Page 79 of Caged Bird

21

ZANE

Alump lodged in my throat at the sight of Fawn engulfed in her siblings’ embrace. They held on to each other like they needed them to breathe, fingers clutching, a mess of mumbled words that didn’t make sense and tears rolling down cheeks.

It hit me hard that this was what a family was supposed to be. That unconditional love the three of them had was something that couldn’t be broken no matter how much time had passed or what had happened between them.

It was the sort of relationship I never could have had with Eddie. Nor did I want it.

But Fawn needed this. Needed them.

So I stood back and let them have it.

It was Vincent who noticed me standing there.

Vincent who pulled away from the hug, the softness in his eyes suddenly gone, and replaced with a dark hardness that sent a chill racing down my spine.

He moved so fast I barely had time to react. The back of my head slammed against the side of the house, pain eruptingthrough my skull and dizzying me so badly I didn’t even notice his fingers around my throat until I couldn’t breathe.

The tip of his blade dug in just above his fingers, piercing my skin, dangerously close to my jugular.

Every instinct in my body screamed for me to fight. Shouted for me to lash out at him and try to save myself.

Except I couldn’t. Because I knew I deserved whatever Fawn’s brother wanted to do to me.

I’d failed her, over and over, and I deserved to bleed for it.

Vincent and I both knew it.

Surprise registered in his gaze, and then there was something else, maybe even a tiny bit of respect that I was willing to take the death sentence he was no doubt here to hand out.

Fuzzy darkness flickered at the corners of my vision, and Vincent loosened his grip on my throat.

“Nuh-uh, motherfucker. You don’t get to pass out.”

Fawn grabbed for him. “Vincent! Let him go! He didn’t do anything!”

He glanced over at his younger sister and…pouted? What the fuck?

“I’m insulted you don’t even recognize me, little sis. Though I can’t blame you, since you’ve been dead for the past five years. Probably does mess with one’s brain a bit.”

“Scythe!” Fawn swatted at him again. “Jesus Christ, can you go back in the box and let Vincent back out? He’s so much more reasonable than you are!”

In my oxygen-starved state, I battled to keep up, no idea what was going on.

But Fawn ducked beneath her brother’s arm and put herself in the middle of us, glaring at the other man. “Let him go.”

Vincent or Scythe, I had no idea what we were calling him, did. But it was with a gruff sigh of irritation, like his younger sister had wrecked all his fun.

But then he grinned at her, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around in a circle. “Simba? You’re alive?”

Ophelia just shook her head, grinning at her siblings as they spun in dizzying circles. She glanced at me. “He’s got this new friend, and all they do is quote Disney movies at each other.” She raised her voice. “He doesn’t need to make it his whole personality though!”

I didn’t even know what to say. The whole thing was chaos, while I was too busy trying to suck in enough oxygen to make sense of any of it.

Fawn’s brother put her down eventually, and his gaze came straight back to me. His blade never left his fingers. “Someone better start explaining why I’m not slitting this asshole’s throat open.”

Ophelia rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t very Disney of you.”

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