Cecilia laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“That night, before I’d come home, I’d had sex with a guy I didn’t know outside the bar I was partying at. He wasn’t the first. He wasn’t even the fifth. But that guy,” she paused. “He was rough. Mean. And I just kept thinking, ‘this was a bad idea, what the fuck am I doing?’ So when I stumbled home and Mom and Dad were yelling and pretty much telling me how horrible I was—”
“You ran away,” I said.
“No, I got away,” she clarified. “I had to. I was spiraling, Lil. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t seem to get my shit together here.”
“And you got it together in San Diego.”
“Yeah. It took a while. Honestly, when Mom told me not to come home when you got your sight back, I was a little relieved. I mean, I would’ve come. Absolutely. But I was still on shaky ground back then, and I was terrified that if I came back, I’d fall back into everything I’d left behind.”
We were silent for a long time.
“Okay,” I said finally.
“Okay?”
“Okay, I’ll forgive you.”
“Um, thanks,” she said drolly.
“But can you please go so that I can get out of here? The water’s getting cold.”
“Oh, please,” she said, but I could hear her moving. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”
You haven’t seen these hickies on my boobs, I thought, staring down at my chest.
I heard the door open.
“Hey, Ceecee?” I called. “I’m glad you got your shit together.”
“Me, too,” she called back.
* * *
“I hope you don’t care that Gray’s here, too,” Trix said as I followed her into the game room. “Cam kind of volunteered you when he was talking to my brother earlier.”
“No worries,” I replied, watching Gray climb all over Curtis, who was sitting on a bean bag playing a video game. “He knows I’m watching Gray?”
“Not sure,” she said with a rueful smile. “I didn’t mention it.”
I laughed.
“Hey, Aunt Lily,” Draco said, hugging me around the waist as he made his way to his own bean bag. “Mom got us pizza for dinner.”
“Sweet! I brought candy, too.”
“Score,” Curtis said distractedly, leaning around Gray so he could see the TV screen. “Did you get the good stuff?”
“Do I ever bring anything else?”
“Nope,” Draco chimed in, lifting his fist in the air and bringing it down quickly in a completely dorky move that I’d seen my brother do a million times.
“We’ll be home late,” Trix said. “The boys can stay up as long as you want, and Gray will probably find a cozy spot and crash when he’s tired.”
“They’ll be fine,” I said, smiling when Gray finally lifted his head and caught sight of me. “And I’ll try not to burn down the house.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “Because I’m pretty sure we couldn’t afford to replace it.”
“Lily,” Gray said, scrambling off Curtis’ lap.
I didn’t even notice when Trix left the room.
Chapter 22
Leo
They hadn’t scrimped on Cecilia’s party. After I’d dropped Gray off with my sister and got in a quick shower and a shave, I walked to my room with the sounds of loud voices and music ringing in my ears. It hadn’t taken the boys long to get the party going, and I laughed as I heard a woman screeching in annoyance.
Because the party was for one of the grown kids, there wouldn’t be any side-pieces hanging around, but that didn’t mean that things would be any less wild than usual. There would still be girlfriends dancing on tables. Hell, sometimes it was wives. I’d seen Farrah shaking her ass on the pool table more than once. When we had a family party, things stayed pretty mellow for the most part, but when the littles were gone, the adults felt free to let loose. There weren’t any little ones there tonight.
As soon as I was dressed, I headed out to the main room to grab a beer. My gramps was already at his place at the end of the bar, and Grams was standing between his knees, fixing his beard. She was always fussing with him, trying to make him look a little more presentable, but beyond the button down shirt he was wearing, it was a lost cause. The old man looked like exactly what he was, an old biker that could still throw them back with the boys but had a hard time standing for long periods of time.
“Beer,” I ordered, tapping the tabletop. The prospects were serving for the night, probably because one of the old timers that I didn’t have much use for had been banging our usual bartender on the side.
“Hey, baby,” my mom said, coming up beside me, her face flushed. “You got a sitter for Gray?”
“He’s at Trix’s with the boys,” I affirmed with a nod. “Havin’ fun?”