Come again?
Did she just say, ‘brother’?
And now I want to kick myself.
Because I knew Jase had an older half-sister, but I never met her, let alone learned her last name. She moved in with her dad when she was little after her mom got remarried…to Jase’s dad!
Son of a bitch.
Lauren glances over her shoulder to see no one else there.
“Jase!” she calls out, looking through the back door and waving her hand to beckon him inside.
I steal a panicked glance at Maggie before a shadow casts the doorway. Jase comes sauntering into the back of the kitchen, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his faded black jeans.
Lauren motions to me. “I’d like to introduce you to Derek’s little sister.”
Jase’s head shifts in my direction, and he stops dead in his tracks, slowly removing his sunglasses. My breath stifles as he stands frozen, gawking at me in what I guess is utter horror.
“This is my brother, Jason,” announces Lauren. “Jase, this is—”
“Birdie,” he blurts.
“Birdie?” Maggie echoes, clearly confused.
It’s only one word, but he could have just punched me in the stomach and it would have hurt less.
”Jase,” I mutter, trying my best to sound flippant. It doesn’t work. I sound…angry.
“Wait, you two know each other?” asks Lauren.
“Not really,” I say, my voice now surprisingly flat. “We didn’t run in the same social circles growing up.”
Still, Jase doesn’t speak. I’m not even sure he’s breathing.
Lauren seems oblivious because she gives herself a light thump upside her head. “Oh my God! I totally spaced. You guys are the same age, aren’t you? You used to go to school with one another.”
I give my best attempt at a smile in response while Jase continues gaping at me like I’m freaking Bigfoot!
“It was nice seeing you again,” I say as politely as I can…to Lauren, “but I was just on my way out.”
I cock my head toward the front door, and Maggie excuses herself, the two of us darting outside faster than Roadrunner.
CHAPTER 6
ATTENTION
PRESENT
“Where are we going?”Maggie asks me as she jumps into the driver’s seat.
“I don’t care. Just drive,please.” I damn near choke on the last word, trying to keep the tears at bay, but they threaten to run down my cheeks with the next blink.
“Ali?” The Range Rover rolls to a stop at the end of the street, and Maggie extends her hand to me. “You okay?”
My whole body trembles, and it takes everything in me to shake my head.
“Birdie?” she asks, still clearly confused.
