“Lee, he won!” Jumping out of Axel’s arms, she runs to me with her arms open.
As she collides with my chest, I let out anoof. “I saw, love.”
I laugh into her hair as she giggles.
She pulls away slightly, and her innocent chocolate-brown eyes meet mine. “He’s a legend,” she says so seriously that it makes me bark out a laugh. She’s quoting what I said to the guys moments ago.
What I’ve learned by raising this crazy girl is that kids are like sponges. They soak up everything. I realized the hard way to filter what I say in front of her. One day, I came home from work and quickly heard from Nora that she called her a bitch.
I’ve never said the wordbitchin front of Stella again after that.
“Can I have some chocolate milk?” she asks shyly.
Kissing her forehead, I smile down at my sweet sister. “You can have anything you want.”
Placing her on the floor, I hear her delicate footsteps behind me as I make my way to the kitchen.
Finding Axel and Rowan already sitting at the barstools, eating chips, Stella waves at them. “I’m gonna have chocolate milk!”
Axel swoons. “Aw, that’s so cute.” Looking up, he smiles knowingly. “Levi, make me chocolate milk.”
I know what he’s trying to do, and it won’t work. I just hope Stella doesn’t fall for his games. He always uses her to get to me.
“No,” I grit out.
“Lee, make him chocolate milk,” she says with a sweet smile.
She walks toward him, and he places her on his lap and bounces her on his knee.
Jackass. I wish I could slap that smug smirk off his face.
“You want some too?” I turn toward Rowan, and he shakes his head in response.
Turning, I start mixing the chocolate powder into milk. Placing a metal straw in each glass—because we have to save the fucking turtles and shit—I slide the drinks over toward Axel and Stella.
“Thank you, Lee,” she says before gulping down the entire glass.
“Thanks, Lee.” Axel winks and blows me a kiss.
Making sure Stella isn’t looking my way, I give him the finger. To that, his smirk just widens.
The house phone rings, catching my attention from the jackass in front of me. No one really calls our house line, except when I call Nora to check up on Stella. I walk over to where it lies, and my hand freezes.
Shit. What the hell does she want?
“Who is it?” my naive little sister asks.
“Nobody,” I say too quickly, causing Rowan and Axel to frown.
“It’s her isn’t it?” Rowan gives me the look that screams,I can see right through you.
I nod, and my throat bobs as I swallow hard.
“You should answer it,” Axel points out softly. “It might be important since you haven’t heard from her in almost a year.”
Deep down, I know he’s right. Why would my mom call me? What if she’s in trouble? Sick?
Fuck, I hate that I still care.
