Page 31 of Lyric Squared

Truth was, Luca was her favorite. She’d never admit it, but he was. Laike was so close to her favorite. It was almost tied. She loved her boys more than anything in the world. Dad was all for me. The boys were extensions of him, so of course he loved them, too, but his baby girl was his entire world. He’d proved it time and time again. His ideations had rubbed off on his boys. To them, I was everything. That’s why I tried my hardest not to disappoint. I had too many men that I loved looking for me to make healthy, wise decisions in every area of my life.

I love you, too, Luca.

Always.

Call me tomorrow. I’ll install the system,Laike demanded.

You’ve been saying that for a whole two months.

I’m saying it again. Call me tomorrow.

Just come over when you wake up. I’ll be here.

Aight. I’ll be there around ten.

Bye.

You don’t love me, too?

Bye.

Lyric Eisenberg.

I love you, Laike.

Always.

I shut down my phone for only a few seconds before reopening it after remembering Luca’s sparse attention span before I’d left. It only meant one thing. Ever was awake and waiting on him to get home.

Are you awake?I messaged.

Instead of a reply, my phone rang.

“Hi, waiting on your brother to make it home. I promised him I’d wait up and he’s holding me to it.”

“I just left them and saw him preoccupied with that phone. I knew that it could only be you holding his attention like that.”

“I told him to stop texting me and enjoy himself.”

“Well, I’m here to tell you that he didn’t.”

“I know. Our messages gave him away. I always tell him that he needs a break from work and the girls but when he decides to, I can’t get him off my line.”

“He’s addicted to his homelife, children, and wife. It’s kind of a good problem to have.”

“Yeah, but he needs time to himself. We will be fine.”

“Try convincing him of that.”

“I’ve tried. Anyway, what happened? I feel like needing to know the details of your story is half the reason I agreed to staying awake when Luca asked. That and this boy doing flips in my belly nonstop.”

“Ken is fucking headache, and I don’t understand how I didn’t see it until tonight.”

I made it upstairs and began undressing. A shower wasn’t in my plans, so I began running the hot water from the sink.

“He’s the type of headache you’re trying to have.”

“No, he’s not.”