Page 209 of Losing Faith

“You mean everything to me, Lis—”

“No, I don’t.”

“Youdo, and nothing you say is going to change that. Nothing you say is going to take away your title as my favorite person and you know that, which is why you’re picking on me, but guess what, Lis?”

She turns away from him and he gets up to crouch in front of her.

“Hurt people hurt people.Youtold me that.”

She turns her head to the other side again, but he grabs her face and I swear my heart gets lodged in my throat at the sight of tears in both of their eyes.

“You told me that. You forgave me for saying things to you thatno oneshould’ve ever thought so if you want to be mean, go right the fuck ahead because it’s not going to stick. You told me you were losing faith, but I never doubted you for a minute and I know you’re going to be fine.”

Sire stands before gesturing to the rest of the group and Hazel and Vidia share how much they care about her before it’s my turn.

“The minute Belle’s mom walked out on us I decided it’ll just be us.”

Lisette glances over at me now.

“I didn’t want to bring anyone else around her. I didn’t want to give anyone else the power to hurt her or leave her.”

She avoids my eyes and I quickly catch myself.

“That was until you, Lisette. You haven’t hurt her and I don’t think you will. I still want you to be a part of our family… I still want you to be her mom and you can, you just need to get better first, but you need to let us help you.”

She wipes a tear, but it’s clear she isn’t going to look at me.

“Isabelle couldn’t be here, but she wrote something for you.” I keep my eyes on her as I pull out Isabelle’s letter. She keeps her head turned, but I can see her trying to steal a glance in the corner of her eye.

“Do you want me to read it to you?”

She shakes her head softly before quickly wiping another tear.

“Here.” I lean forward in my seat before stretching my hand out to her. “You can read it yourself.”

I watch her carefully as she swallows and turns to me.

“Did she spell it all right?”

I offer her a small smile before shrugging. “I haven’t read it.” I lift my hand and she takes it, but simply rests it on her lap.

I sit back in my seat and Navi signals for the next step, explaining to her how she hurt us. Sire explained how she can’t argue with facts and how we feel, so rather than telling her her actions aren’t good, we’re going to tell her howwefeel about them.

It barely lasts five minutes before she’s up and pacing and when I see her break into a sweat, I realize she really is high, but she’s clearly coming down from it.

Sire warned me that this would get ugly, but when it does, I don’t recognize her.

“Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!” She bangs on the kitchen counter before walking around it a few more times, screaming her mantra.

“Keep sharing,” Navi whispers and Vidia nods softly before speaking over Lisette’s screams.

“You hold a special place in our hearts and it hurts seeing you like—”

“Would you stop?” Lisette finally stops yelling. “I don’t get why you’re even here, Vidia. I’m sure when you get angry with me in the future you’re going to turn around and use my addiction against me the same way you did with Sire.”

The room goes still.

“I hold a special place in your heart? Fuck off.You’renot special. The only reason my brother is with you is because your mom is a hotshot coach.”

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