Page 124 of The Heart Breaker

I pull back slightly, our lips still brushing together as we breathe. “If you need me, call.” My hand tightens on her hip. “I mean it. I’m here for you. Always.”

She lifts her eyes to mine and nods.

I kiss her again because I can’t help it. Because she’s standing right in front of me, and I’m so far gone for her at this point there’s no point pretending otherwise. My mouth lingers on hers in one more slow kiss, then another at the corner of her mouth when she breathes out against me.

She lets out a shaky little laugh and presses her palm to my chest. “Okay. I need to go.”

“One more,” I murmur, pressing my lips to hers again.

When I finally let her go, she takes a step back and smooths her hands over her hair, pulling in a deep breath before she turns for the door and slips out.

I stay where I am for a second, staring at the space she just left behind and hoping to hell it goes the way she expects.

I blow out a breath and turn around, only to stop when I take in the disaster zone that is my room—my bed, my floor, and the chair with Aurora’s clothes still scattered all over it.

Should it freak me out that half her stuff is here and she’s practically moved in? Probably. Do I like it and hope she never leaves? Hell yeah.

I pick up the clothes she tossed aside while getting ready, folding them and setting them on the chair, and when I hear a knock at the door, my brows pull together. For a second, I wonder if Aurora forgot something. Maybe her bag, or maybe she just wanted another kiss before she left.

The thought makes me smile as I head for the door, but the second I pull it open and see my sister standing there, it drops straight off my face.

She has the green school bag I bought her for Christmas hanging off one shoulder, and my stomach sinks, because I know there isn’t a good reason for her to be here.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, her bottom lip wobbling. “I know I should’ve called first, but… you said if I needed anything, I could come to you.”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “What happened?”

She doesn’t answer me. She just shrugs the backpack off her shoulder and lets it hit the floor before stepping into me and wrapping her arms around my middle.

I freeze. Sophie hasn’t hugged me like this in years. Not since she was little. My heart starts pounding, and I wrap my arms around her, one hand coming up to the back of her head, and when she buries her face in my chest, I feel her start to shake.

“Dad hit me,” she mumbles.

My heart pounds against my chest, but all I can do is hold her while she cries against me, because if I let myself react before she’s done, I’m going to lose my mind.

Fuck. This isn’t happening.

How did I miss this? How the fuck was I busy being happy while my sister was still stuck in that house with him? How didI let myself get so distracted that she got hit and I didn’t see it coming?

I should’ve been paying attention.

I should’ve checked in more.

I should’ve noticed.

I pull back enough to look down at her, keeping my hands on her shoulders as I search her face.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

She shrugs, wiping at her eyes. “You’ve been busy.”

Guilt twists hard in my stomach, because she’s right.

Looking after her is my job. Instead, I got so caught up in Aurora, in finally having something I actually wanted, that I let myself stop listening for everything else. Stopped checking my phone every five seconds. Stopped bracing for the worst.

And Sophie paid for it.

I shut the door behind her and take her bag from where it fell, setting it on the chair.