Page 103 of Story of My Life
“Good girl,” he all but purred.
Oh, hell.Everything below my waist reacted like a volcano, a rainforest, and an earthquake fell in love, had sex, and made a baby. The heat rose all the way to my face, and I became intensely grateful for the low lighting of the crescent moon.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Yep.”
24
AN ACCIDENTAL SWIM
CAMPBELL
Hazel tookanother bite of hoagie. “Okay, smarty pants,” she said with her mouth full. “We’re on a date. That means getting-to-know-you small talk. Tell me about your family.”
“Why? You already met them.”
She gestured at me with the Italian. “I’m just curious. Your family is…such a unit. It’s admirable.”
“That happens when you’ve been through a lot together.”
“Your sister is…amazing,” she said.
“She is. But I’ll deny it if you tell her I said so.” I took a pull on my beer.
“What else? That you’re comfortable sharing,” she added hastily.
I sighed. She wasn’t going to let me off easy, and if I wanted the night to end without me feeling like an asshole, I might as well play the game. “Off the record?”
“Sure.”
“We’re adopted. Levi, Gage, and me. We went into foster care after our parents were killed in a car accident. There was a month or two when we were all placed with different foster families.”
“You were separated? That’s awful. How old were you?”
“Eight. I don’t remember much about that time.” I traded beer for hoagie. I did, however, remember the fear, the loneliness. The feelings I didn’t understand.
“Then along came the Bishops,” I continued. “Gage had been placed with them, and they fell for him.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Hazel said.
I glared at her. “Lots of people.”
She smirked at me.
“Anyway, when they found out he had two older brothers, they moved heaven and earth to reunite us.”
“They’re good people,” she said.
“The best. They gave us a home, a family, a sister.” I felt my lips quirk, thinking of Laura, who had declared herself the ruler of the kids despite the fact that I was nearly a year older.
“You love them,” she observed.
I shrugged. “They’re all right.”
But she shook her head. “No. You love them. It’s in your bones.”
“Yeah. I do and it is. Didn’t stop me from leaving them.”
