“Perfect.That new hotel opened up on Riverside.I’ll book a night there.”I know I sound a little too chipper, but I want them to know I’m supportive.It’s got nothing to do with how lonely it will be in the apartment without them.
Plus, I’ve always wanted to have a staycation in town.
Lucky is uncharacteristically quiet.Maybe I should have offered sooner.
“Don’t go on our account,” Sterling says.“We’ll go instead.”
“Don’t do that.”Although I am curious.
Sterling still has an apartment, but they never spend any time there.I’ve asked why, but all Lucky will say is, “Because you’re here,” which I’m assuming is code for our shower having better pressure or something.
I’m not complaining.
I like living with them.For the first time in two years, Chance actually feels like home and not somewhere I’ve been squatting in, clinging to its foundations while it tries to pry me off.
After dinner, we collapse onto the sofa to watch a movie.Lucky pulls my feet into his lap, which is how I know it’s Sterling’s night to choose.
Sterling’s taste in entertainment is … surprising.The show is great.I just never pictured him watching anime—rude, I know—or really anything this gory and outrageous.
“I read more than the news,” Sterling defends.
Lucky presses his thumb into the arch of my foot, and I bite back a moan.
“Mac here wanted to be a comic artist as a kid.”
“Really?”I’ve seen the doodles he makes in the margins of his notes, an irresistible urge to draw in quiet moments.I imagine his textbooks must have been filled with them.
“After the accident, I took a break, and I never really picked it back up.”
Oh.
Sterling talks about losing his parents like that, never shying away, just a direct statement.Lost them at sixteen, drunk driver, instant fatality.It never fails to be a punch in the gut, and though he rips the Band-Aid off, it’s clear in the raw edge of his voice that the wound won’t ever heal.
It’s a stark contrast to the free-flowing emotion Lucky shares with the world, but it runs just as deep.
I pull my legs back.
“What’s wrong?”Lucky asks.
Sterling speaks before I can answer.“It’s about your mother’s birthday, isn’t it?”
“How did you—” I cut myself off.
Of course Sterling worked it out; it’s what he does.
“It’ll be the first time I’m seeing everyone since I left.”
It’ll be my first time seeing Huey sinceheleft.
“Nothing to worry about, love,” Lucky says.
But there is.
“Mia”—Sterling’s voice is low—“you won’t be facing him alone.”
What?
“You didn’t think we would sit back and let you go by yourself, did you?”
