Page 158 of Composed
He pulls a joint from his pocket, sparks it, and pulls in a small drag before he looks over the room. “She bolted.”
“Is anyone surprised?” Theo scoffs, slipping out of the spare bedroom.
I see a flash of caramel hair before she drags the door shut.
Back pressed to the wood, she folds her arms over her chest, and hikes a brow as she looks at Saint. “What exactly did you tell her you were all doing in here?”
“Just that we were hanging.” He toes the floor with the cap of his boot.
“You’re an idiot.” She scowls at her husband before turning her fire to me. “And you! What were you thinking? You don’t kiss a woman and then run off the next day without talking about it just because that fucking dickhead calls you.”
Nausea swirls in my stomach.
Pretty sure I wasn’t thinking when we got back.
Carter called, said about the girls, and I went into full fucking panic mode. Because how do you let the woman of your dreams back in when you’re keeping your family from her? A family she was once a central part of?
“Hey.” Carter shouts.
“Don’t even get me started on you.” Theo doesn’t falter as she turns her glare on him. “Why are you still hiding the girls? They are our family, Carter. They shouldn’t be a secret.”
“You think I don’t know that? You really think I haven’t thought about just setting them free on her and seeing how she reacts?” He leans forward on the armchair, veins popping in his arms as he props his elbows onto his knees. “But it’s not that simple, Theo. She dipped once. What’s stopping her from doing it again? I'm the one that has to deal with the fallout when she hurts them.”
“But what if she doesn’t?” Theo asks. She cocks her head towards me. My spine locks as she gives me a sad smile. “Are you planning on letting her go again?”
Not in this lifetime. Not after she let me peek into everything she held onto for ten years. Pretty sure I’ll never be able to watch Hendrix walk away from me again.
Theo nods at my silence, as if it’s the only answer she needs.
“You?” She glances at Saint when he sits beside me. His shoulder presses to mine, anchoring me to the couch as my knees bounce. “Are you gonna watch your best friend walk away for a second time?”
A clipped shake of his head. “Nope.”
“Ax?” She tips her chin to where Axel leans against the wall.
He shrugs. “I’m all in. Have been from the second she walked through that door.”
“It’s on you big guy,” Theo says to Carter. “But I am telling you now, she’s either all in, or we have got to let her go. Finish the album, get the goodbyes she never gave you, and close the damn door for good.”
Carter scoffs. “Those are our options? Let her all the way in or shove her out?”
“Notours.” I shake my head. “If she walks again, I’m gone.”
“You’ll give it all up?”
“In a heartbeat.” Air whooshes from my lungs, and something inside me stills with the declaration. “She’s the only reason we’re here today. Without her, we’d have never made anything of ourselves. You honestly think I won’t walk away from it all for her?”
Carter says nothing as he watches me.
I glance over the room, over the people I’ve spent my entire life with.
“You are my family.” I sigh. “You will always be my family. But Rixie is my person.”
Saint taps my thigh with his fist three times.
I flick my gaze to him.
He mouths,Atta boy.
