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None of them are thinking of anything but the new baby.
None of them are thinking about how this room might as well be a palace compared to the recovery room they put Mason in after he almost died. Why would they? All that’s over. There’s even a brand-new version of me, cuddled up in Mason’s arms.Robinisn’t a fuck-up. He’s only been on then planet a few hours at this point, but that’s long enough to know he’ll neverbea fuck-up.
I’m the fuck-up.
“Are you going to tell me who she was?” Remy whispers. There’s no need for secrecy. Gabriel, Elise, Lydia, and Nate are in the other sitting room, talking about art. Mason and Charlotte are cooing over the baby. Nobody’s paying attention to us.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“The lady who was babysitting your bird.Thatbird.” She just her chin toward the countertop, where Snowball’s cage is currently perched. Inside it, he’s asleep on a little nest of bedding.
“No comment.”
Remy scooches closer. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Rem.” I pair it with a smile that I know looks pretty real, since I’ve been smiling at my sister the same way since she was seven and I was fourteen and only one of us could fake it. That person had to be me. Mason was wasting away from constant pain, Gabriel was spending his nights in alleys with strange men for money, and somebody had to put on a face for Remy. Not a brave face. Just a semi-normal one.
She peers up at me with her blue eyes narrowed. “Did you get arrested again?”
Yes. OfcourseI got arrested again. The only difference this time is that I called the cops on myself, because in addition to being a crime scene, I am a colossal fool.
How would I phrase that, anyway?Yes. I did get arrested, but it was for noble reasons this time. I mean…more noble than usual. Not that I think rescuing animals from being experimented on and fucking with rich, corrupt politicians isn’t noble. But it is fairly noble to right past wrongs. In this case, I was trying to make up for kidnapping a woman. No, I’m not joking. Yes, I let her go. No, she wasn’t the woman in the hallway. Why would you think that?
“Remy.” I put on my best offended face. “Of course I didn’t get arrested. I can’t believe you’d say that.”
“Important stuff happened,” she answers lightly. “Like…Robin was born. There was a scene at Mason’s apartment. If you didn’t get arrested, why did you miss it?”
I scan the room. The rest of our family is still focused on other things. I’m so tired I could fall asleep sitting up, or standing. I have a persistent thudding pain across my chest and down both arms. I don’t know if that’s from spending the night on the beach talking to my dead mom, getting arrested, or holding a baby who was named after me.
I’ve been lying to Remy for the majority of my life, and hers.
Fuck it.
“Don’t tell Mason or Gabriel.”
Her eyes go wide. “Jameson.”
“Don’t tell Charlotte or Elise, either.”
“You got arrested?”
“Yes, Remy, I got arrested. That’s why I didn’t see any of your texts until—until I did. But it’s not a big deal.”
“Did acopdo that to you?”
“Not so loud. And no. It was a chunk of hail.”
Remy pulls back a few inches to look at my face. “If byhailyou really meana cop,you have to tell Mason. You know he—”
“Mason just became a dad,” I shout-whisper at her. “Do you seriously think I’m going to tell him I got arrested right now?”
“He would want you to!”
“He wants to hold his baby, not deal with another one of his jackass brother’s problems.”
“You should not get punched by cops.”
“I didn’t get punched by a cop. I got punched by a piece of hail. Trust me, Remy, it looks worse than it is.”
