“Don’t,” he mutters.
Flick. Flick. Flick.
His thumb snaps the lighter over and over before he suddenly roars and whirls, throwing both lighter and cigarette into the gutter.
“FUCK YOU!” he bellows, storming toward me and jabbing a finger in my chest. “Fuck you for not telling me!!”
“Iwanted to,” I hiss. “Fuck, did I want to.”
“Then why the fuckdidn’tyou?!” he screams, startling pedestrians as they walk past us. “Instead of letting me try and cultivate a fuckingrelationshipwith him!”
“Because I knew Morgan was the only father you were ever going to have!” I roar back. “And I’d already taken you away from him once, and…”
“And because you hate him.”
My blood pressure spikes. “Yes, but not just because he was a piece of shit when we were growing up,” I growl. “I hate that he let you go your whole childhood thinking thathewas your father, when he knew he wasn’t! Because to me, that makes the abuse and the neglect even worse! He let you grow up thinkingyour own fatherwas that big a piece of shit to you, when hecouldhave lessened that hurt!” I roar. “He could have told you the goddamn truth, and then he’d just be a deadbeat piece of shitstepdad, not your piece of shitactual father. He had the chance to do something hard and make a kid’s lifeslightlyless shitty, and hedidn’t take it.”
I throw my head back, exhaling all the pain and venom inside as I look up at the steel and neon high above us.
“I love you, Val,” I growl quietly. “You’re my brother, and I would doanythingfor you, and I'm so fucking sorry.”
I look at him, both of us shaking with emotion.
“Yeah,” he growls, looking down at the pavement. “I'm sorry, too.”
48
EVELINA
“Someone order a lavender-mocha frappa-nightmare?”
I grin, whirling and then squealing as I almost tackle Val to the ground with the force of my hug.
“You’re back!!”
He chuckles, hugging me awkwardly as he juggles the two to-go cups.
“Back in black, baby,” he grins, winking at me. “Here.”
My eyes light up as he hands me one of the cups. “Oh myGod,” I groan. “You know how much I love these.”
He snorts. “I also know Milena has banned you from drinking them because they’re full of sugar and caffeine, which do not play well with you.”
I giggle.
“So, if she sees that, and she asks, you didnotget it from me.”
My lips pull into a wide grin. “Deal.” I take a sip of the hot drink and groan. “OhMyGoddddthat is so freaking good. Right?”
“Oh, this?” Val makes a face, lifting his to-go cup. “No, babygirl. This is black coffee. You know, because I’m a grown up?”
I give him the finger, and he cracks up before he slings a muscled arm around my shoulders. “I fuckin’ missed you, Evie.”
We’re the first ones in the alley behind the Mercury, where the dancers congregate before rehearsal, because we agreed to meet early to catch up.
“So how was the trip? How was the Grand Canyon? How was everything?! TELL ME EVERYTHING!!!”
“Dude,” he grins. “Onesip and you’re already the fucking energizer bunny. I can see why Milena put her foot down on these.”
