“Well, your sister is wrong. Lying is bad; don’t do it.”
“Fine, I had some when Mari was baking, but it was a tiny bit, promise. Can I have brownies, please? Pleaaase?”
I take his hand in mine. “Fine.”
“Yes!”
I help him up on the stool, his short feet dangling with excitement. “Where’s your cape, Superman?”
“Kimmy put it to wash.”
I cut a piece of brownie and place it on a plate. Kir’s eyes widen with thrill as he watches my every movement.
Neither Dad nor I eat brownies, but I always ask the cook to have pieces ready for this little guy.
The moment I slide the plate in front of him, he dives in, instantly smearing his cheeks with chocolate. No matter how old he gets, Kir will always have no willpower when it comes to his brownies.
“Where is she now?”
I regret the question as soon as I ask it. If it were anyone else but Kir, it would’ve been a fucking disaster.
For a long time, I’ve been in total control of the questions I should ask and the ones I shouldn’t. I always have to keep that image I’ve spent years perfecting.
It could be because of the amount of alcohol I’ve been consuming lately.
Or the way she’s been getting on my fucking nerves since yesterday; the way she talked back, the way she smiled at Ronan as if he’s her fucking world.
Kimberly Reed is that rock in my shoe. It’s not harmful, but it’s annoying as fuck.
“At school,” Kir speaks through a mouthful of brownies.
She shouldn’t be at fucking school. She has no club activities to speak of and we don’t have practice, so she couldn’t have stayed to watch the football team.
Unless…
I retrieve my phone and check my messages.
There are several from my group chat with my three fucker friends.
Ronan: On a scale from one to ten, how many girls do you think I can fuck before my father marries me off like a whore for sale?
Aiden: Depends on whether they mean a fuck or not.
Ronan: Fuck off, King.
Ronan: Anyone else?
Cole: A hundred.
Ronan: Now we’re talking.
Cole: You’ll remember none of them, though.
Ronan: Fiiiine! I’ll just settle with one.
He attaches a selfie with Kimberly by his side. He has an arm on her shoulder like he did yesterday, but this time, his lips are on her cheek as she laughs at the camera.
Her eyes are closed slightly, leaving only a slit of those green irises that I want to think they appear like snot but are in fact the most mesmerising green I’ve ever seen.