Chapter 16

sixteen

LOLA

My first night in Hendrix's house was uneventful.He played PlayStation. I stayed in my room. It was all very civil.

Although, midway through my crappy post-church Sunday shift, I still felt sick from the Pop-Tarts I'd stolen and eaten that morning.

Based on the fact that my current customer asked for his two dollars' worth of change, I figured my already black mood was about to descend into abysmal.

Fake-smiling like a clown, I placed his money on the table.

The man took it and tossed a tiny booklet with the words Jesus Saves on top of his crumbs.His finger tapped over it as he pushed out of the booth. "That's the best tip I could ever leave you, sweetie."

My face heated. My blood pressure ticked up, thumping in my temples. I wanted to scream, but instead, I smiled through gritted teeth. "Jesus doesn't pay the bills, though. Does he, sir?"

Without waiting for some pious, entitled response, I turned away, leaving his booklet on the table.

I was halfway to the drink station to grab a pitcher of sweet tea for a refill when the hostess passed by. "Table thirty-two asked to be seated in your section, Lola."

I glanced across the restaurant. Max Harford and a bruised Ethan Taylor sat in the corner booth amongst a group of girls, all glaring at me like I'd just crapped in their designer bags. Just what I needed today.

I approached the table, willing, patient, and forcing a smile when I asked what I could get them to drink.Two of the girls ordered Diet Coke. Then I came to Ethan.

"I'll take a sweet tea and your piece-of-shit boyfriend in a set of handcuffs," he said, and the table erupted in laughter.

I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, then drown him in the pitcher of sweet tea. But before I could…

"Wait," the only brunette in the bunch said, her judgmental glare dragging over me. " She's the girl Hendrix Hunt dated?" She tossed her head back with an annoying laugh. "If that's his standard… Maybe I'll date Dayton's hot bad boy just to break his white-trash heart."

Another round of raucous laughter bounced around the booth of assholes, and my annoyance erupted into a mushroom cloud of sheer wrath.

"Sweet tea, for you, too?" I asked. But before she could answer, I raised the pitcher and dumped it over her head.

She shrieked, and the hum of conversation in the restaurant immediately fell silent.

"Fuck every one of you spoiled, daddy-issue-riddled assholes." Then I slammed the pitcher down on the table and turned around.

The stares of almost everyone in the restaurant followed me as I walked off.

It wasn't until I'd passed the restrooms that Pete shouted my name, telling me to get in the office. I was one hundred percent getting fired.

I rounded the bar, already untying my apron from around my waist. "Don't bother firing me." I shoved the apron against his chest. "I quit serving these pretentious dickheads."

Then I went to the back, grabbed my bookbag, and walked out.

Halfway down the highway, my rage dissipated, and reality set in. I'd just lost my job. The day after I'd actually found somewhere to rent. And I'd spent half a week's rent on that damn pill.

I pulled my phone from my bag to call Kyle, but when I went to dial his number, it was dead. I put my arm in my mouth and bit down to stop myself from screaming, then kicked a beer can from the shoulder. Warm liquid splattered my ankle, and it sent me over the edge.

This entire day could go fuck itself.

A mile down the road, I stopped in front of the abandoned Piggly Wiggly and leaned over my knees. Only three more miles to go…

Gravel crunched behind me when a vehicle pulled onto the shoulder.

I turned, fully expecting to see some pervert trying his luck, but instead, I found Chad's truck. The window lowered. "You need a ride?"

"No, I—"

"Sissa!" That little voice was the only thing that could possibly make me feel better about this terrible day.

I walked to the passenger side of the truck and glanced in the back.

Gracie sat strapped into a booster seat, the sparkly, yellow netting of another princess dress filling most of the space. A smear of chocolate covered her chubby cheek as she smiled at me.

"Get in," Chad said, and I did.

"Hey, Jellybean." I glanced over my shoulder, smiling at her sweet face as I fastened my seatbelt. "Where have you been all dressed up?"

"To a party. We had cake, a bounce house, and Cinderella." She rambled about the entire party, including the ponies—who the hell could afford ponies at a kid's party?

Chad glanced over to check the traffic on the highway, and his gaze drifted to my shirt. "You left in the middle of your shift?"

"I quit." The silence was filled only by the tick tick tick of his blinker. "I might have dumped a jug of iced tea over a Barrington bitch."

"So, Pete was about to fire you..."He laughed when I flipped him off.

This time, instead of directing him to Kyle's, I gave him directions to Hendrix's house.

The minute the faded white siding came into view, my attention went right to Hendrix pushing a mower through the front yard. Shirtless and sweaty, the sun glinting off his slick chest and abs.

Jesus Christ. Living with him would be so much easier if he looked even a little bit average.

Chad turned his truck into the drive. Gracie was midsentence about the pink glitter strung through one of the pony's manes when she gasped. "King Buttmunch!"

The seat belt clicked, and the back door flew open.

"Gracie—" I started, but she was already off across the drive in a cloud of yellow netting.

Hendrix cut the mower as she sprinted across the weed-covered lawn. "Princess Dingleberry!" Grinning, he bent down, opening his arms wide just before she collided with his broad frame. He scooped up my sister, wrapping his tattooed arms around her little frame as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

My heart clenched right along with my ovaries.

He'd always called her Princess Dingleberry, and she's always called him King Buttmunch. I couldn't even remember how it had started or why.

"Huh," Chad said. "Never expected Hunt to—"

"She loves him," my voice cracked. As much as had been taken from me, it had been taken from her, too—and Hendrix. "She's like a little sister to him." I slid out of the truck and rounded the front.

When I was close enough to hear them, Gracie was giving Hendrix the spiel about the party. "...and we got to ride them." She traced her tiny finger over the tattoo on his neck. "And we went swimming because Sara's house is a castle with a pool."

"Yeah?" He stared at her, enthralled, while she rambled on and on, talking at him.

And I stood to the side, watching, my heart weaker than it had ever been for him because I was weak for Gracie. And the pair of them together… Hendrix had raised her more than our own mother, certainly more than her sperm-donor father.

"Monkey," Chad called. "We have to go."

Hendrix shot a look across the yard that said he wanted to rip off Chad's arms and beat him with them.

"But I don't wanna go." Gracie clung to Hendrix like velcro. "I miss him too much."

The kid was killing me.

Tears stung my eyes, and I tilted back my head to blink them away before brushing her cheek. "I know, but Miss Emma is waiting on you to go home." Home. I hated that it wasn't here anymore.

Shaking her head, she buried her face in Hendrix's chest again. "No!"

Hendrix patted her back. "Hey. Come on. Look at me."

Slowly, she pulled back, her teary gaze aimed just at him.I'd always been a little jealous of the easy bond they had. I was sister and mom for most of her life; the one who said no and made her go to bed. Hendrix…well, he was just her favorite.

"I miss you too much, too." He swallowed, and I knew it upset him as much as it did me. But it was what we had to take. Whatever tiny slivers we could get.

He tucked a tendril of her blond hair behind her ear. "Do you live in a castle now, Princess Dingleberry?"

Nodding, she squished his cheeks together.

"Then you gotta go. A castle has to have its princess, right?"

She nodded again, and when he lowered her to the ground, she reluctantly released him.

I took her hand and led her across the lawn. Every few steps, she'd look back over her shoulder at him. Even Chad stared at the ground like he wished it would open up and swallow him.

When she reached the drive, Chad crouched to pick her up, then wiped the tears from her face. He really cared about her. She really cared about him…

"We'll come back, monkey."

And I hoped he meant that. It would be cruel to get her hopes up, but I had no doubt Emma Lancaster wouldn't want Gracie around Dayton's local criminal.

I couldn't say Hendrix was good, but he was for me—had been for me—and for her, he was the very best.

I leaned in and kissed her reddened cheek. "I love you, Jellybean."

She sniffed. "Love you."

Chad buckled her in before climbing into the fancy truck that looked so out of place here—just like my sister in her yellow princess dress.

I fought down the helpless feeling that I wasn't good enough to keep her as I watched the truck back out of the drive and disappear around the corner. When I turned back around, Hendrix was on the bottom porch step, an angry glare aimed at the spot where Chad's truck had been parked.

I approached the house and took a seat beside him, his thoughts clear as day. If there was one thing Hendrix hated, it was anything Barrington. "Chad's her foster brother," I said.

His chin dropped to his chest, his knee bouncing in agitation. "I'm sorry you lost her."

"It's fine." I hated the heaviness between us, the heaviness of the situation I felt powerless to change. "You know I'm cursed." I bumped my shoulder to his while I feigned a smile.

"You've always thought you were cursed."

"Yeah, well. I managed to text my ex-boyfriend, of all people, about a room. Now I'm living with him… What else would you call it?"

His blue eyes met mine, all trace of humor vanishing. "Fate."

Maybe he was right. Of all the shit things that had happened to me in the last two years, coming back to him didn't feel like one of them. Seeing him with Gracie reminded me just how much I had always loved that boy.

Time might have changed some things, scarred us, and pulled us apart, but if I left this town tomorrow and never saw him again, married someone else, and lived an entire life… When I was old and gray, Hendrix Hunt would still be my one. Even if the very fate that brought us here also kept us from being together. He would always be my person.