Page 20 of Losing Faith

Her words lift every guilty feeling off of my shoulders.

“Ana is great for raising her little sister, but she has no right to belittle you becausesheresents her parents for making her feel like she needed to step up and be the parent. I think she’s jealous that you escaped. It’s completely fine to be angry, but to blame you? What they endured wasn’t your fault and your presence wouldn’t have made much of a difference because you were achild.”

I nod in return as I blink my tears away, refusing to cry because of Ana, of all people.

Beside me, Bay shoves my arm. “Tell them about how you told your seventeen-year-old sister to buy sex toys and lube.”

“Oh my god.” I look up at the ceiling as I let out a laugh.

“She’s bonding with her younger sister,” Bay tells the group and I shove her as they laugh at us.

Turning to the group, I defend myself. “She’s looking for male validation, as I once did. I told her she doesn’t need a useless man for an orgasm, and Ana thinks I told her to go become a damn pornstar.” I roll my eyes at the reminder and the entire group seems to appreciate the lighter mood before the rest of the sob stories begin.

Naps after a meeting arethebest,but being awoken by someone knocking on your door isn’t. A yawn escapes me as I open the door. When I see Jackson, I blink a few times to make sure my eyes aren’t playing a trick on me.

“Hey,” he starts softly. I take a minute to take him in, but it only adds to my confusion. He’s in a navy blue suit and I’m realizing he’s almost always in a suit.

“I needed to go into the office,” he says, and I’m going to assume that explains the outfit. “These are for you.” He holds up a bouquet of flowers and I squint my eyes, trying to make sense of what’s happening.

“What are you doing here?” I finally say.

“I’m on my way to pick up Isabelle.”

I wait for him to add more, but he takes too long, so I say, “Okay? This isn’t Sire’s house.”

A smile appears on his face and my eyes land on his one dimple. “I’m aware. It was obvious you weren’t okay when I asked earlier, so I got you feel-better flowers.” He holds them out to me, but I don’t take them.

“How did you get my address?” I cross my arms as I look up at him.

“I asked August for it.” He shakes his head now. “He told Sire, who threatened to tell my daughter the Tooth Fairy isn’t real if I flirted with you or entered your house so”—he pushes the flowers further to me—“I am here strictly ‘to give you these feel better flowers and state that I am not interested in you.’” He mimics Sire’s voice and I let out a quiet laugh as I shake my head at how annoying my brother is.

I take the flowers from him, and by some chance, he got my least favorite ones.

“Sire told me irises were your favorite.”

I let out a scoff as I examine the blue irises and white lilies. “Of course, he did.”

“Do you not like them?” He looks between the bouquet and me, his brows pulled together.

“I don’t like things that don’t last.”

He studies me for a beat before glancing back at the flowers. “That’s the beauty in them though. We learn to appreciate them while they’re here.”

I shake my head at his words. “I’d rather not get attached to things that are just going to die.”

He goes still.

“But thank you,” I voice, trying not to sound completely ungrateful and pessimistic.

I can see his mind running with different thoughts, but he instead changes the topic.

“When I went to pick up Belle today, her teacher told me she did really well during popcorn reading.”

My eyes meet his and he looks as grateful as he sounds.

“They’re ‘thank you’ flowersand ‘please keep tutoring my kid because I’m desperate’ flowers.”

I shake my head at him as I lean against the door frame. “So they’re feel better flowers, thank you flowers, and a bribe? The math isn’t making sense, Jackson Jones. One bouquet equals one reason. I’m afraid I can only accept one, and since I feel like shit, these are my feel-better flowers.” I shrug.

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