“It’s really about exploring where this takes us,” Kira explained. “No pressure. Just fun.”
That was an understatement.
Lily smiled a little as she watched us curiously. “And it’s exclusively you two?”
“Are you hinting at something, Lil’?” I grinned.
Dean’s brow raised as he watched her, also curious about her answer.
Lily’s cheeks flushed red. “No. I was just wondering.”
Dean’s mood was slowly lifting as he braced his arms on the table, eyes only on Lily. “I don’t like sharing anyway. Unless it’s something you’re into.”
“Oh my god,” she laughed, sinking low in her seat.
Kira was grinning from ear to ear. “NowI’mcurious.”
“Dean and I have seen each other naked, if you’re still wondering,” I shrugged nonchalantly.
Dean didn’t deny it when Kira looked at him to confirm. He crossed his arms. “It was a dare.”
Kira laughed again while Lily pulled the neck of her sweater up to her eyes, hiding her smile and flushed red cheeks.
“What have I started?” she mumbled.
“Whole can of worms just…” I made a popping sound with my cheek and finger.
When our laughter died down, Kira hummed in thought.
“You know what we should do?” She straightened in her seat, face glowing with a smile. “A rage room.”
“Agreed. I went to one for my birthday once, and that shit feels better than therapy—” I stopped myself as I looked at Lily who was apparently starting therapy next Monday. “Not that I’ve been to therapy to determine what’s better than it. I’m sure therapy is really good too.”
“It’s fine, Seb,” she said. “I think a rage room could be fun, though. I’ve never been.”
“Itwouldbe nice to smash somethin’,” Dean admitted.
“Great!” Kira beamed. “We should go this Saturday when we’re all free.”
I chuckled. “That room won’t know what hit it.”
Chapter 37
Dean
In the two days since Roxy’s death, I went to work at the garage on autopilot and took Mom to all her necessary appointments. A physio visit being one to keep her leg muscles moving. She would never walk again, but it prevented muscle atrophy and got her out of the house. Not that her social life was lacking.
When I showed up to drive her to the appointment, she had questions about the cuts on my body. She wanted the truth, all of it, so I gave it to her.
She didn’t know Roxy — or about the relationship I once had with her — but Mom mourned her anyway as if she were family.
I didn’t inherit that big heart of hers that was capable of loving so many, including people she had never met.
Mom was too good for this world.
Which was why I was sitting on a dining chair in her dark living room, angled beside the front window so I had a perfect view of the street.
I had double-checked every lock in the house after helping her into bed. Most nights she did that herself, but the recent physiotherapy had left her sore and tired. She told me earliershe would be fine alone, but I needed to settle my nerves, and providing her protection gave me some kind of control over a larger, spiraling situation. I knew Lily was safe at her parents’ house. This was the least I could do.
