Page 26 of Mistletoe Misconduct

Or I can bring her to the emergency room and have them admit her.

My hand cups the back of my neck, squeezing as I focus on taking regular breaths.

I look up at my mom, her pale, wrinkled face pinched in distress, and dread fills my chest.

No matter how we do this, it has to happen.

I barely register the sound of the front door opening as I sit here, unmoving, and staring slack-jawed at the wall.

I don’t know when I finally made it home after seeing my mom, but I haven’t been able to form a coherent thought since.

Nausea roils through me, unrelenting.

“Kai?” A voice wiggles its way through the periphery of my walls, drawn up tightly around me.

“Kai, are you okay?”

There’s shuffling around me, the couch dips beside me, and when something warm and tight wraps around my upper body, I flinch, everything falling back into place suddenly.

My wide eyes meet Lea’s as she looks up at me with a startled expression.

“Kai, is everything alright?” she asks, keeping her voice quiet as if she doesn’t want to spook me further.

I shake my head slowly. “I don’t think so,” I say, blowing a breath slowly past my lips.

She runs a soothing palm up and down my spine, stopping at the base to rub circles there. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, her voice gentle, quiet.

I’m not sure anyone besides Liam has ever asked me that.

My words get lodged in my throat as I fight to hold back the tears welling in my eyes.Do I want to talk about it?

“It’s okay if you don’t. I just want you to know I’m here…” she says, her voice trailing off.

We sit in silence for a few long moments as my raging pulse finally begins to slow in her presence.

My mouth feels dry when I finally open it to speak. “It’s my mom.” That’s all I manage at first, dipping my toes in and testing the water to see how it feels to open up to someone besides her brother. A pang of guilt hits me when I think of Liam. God, he’d be pissed about what we’ve been doing together.

“Is she okay?”

I shake my head. “Not really,” I croak out and feel like an asshole for not giving her more details yet. I don’twanther to worry. It’s just so hard to talk about this.

“It’s okay,” she says, resting her head on my shoulder. “Take your time, Kai.”

I nod slowly, dragging in a few deep breaths and willing the ache in my chest to relent. “Things have gotten worse since I’d last seen her—” I gulp more air. “Since I picked her up from jail.”

She sucks in an audible breath. “Jail?”

I clench my eyes shut and feel the moisture coat my lashes, making it difficult to see when I open my eyes again.

“She had done something that got her arrested, and I had to bail her out. That’s why I agreed to join you. I needed to take out a loan to pay it because my savings from the league have all been spent on rent, copays for my medication so I don’t wind up like her, and bailing her out of jail and keeping a roof over her head.” The admission feels sour on my tongue, but I’m glad it’s out there. It sucks having to keep this heavy shit bottled up.

Lea places a hand on my cheek, drawing my eyes to hers. They’re filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with all of this alone,” she says, her voice impossibly small.

“Liam used to help, but he’s not here anymore, and I know he’d want me to tell him, but I don’t want anything distracting him. He’s finally living out our dream, and one day, I’ll be there to join him.” I huff out another breath that had been caught in my lungs. “I’ve just got to make it through this shit first.”

Lea’s thumb strokes my cheekbone softly, and she gives me a small, reassuring smile.

“If that was a few weeks ago, what happened today?” she asks.

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