Page 113 of Scandal
I wish I could say the same.
“Zara’s doing well too. She’s considering starting a business for doctors. She did some research during her time off, and there’s actually a huge demand for tour docs. So she’s brainstorming how to recruit them, set up the pay structure, and handle travel logistics.”
“Wow, that’s a huge undertaking.”
“Yeah.” He sounds so proud and so in love. Not so long ago, I would have been envious. Now I feel a close kinship because I, too, know what it’s like to have your heart completely taken by another. “She’s amazing.”
“And the guys?” I ask once more, with a bit of hesitance this time around. Evans has kept in contact with me since his visit, but the rest of them have maintained their distance sinceMercury arrived and confirmed I was alive and well. I fear they all feel a bit hurt and betrayed by my swift exit. I wouldn’t blame them in the least.
“They’re struggling,” he says honestly. “Darius, probably most of all.”
I wince, hating that I’ve caused this. But it was always going to happen. One way or another, I was always going to end up here. “He’s not close with his family like Evans, and he hasn’t made one of his own like Zander.”
“He’ll figure it out,” Hen assures me. “We all will.”
“I wish things could be different. I wish I didn’t have to?—”
“Hey, it’s okay. We all know you’re in a tough position. I doubt it’s been easy. Has anyone bothered asking how you’re doing?”
I smile. “Yeah. Mercury.”
“Man, you really do have it bad.”
“You would know.” I chuckle. “I’ll never forget how you looked after that concert in Nashville when Darius said he wanted to ask Zara out. I thought we were going to have a fight on our hands.”
“Nah, we worked it out. I’m obviously the lover in the group. Zander’s the fighter. You remember that guy he punched for talking shit about Elena?”
“I seem to recall you nearly doing the same to Zara’s ex.”
“That fucker would have deserved it too,” he growls.
“Christ. Remind me not to get on your bad side again.”
He sighs. “Yeah, okay. I may get a little overzealous when it comes to the women in my life.” A little? Merc told me Presley was so scared to tell him about her marriage to his former-best friend that she delayed it for weeks and hid in a storage closet to avoid him. “It’s just hard, you know? I love them so much, and sometimes I overcompensate on the big brother gig because Cash sort of checked out of their lives when he found out he wasgoing to be a dad. I don’t want them to ever feel that way with me—no matter what’s going on in my life.”
I think Cash is more involved in his sisters’ lives than Hen realizes—Mercury’s, at least. Even if it’s just a quick text, he checks in with her often. In the brief conversations I’ve overheard, he seems a little softer with her. Like some of those hard-earned walls lower just a little.
But then again, Mercury seems to have that effect on people.
Or maybe it’s just us, the lucky few.
“I know it comes from a good place,” I tell him.
“But chill the fuck out?”
I chuckle. “Hey, I didn’t say it. You did.”
“Yeah, all right. And listen, I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me…about you and Mercury.” I swallow nervously. “And if I made it sound like I didn’t think you were good enough.”
“You didn’t?—”
“No, I kind of did,” he argues. “Just more of that big brother persona I can’t seem to shake. But there’s no one I’d rather have at my sister’s side than you. I know you’ll take care of her.”
“I’ll protect her with my life.”
“I know you will. But it’s your life that I’m a little more concerned about at the moment.”
“Why?”
