Like Dragonflies

Aunt D: Cute. You know I don’t know how to make pictures on text, otherwise I’d be giving you the middle finger right now. You can’t blow me off.

Me: I’ll be fine, Aunt D.

Aunt D: How are things with you and Nathan?

I swallow down the bile in my throat. I can barely look at my father. I hate him so much.

Me: Same. Maybe worse. You know how Dad is.

Aunt D: I’ve been staying at Jimmy’s a lot. Haddock gets lonely. You want to keep up my place a little while I’m gone? The house could use some care and I know you like doing that sort of thing.

The desire to hide out at my aunt’s house burns wildly in my gut. So often, when I was a kid, her house was my great escape from my dad.

Me: Really?

Aunt D: I heard you’re flunking out of school because you haven’t shown up.

Fucking Collette. She has such a big mouth.

Me: I’m having a rough time, yeah.

Aunt D: You’re only staying with your dad because of school. Now that you’ve done gone and messed that all up, leave hon. Leave and get your bearings. I’ll be right up the road at Jimmy’s if you need me.

Emotion clogs my throat.

Me: Thank you. I love you Aunt D.

Aunt D: Love you too. The bar’s picking up. Talk at ya tomorrow.

It took all of thirty minutes to pack up my stuff. Thankfully, on one of the days after I came out of my depressing fog, I took the time to call Linus over to help me put in the new alternator and battery. I’m happy to say The Beast drives like a champion now. As I drive down to Aunt Darcy’s, I can feel some of the stress weighing on my shoulders lift. My mind drifts to Sage. Just because we’re related doesn’t mean I can’t be the shoulder she leans on. It’s cruel to deny her a relationship with someone who totally gets her. It’s cruel to me.

So what if we can’t kiss or be intimate?

Just having her in my life will be good enough for me.

I pull into Aunt Darcy’s driveway and unload all my shit. I take the guest room I always stay in and do a quick check of the house. Haddock, her sixteen-year-old Persian cat, limps after me and meows. I scratch him behind the ears and check his food bowl.

“You aren’t eating much these days, old man,” I tell him with a frown. The crunchy cat foot remains untouched. I dig around in her pantry until I find a can of the good stuff he likes. His meowing intensifies once I open the can and the scent permeates the air. “There you go.”

He whips his tail back and forth as he dives into his plate of rank soft cat food. I stifle a yawn as I root around in her fridge for something to eat. My phone starts ringing, startling me. When I see Sage’s name, I smile.

“Hey,” I greet.

The line is silent for a moment and then she rattles out a choked, “Hey.”

My back stiffens. “What’s wrong? You don’t sound okay?”

“I’m not.” The sob she was holding in whines out of her. “I…I…please come get me.”

I’m already grabbing my keys and heading out the door. “Where? At your house? Where are you?”

She sniffles and whispers, “I’m in the bathroom at the Monticello Hotel in Ashton Hills.”

I climb into The Beast and fire up the engine. I put the phone on speaker and sit it in my lap so I can talk to her while I drive. “Tell me what happened. Talk to me, baby.”

I try not to wince that I called her baby. She doesn’t seem to realize I did, thank God.

“Everything was fine,” she murmurs. “Mom was off doing whatever and Dad was chatting it up with his golf buddies. I was hanging out with Sophia and her friends.”

She groans and I cringe. Sophia is a bitch who likes to make Sage feel less than she is. In reality, Sophia could never even be half as amazing as Sage.

“What did she do?” I demand.

“She kept going on and on about how I’m finally dating now. Apparently she said my mother asked for her to set me up with someone.” She blows her nose and growls the cutest little sound. “I told her I’m not going to date anyone. Then, she dragged me over to meet one of her friends. This guy named Blake.”

My blood boils over and I find myself gassing it on the highway to get to her faster. “Go on.”

“So the next thing I know, I’ve been dragged out to the rooftop—where it’s cold as hell—and this guy keeps blabbing about how much he’s into me.” She lets out a harsh laugh. “I wasn’t into him.”

Fucking right she wasn’t.