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“Trust me, it won’t be forever.”
Weirdly enough, I believed her. I found it easy to accept those words. Maybe it was the wine. More reasonably, maybe it was the fact that I’d chosen not to respond to my mother’s unfeeling message.
My phone screen lit up. Another message had come through. I knew sooner or later she would blow me up with questions. When I lifted it to check, I saw the name I hadn’t anticipated seeing:Andres.
It made me shiver. What did he have to say to me? was it bad or good? Did I want to know?
Goddess, yes, I definitely want to know.
Worry trickled through my chest as I opened the message. I stared at the black letters on the white background, almost confused by them. It was late now, and he must have discovered I wasn’t at the house and my things were (mostly) gone.
“You still have a job if you want it.”
It took me a minute to dig through my hazy memories, but I recalled that Andres had assured me things would be okay if I ever wanted to leave the arrangement. He said I could leave at any time. There wouldn’t be any legal ramifications.
I sighed while putting my phone back down. It was best to wait until morning to respond to that. By then, I would be sober—and maybe I would be ready to face everything.
Chapter 20 - Andres
Mornings were my most productive time when I wasn’t nursing an emotional hangover. I tried to ignore the fact that my feet tingled each time I crossed the floor, but it was impossible to ignore. Sadie’s absence was a palpable void that made me want to hide for the rest of my life.
Distraction became my calling card during such times. I grabbed the newspaper, made myself a cup of coffee, and started to get cozy in my chair until someone knocked on the porch door. Most visitors knocked at the door downstairs. Whoever had knocked on the porch door came specifically to me.
My heart clenched as I raced to the door. Spencer piloted his way into the kitchen without asking whether I wanted his company. His usual silence was interrupted by a grunt as he set a basket on the counter. “Bagels.”
I lifted an Everything Bagel and sniffed it. “Fresh?”
Spencer glared at me, his reddish-brown eyes sharp like volcanic stones and slicing me with such harsh criticism that I nearly tossed the bagel into his face.
Shrugging, I grabbed a napkin and went to the fridge for cream cheese. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“I can feel you brooding from across the neighborhood.”
“Sure, and our biological father is sitting somewhere in the country feeling guilty over abandoning us.Good one.”
The next grunt he made sounded deeper. “Sit down. Eat.”
Ah, I loved Spencer so much. He was a man of few words, choosing to say things with force instead of expanding on something important like his feelings. But one of the three had to be the brute, and it wasn’t going to be me.
Spencer caught my shoulder. “We heard she left.”
“We?”
“Xavier is bringing Leo by in a bit.”
I popped my shoulder out of his grip. “Is this an intervention?”
“You fucked up.”
Directly to the point with my half-brother. That was actually what made it nicer to be around him than other people in the pack. Sadie stumbled over her words and beat around her meanings while Spencer and Xavier stated things as they were.
Well, perhaps being half-brothers had something to do with that. It was much easier to speak candidly to a man who’d grown up with me. For Sadie who had no siblings, she just wasn’t used to people communicating with her. The fact that she left was nothing for me to keep sulking over, and I didn’t understand why Spencer came over to throw the facts in my face.
Sure, I had fucked up. But Sadie screwed me over.
I plopped into the dining room chair and shoved the basket aside so I could look at Spencer sitting across from me. On second thought, I dragged the basket back to block his view.
He pushed it aside. “You let her slip through your fingers. You’re mad about it.”
