, but Caden King himself. His family built the Kings’ crew. They’re the reason we all suffer on a daily basis. Caden and Billie have moved away from the North Shore, but we refuse to see them together every time they set foot in town.
I don’t mention any of that. Not in front of Alex. I’m still trying to find the right moment to tell her I’m part of NSC. To come clean about everything. I tried last week before we had sex for the first time, but she cut me off. She wanted the moment to be perfect and I get it. I wanted that too.
To avoid explaining myself, and without leaving Alex out of the conversation, I simply tell her. “Billie and Caden had a bit of a Romeo and Juliet situation. But it’s fine now.”
“I see,” Alex nods, her eyes full of hearts because she’s a romantic. “Love Story,” she murmurs to herself.
“What’s those things you say to yourself?” my brother asks. Precisely what I wanted himnotto do. The man has no concept of personal space or privacy.
Her cheeks redden and I can practically feel the heat of her embarrassment.
“Lik, shut up,” I growl.
“It’s okay.” She puts strands of her beautiful locks behind her ears. “They’re Taylor Swift songs. I know it’s…stupid, but I started doing it when I was little. Mainly every time I was scared of something. So it kind of just became a habit whenever a situation fitted a song; I’d mutter it to myself. Like some sort of inside joke? But with only me, I guess.”
Everyone gapes at her, blinking and lost for words. She gulps, the tips of her ears a bright red.
“It’s silly,” she chuckles awkwardly, rubbing the tip of her index finger against her hairline. “Just forget I said anything.”
“I think it’s really cute, cupcake,” I say gruffly.
She looks at me, her hazel eyes brightening. “Really? But it’s so…stupid.”
I lean toward her so I can talk in her ear. “Say that what you do is stupid one more time and see what happens to your ass. Don’t apologize for being yourself, baby.”
“You know what,” Lik chuckles. “I would expect nothing less from you. You’re obviously a really sweet girl, and I think it’s charming as fuck.”
“It’s the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” Rose adds seriously. “Can we adopt you?” She turns to Lik, tapping his shoulder excitedly. “Can we adopt her?”
“She’s not a puppy, Rose,” I snarl, but Alex is laughing next to me.
