“You fucked up tonight with the team.”
“The team doesn’t matter right now.”
“Bullshit.” My voice rises. “The team is all we have if this doesn’t work out. And the way you’re going, we’re going to lose everything. The team. The friendship. Her.”
He runs his hands through his hair like he’s defeated, like his mind has been spinning for days. “Do you really think it’ll work out? Three guys, one girl?”
“We don’t fucking know because you’re putting her through hell, man,” Callum says.
“I’m not doing it on fucking purpose, Cal. I can’t fucking help it.”
I add, “I think you’re just protecting yourself.”
“You’re going to lose her if you keep this up,” Callum says. “She’s not going to wait forever for you to get your shit together.”
Jax looks at both of us. “I don’t know what to do.”
“She chose you to be public with, dude,” Callum says. “She didn’t choose me or Zephyr. She won’t even look at us in public. She chose you, not us. Why isn’t that enough?”
Jax doesn’t answer.
We sit in silence for a while. Then he stands.
“I’m sorry about the game,” he says quietly.
I raise a brow at Cal. He shrugs.
He looks at me. “I fucked up and let the team down.” He walks to the door and stops. “This is easy for you two?”
I look at Cal and shrug. “Honestly, Jax. She didn’t give us a choice.”
Cal adds, “And given the choice to have her or not, I’d do anything to have her.”
He nods. Then he leaves.
Chapter Forty-Six: Tigerlily
My phone rings at seven in the morning, and my heart jumps into my throat when I see the caller.
“Hello?”
“Miss Lopez, this is Sandra from Child Protective Services. We have an urgent situation with Zinnia’s placement.”
I sit up in bed too fast. My injured arm pulls and pain shoots to my fingers. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. The foster family has requested she be moved. The placement isn’t working out.”
My heart races.Oh, no.“What does that mean?”
“It means we need to find alternative placement immediately. Given your pending guardianship petition—”
“I’ll take her. Right now. Today. Whatever you need from me, I’ll have it ready.”
“It’s not that simple. We need to complete the home study first, and we need a co-guardian who—”
“With all due respect, she’smysister. I’m so grateful you’re calling me to let me know of her situation, but please, Sandra. I…” I start crying, unable to control myself. My chest feels pain similar to when my mom went to prison. “I––I would really love to have her. She’s my little sister. She should be with me. I will doanything, please.”
Sandra’s quiet for a moment. “I understand your frustration. Let me make some calls. Can you be available this afternoon?”
