Page 85 of Beautiful Monster

“A little trouble, huh?” she asks, and I grab her arm with my hand, stopping her drawing.

She looks up at me with a question in her eyes. “What is it?”

“There are things in my past that I don’t want you to know, Sunny. And it’s not because I don’t trust you to stay, but there’s a lot of ugly back there. It doesn’t belong anywhere near you.”

Moisture fills her eyes, and I swallow the lump in my throat. Dropping the pen, she scoots her body up my chest until her face is inches from mine.

“I love your scars, Alex. I know that under your skin is a whole lot of shame that you think you need to protect me from, but I won’t leave you for it. I won’t let you try and scare me away.”

Taking her face in my hands, maybe a little too hard between my fingers, I pull her lips just a breath away from mine. “I love you, Sunny.”

She blinks, a tear spilling over her lashes. “I love you, too,” she croaks.

I crush her lips to mine, like today is the first day of my life. There is nothing before now, and every moment from here until the end of my life will belong to her.

CHAPTER 27

SUNNY

Cadence: Labor Day BBQ today at 1. You two should come.

I’m busy finishing the outline on the girl’s long blonde locks when I hear the ping from my phone. Brush in hand, I glance down at it and see the text. Before I answer, I let the question stew in my mind.

It’s been over a month since I’ve seen my mom. Not that I’m complaining, but I know things will only get worse if I don’t make some effort to mend the bond. I realize it’s not up to me, and that she’s the one who screwed things up between us, but my sister is stuck mediating, and I hate to leave her like that.

Labor Day was always a major holiday for us. My dad loved throwing barbecues in the backyard, inviting his fancy friends over with their high-maintenance wives and fresh-out-of-rehab kids, none of whom I got along with, and everyone would have a pretty miserable time until they were properly drunk, at which point I escaped to my room and pretended they were all gone, even when they weren’t.

Since my dad left, the parties have changed. The guys rarely come to my mom’s parties, but the wives do. The kids follow their mothers, even though they’re not kids anymore. Fischer and Liam will show because Dad’s gone. Cadence will keep them company, and I will sit alone hoping the few guys who did come won't come over and talk to me because it always gets awkward when they do.

This year will be different, though. I have Alexander. I can stay by his side. Hold his hand. Claim him as mine and pretend that none of them exist.

“My sister just invited us to a barbecue today,” I call over to Alexander, who’s lounging on the couch, stretched across the cushions while he replies to emails to his publicist.

“Okay. Do you want to go?”

He leaves it up to me, which I love, but it’s not a choice I want to make. I miss my sister. I miss certain things about my mother. I don’t want to meet them on their terms. I want to meet them on mine. I want the version of them that doesn’t make me hate myself.

“I don’t know,” I mumble.

A few moments pass while I keep up my work on the scaffolding, outlining, fixing small spots, perfecting something that’s already perfect. A gentle touch on my neck pulls me out of my trance.

“We can go for a drive, if you want.” His eyes are soft, loving, and I feel connected to him. A drive would be nice. Get out of town for a while.

But as soon as I consider it, I know that I’m going to the barbecue. I only needed him to offer another option before I knew what my gut would settle on.

“I should at least make an appearance. I haven’t been over there all month.”

“You don’t owe anyone anything—you know that, right?”

I force a sad smile on my face. “I do.”

“Do you miss your sister?” His hand strokes gently down my back.

Fighting tears, I nod.

He offers me a warm smile. “Okay then, rain cloud. We’ll go over there, but the minute you want to leave, we’ll leave.”

Again, I nod. I touch his fingers with mine and lean down to kiss him. It’s not supposed to be this easy.