Her stomach churned, and Lily sat atop the bed with her hands in her lap.
“Um.” Danny rocked awkwardly from foot to foot. “Are you okay?”
She took a deep breath in through her nose and blew it out through her mouth. “No.” But she wasn’tnotokay either. Not in the way she thought she’d be. The spike of fear that had shot through her hours before was gone, and, in its place, a low burning fire of rage was taking over. And woven in: pity. How pathetic was he? How miserable? What a waste of a life—to be so hateful and wretched.
“But you know what?” Lily smiled softly. “That’s alright. Just because I’m upset right now doesn’t mean I’ll be upset forever.”
The young teen’s brows furrowed together. “But he hurt you. How do you move on from that?”
She rose from the bed and shrugged. “By reminding myself that he’s a piece of shit. And that has nothing to do with me.”
He nodded, his face grim, as if contemplating the trueness of her words. “Well, um… I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Thanks, Danny.”
“Do you wanna be alone? Or I could load up Duos inFortnite?”
A laugh broke past her lips. “I don’t think I’d be very good.”
“That’s fine.” Excitement lit up his deep blue eyes. “I’m goated. I can carry you. I carry Kieran, and he’s a fucking bot.”
That meant Kieran spent time with Danny outside of meals and his basketball games. Good. The kid definitely needed his brother. “Okay. You load it up and run a warm-up round. I’m just gonna take a minute.”
“Bet.”
He disappeared down the hall, and Lily slung her hands into her pockets. Was Shauna’s room where Kieran wanted her to stay? The room was plenty warm and inviting, but it wasn’t what she’d had in mind when Kieran invited her over. She stepped into the hall, turned away from Danny’s room and headed toward the closed door at the end. It opened without so much as a squeak.
The first thing she noticed was how neat his room was, especially compared to Danny’s. A sprawling king-size bed covered in a powder-blue-and-navy-checkered comforter greeted her first. Every pillow was fluffed and each corner tucked into place. She moseyed over to his dresser, admiring the assorted high school wrestling trophies. There were a few frames, too. In one, a teenage Kieran in South Side MMA gear grinned with one arm tossed over Neal’s shoulders. In another, four children gathered around, smiling from a front porch. She easily recognized Kieran. Dark hair and even darker eyes. That damn scar in his brow, even as a young teen or tween, but he was smiling. At whom? His mother?
He had a black-haired baby in his arms. That had to beDanny. And a little brunette with pigtails held on to his pant leg. Was that Shauna? Maeve was recognizable, though she stood several inches shorter than her brother. They looked like normal, happy kids. Hell, maybe on that day they were.
A firm knock on the door frame drew her attention from the photos. Kieran walked in and leaned against the wall by the dresser. “Find anything good?”
“Just you smiling.” She gestured toward the frame. “I think I might be able to blackmail you with this.”
He rolled his eyes and granted her one of his rare beaming grins. “I have photo albums, too, if you wanna go through them.”
“Hmm, I don’t know, Sullivan.” She spun away from his dresser and made her way to a small bookshelf. Among the knickknacks and surprisingly large collection of wristwatches were a few books.A Rose for Emily. The Fall of the House of Usher. Oliver Twist.What a hopeful collection. “Are you sure you want to give me ammunition? I might send some baby photos to Seb.”
“Go ahead. Let him know I’ve been cuter than him since day one.”
Lily huffed and plopped down onto his bed. Since when did Kieran make jokes about his attractiveness? “You don’t have to be overly cheery for me. I’m fine.”
He hummed and crossed the room, sitting quietly beside her. “That’s why you didn’t say as much as two words to me in the car. Because you’re fine.”
Touché. “I was texting Nat.”
“And what did she say?”
“She wanted to come get me.” Lily lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling fan as it spun in lazy circles. “I told her I was with you.”
“And she’s okay with that?”
Actually, she’d been incredibly wary that Kieran might take advantage of the situation and had to be told about five times that everything was under control. “She came around after I promised to make an emergency appointment with my therapist for sometime this week.”
Kieran lay down, too, and covered Lily’s hand with his. “She’s a good friend.”
“The best.” Lily rolled toward Kieran, and he moved to match her, searching her face with those deep brown eyes.
