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“Dad,” Nova’s voice carries with a higher pitch than usual. “Just listen to me.”
Their voices are coming from the conference room—a room with one entire wall that’s floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over expansive grounds. In the centre is a long table and at either end is a person. Ronnie is sitting in a high-back chair with her legs and arms crossed, looking every ounce of the music mogul she is.
A short man with greyish blonde hair, heavy brows, and a scowl on his clean-shaven face is at the other end. He’s leaning on the table.
“How could you let this happen, Ronnie?” he yells, and then I see Nova. “How could you let her just take off like that to Alaska? She was supposed to be under your watch.”
“She’s nineteen. What was I supposed to do? Lock her in a room?” Ronnie shouts back.
“She’d never have gotten the idea to display her life like a reality TV show if you hadn’t planted it there.” Her dad jams his finger on the dark wood table.
Nova stands in the middle, with wide eyes and fear etched in her features. Maybe not fear—she looks stuck. Stuck in a feeling, stuck in a memory.
Flashes of my childhood flicker behind my vision, the image ever imprinted on my mind.
My mom, flat against a wall, her face gripped in Jason’s hand. Spit flying across her cheek as he screamed. I stood in the kitchen, a terrified six-year-old boy staring in wonder and shame at the milk slowly spreading across the floor. It was my fault. No matter what Xan said, it was my fault. I knocked it over on purpose. I was mad at her and shoved the bowl from the table. I didn’t know it wasn’t plastic.
The crash startled my dad. It all happened so fast. It was the first time I’d seen him like that—the first time I triggered him—and Mom paid the price.
Then my body was suddenly suspended in the air. The house began to shift and move around me. Only it wasn’t the house. It was me, wrapped in Jet’s arms as he sprinted up the stairs as fast an eleven-year-old boy could run carrying his little brother. I didn’t help her. I just watched him do it. I grew numb from that moment, and every time after that, up until the baseball game incident when I triggered him, and Mom and Xan paid for it. After that, Dad disappeared, only coming back sometimes to stir shit up and leave again.
I snap out of my memory and realize Nova is staring at me. They are all staring at me. All I notice is her, stuck in the middle. Her parents aren’t like mine, not even a little bit, but they are completely screwed up in their own way.
This is our connection. But things are different now. I can help her. I can change things for her. For me. For us. I’m not six anymore. I don’t have to be the guy who numbs out anymore because I’m safe with her. With my family, I’m safe now.
With a deep shudder in my shoulders, I force out the discomfort and step fully into the moment. This is what I’m great at—breaking tension, lightening the mood, and staying in the moment.
“Sorry, I’m late. I was doing damage control with my sister.” I pull all my attention and focus on her dad. The only one I haven’t met yet. His features relax when he’s not looking at his ex-wife. “I’m Zeke. Nice to meet you, sir.”
He scans me before holding out his hand to shake mine. “Name’s Cooper. Nice to meet you. Nova has told me a lot about you. Thank you, Zeke, for keeping her safe during all this.”
I stay quiet, not wanting to ruin this moment of making a good first impression by reminding him that Nova doesn’t need me to keep her safe. That she’s the brains behind basically all of this.
“I’d do anything for her,” I add for good measure, and she blushes deeply. “But I think right now she has something to say.”
Cooper and Ronnie look to Nova, and the blush in her cheeks drains away. I nod at her. She’s got to face it, so I mouth to her the same thing I did when she met my brothers.
I’m right here.
