Page 223 of Masters of Control

On the other hand, they could definitely afford a hotel room nearby. Whatever. They could figure that out later.

His mom smiled brightly, and even his dad’s lips curved into a small smile. Then her smile faded, and she glanced at his dad again. There was more. Lifting her chin, she met Asad’s gaze squarely.

“We also… we need to apologize,” she said before faltering.

To Asad’s surprise, his dad picked up the verbal baton rather than letting the moment linger, his voice gruff but sincere.

“We weren’t fair to you when you were a kid. Our only defense is that we didn’t realize at the time what we were doing. We never meant to make you feel like… like you didn’t mean as much to us as Cyrus. Eventually, we realized what we’d done, what we’d been doing, but it was too late to change it.”

“By eventually, he means recently.” His mom chimed in, and his parents shared a guilty-looking glance.

Asad was floored. This went far beyond anything he’d expected from them, even though they’d been clear about wanting to make amends.

“A friend of mine brought up ‘glass children’ and ‘the well child,’ and once I learned more about it, I realized that’s what we’d done to you.” She met Asad’s eyes, chewing on her lower lip. “We’re so sorry. We have some habits we’re working on undoing, but we wanted you to know that we do want to fix things⁠—”

Unable to listen to anymore but also unable to speak, Asad stepped forward and wrapped his mom in a huge hug. She made a little sobbing noise against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him, gripping him tightly enough to make him grunt. Then his father’s arms were around him as well, holding on to both of them, and it was Asad’s turn to suppress the sudden urge to cry. He clenched his teeth against it, blinking rapidly.

Then he let out a small ‘oof’ sound as something hit him from behind.

“Family hug!” Cyrus said loudly in his ear.

Laughter bubbled up out of Asad, breaking the tension and the threat of tears. He could hear his mom’s laugh as well and his dad’s chuckle. Twisting, he opened his arms to include his brother in the hug.

For the first time in a very, very long time, it felt as though they were truly a family.

He knew it didn’t mean everything would be perfect immediately, but it was as he’d thought last night—these were the first steps. And they were far bigger first steps than he’d thought they would be. He hadn’t expected anything more than he’d already gotten… but it felt really good to get it.

Lifting his head, he could see quite a few people looking over at them, but his parents didn’t seem to care that they were making a scene. From across the room, both Anna and Morgan were watching and smiling. Anna was actually beaming. He couldn’t help but wonder if she might have been the person to bring up ‘glass children,’ whatever that was, to his mom. He had some research to do when he got home, but right now, everything was almost perfect.

Morgan’s gaze met his, and she smiled sweetly at him, making his chest tighten for reasons other than his mom’s crushing grip. He could see her happiness for him, and it made him feel… odd.

Morgan

Her home had been invaded.

All she really wanted to do was sit quietly by herself, but the group chat had blown up as soon as she’d let her friends know she was home, then all of the sudden, everyone was coming over. She didn’t really know how it happened, so she hadn’t been able to stop it. She also worried if she’d tried, her friends might have decided they wanted nothing to do with her.

But she was so tired.

Especially because it was nonstop questions about the week, about Asad, about the wedding, though most of the questions were easy to answer. No one asked if they’d had sex. They just assumed she and Asad had followed the ‘rules,’ so she didn’t have to lie.

At least her friends were also feeding her, so she didn’t have to worry about that. They’d ordered pizza for themselves and a salad and mozzarella sticks for her and Amy. Pizza gave her heartburn, but the mozzarella sticks seemed to be okay as long as she didn’t eat too many and didn’t use the dipping sauce.

“So, what happened while I was away?” she asked, trying to shift the attention from her.

“I got my bloodwork done, and I’m seeing the doctor next week to go over the results,” Amy offered up. Unlike Morgan, Amy’s mozzarella sticks were still sitting on her plate. She pushed some of the lettuce around on her plate, looking pretty glum, even though her voice was chipper. “Which is good. Because it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, I just keep gaining weight.”

“Well, I like your curves,” Sam said, glancing around and almost daring anyone to say otherwise. As a curvy woman herself, Sam rocked her curves with confidence.

“Honestly… I think I’d like them too if the wedding wasn’t coming up. I just want to look perfect, and Jeremy… well, he’s…” Amy’s voice trailed off. She looked like she was struggling to come up with the right words for what Jeremy was.

“Being a judgmental prick?” Carolyn didn’t mince words, raising her eyebrows at Amy. Sam shot Carolyn a quelling look, not that Carolyn seemed to notice.

“He’s concerned with her health,” Noelle argued, frowning. “With as little as Amy is eating, it is worrying that she’s gaining weight. Look, Amy, you haven’t even touched your mozzarella sticks.”

Picking up one of the sticks, Amy took a deliberate bite, but then she set it back down on her plate as she chewed. There was an odd expression on her face.

“Noelle is right. He’s just concerned.” Amy ducked her head.