Page 116 of Stealing Sunshine

It’s why I’ve put up with my mother’s shit for so long. If I stop, I know what will come next. The family I’ve made over the course of my life will be all I have left.

Daisy, having pulled her pants back on, abandons the mirrors and starts my way. Once again, it’s like she can see straight into my head and the thoughts that run rampant within it.

Shade carries all the boxes of food over to the couch and sets them on the floor in front of it. “There’s been a station waiting for her here for years. She’s just got to claim it.”

“You make it sound so easy,” I mutter.

Daisy reaches me and kisses the top of my head. “You deserve to do what you love for a living. Your talent should be seen by everyone. Not just those who call you over in the middle of the night.”

“That office job you’ve got is a waste of time, Bryce. You’re wasting the best years of your life and what could be a fucking incredible career behind a desk doing your mother’s bidding,” Shade adds with a flip of the first pizza box lid.

The longing I felt the moment we stepped into this place returns with a vengeance. It takes too much effort to keep my face blank.

“What is this? Gang up on Bryce day?”

“Sure, if that will help you take us seriously,” Shade states.

I stand and kick the stool to the side before turning to Daisy. She doesn’t budge from where she stands, concern lining every inch of her face.

“You deserve the best of everything, sweetheart. That’s all.”

I’m at risk of falling in love with this woman. It’s already right there, so close I can touch it with my fingertips.

Fuck, what if I’m already there?

“What she said. Now, sit your asses down and eat dinner with me. I’m already beginning to wither away,” Shade huffs.

“You’d be the last person to wither away from starvation. What do you weigh, two fifty?” I ask.

He flops onto the floor with his back to the couch and grabs a slice of meaty pizza. With a leg pulled toward his body and an arm slung over his knee, he looks unbelievably large.

“Two thirty,” he corrects me before flexing beneath his hoodie. “And it’s pure muscle, baby girl. Wanna see?”

“No.”

He shifts his stare to Daisy, but I’m already moving in his direction. Once I’ve joined him on the floor, I smack him upside the head and snatch a buffalo chicken wing, covering it in the special ranch.

Pointing it at him, I drop my voice into a growl. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Are you threatening me with a chicken wing?”

Daisy’s laugh steals my attention. I watch her sit beside me and criss-cross her legs before taking a honey garlic chicken wing and sinking her teeth into it.

She’s immediately fit in with Shade, like she hasn’t only just met him today. It’s a superpower of hers. No matter where we are or who we’re with, she can become a member of their circle with a smile and a few honest words. Everyone loves her and doesn’t for one second hesitate to accept her.

I wonder what that feels like. To make such a good firstimpression on everyone you meet to the point they’re accepting you into the fold with no hesitation.

When I was younger, it was easier to make friends. We didn’t know better back then than to take every smile and hello as an olive branch. But as an adult, friendships have been far and few between for me. People can be judgy and cruel but also completely opposite of you in views and dreams. It’s a miracle to find even one person that you connect with, and that’s not even the hard part.

It’s keeping them around once you’ve started letting them see who you are past the surface level.

I found Shade when I was in my late teen years and let arrogance convince me to pop into this place with a pile of angst and anger and demand the best artist in this part of the country ink me up. If he hadn’t taken one look at me and recognized my pain as a similar kind to the one he knew, we wouldn’t be here right now.

Anna and Aurora were driven to Cherry Peak with suitcases’ worth of their own pain. A cheating ex-fiancé and secret celebrity father. It wasn’t a coincidence they were both led here and that we stumbled upon each other when we did.

Daisy . . . she’s something more. A blessing from the universe that I know I won’t get lucky enough to receive twice.

Every friendship I’ve made in the last few years has stemmed from a shared experience of pain and anger. All except for the one I’ve found with my sunshine.

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