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She looks so worried, and I don’t know what to do with that. Nobody in this room should be giving me a scrap of their attention. It would be better if they forgot about me entirely, because I’ve crossed the rubicon. I stole a woman this time, not a baby pig. This isn’t something I can come back from. It doesn’t matter that Lily’s fine, and she’s—
She’s somewhere else, away from me, just like I wanted.
My little sister screws up her mouth and squares her shoulders. “Will you please just tell Mason? If you got arrested, you need a lawyer.”
“Will you please just let our brother have fun hanging out with his new baby? I’ll get a lawyer myself if I need one.”
“What did you get arrested for? Did it have to do with that woman in the hallway you’re in love with?”
“For fuck’s sake, Remy, it didn’t have anything to do with her.”
Remy stares at me.
I stare back.
That was the wrong answer, and frankly, this is fucking unfair. When your sister is seven, you have more wiggle room with bold-faced lies. I was practically a god back then. Now I’m just a guy who keeps getting arrested.
“Also,” I add, like it’s just now occurring to me, “I’m not in love with anyone, much less some random woman in the hallway.”
“Some…random woman,” Remy echoes, a gleefully suspicious expression on her face. “Some completely random woman who got past Mason’s security and lingered out in the hallway and tried to catch a glimpse of you with her eyes all huge like—”
“How do you know what she looked like?”
“Lydia told me.”
I point a finger at her. “You made a promise.”
Remy points atme. “I didn’t promise not to say anything to Nate or Lydia, so you might want to be more careful with your demands.”
“Do not say anything to Nate or Lydia.”
“Fine, but only because you understand the value of freshly baked cake.”
Robin the Baby makes a scratchy sound like he’s actually half-bird, or maybe half-dinosaur, and Remy and I both lower our accusatory fingers.
“Who was she?” Remy whispers. “She came here with you, so she must matter.”
“Just someone who—”
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
“Someone you’re in love with?” Remy whispers.
Someone I kidnapped. Someone I’ve fucked things up with forever. Someone who wanted to stay with me to figure out who we were together, which is a terrible idea. I’m a burned-out shell of an office building. I’m yellow police tape and flashing lights. I’m an arrest warrant.
I’m not for a person like Lily.
I don’t recognize the number on the screen. I swipe to answer it anyway. “Hello?”
Remy leans in, and I put my fingertips on her shoulder and push her back.
“Jameson?”
Lily. It’s Lily. It’s her, with an unsteady voice, like she’s been running. I didn’t know she had my number. I never gave it to her. I gave her my entire phone, though, and it wasn’t locked, so I guess my number was free for the taking.
“It’s me,” I tell her, in what I hope is an extremely nonchalant way.
“I should preface—” A pause, during which a car goes by in the background. “I should preface this by saying that my actions this morning don’t constitute any kind of obligation on—”
