Page 101 of Ruling Scar
“You should tell Mom.”
I gear myself up for a fight.
“I’m not saying it to annoy you,” she says. “But it’s obvious you’re dating someone. You’re gone all weekend. You don’t come home for dinner on the weeknights. She’s already nagging Dad about your security team. She doesn’t like that you don’t have anyone on you.”
“Because I don’t want anyone on me.” I wiggle my legs, Albert picking his head up in response. I should mention Ivan is around, but I can’t. It feels like that proves her and Mom’s point.
“We all get annoyed with the amount of security we have, but it’s better to talk to her than flat out lie,” Adeline says. I’m taken aback by how mature she sounds. This is the same baby sister who wreaked havoc our whole lives?
“I’m not flat out lying,” I grumble under my breath. “Which of Elijah’s stories finally made you figure it out?”
She holds up her phone. She screenshotted Elijah’s story from yesterday, the one where he pretended to read my dark romance. “Mom’s going to catch on soon. And she’s going to be pissed she’s the last to know.”
I grab for her phone.
She dodges. “I understand now why he’s posting. He never posts about his dating life on social media. These are discreet, but if Leopold already thinks you’re dating, they’d help confirm it.”
“I just thought he was being a simp,” I say under my breath.
Her shoulders fall for the first time. “Oh, big time.” She scrolls to a story from a couple of weeks back. It’s a snapshot of snickerdoodle cookies. My favorite.
“He likes to bake,” I defend, blushing.
“Who knew,” Adeline teases. But she grows serious again. “I noticed you acting strangely after your date with Leopold.”
My baby sister is taking better care of me than I am of her. It should be the other way around.
“Yeah, I freaked out a bit,” I admit. Ren, Isolde, and Janis keep telling me not to minimize my fear, but I keep wondering if I overreacted. Yes, it brought me to Elijah and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but what if it’s all in my head?
It’s not.
I hate how I have to keep reminding myself of this fact.
“It’s not just that,” Adeline admits. “You stopped reading.”
All I can do is stare at her.
“When you’re sad you don’t read,” she says softly. “But then you started reading a lot and Elijah began posting things that made me think of you. Finally I decided to call your bluff and show up here. I staked it out for an hour waiting for a sign of you before I texted.”
“You were outside for an hour?” A swell of laughter lifts my chest. I’d rather think of Ads outside while I read on the couch than think about her earlier statement.
She’s right, though. I don’t read when I’m sad and I’m surprised she noticed.
Books are my favorite comfort, but when I’m truly sad, when the dark gray turns completely black and the swirls overtake me,I don’t want to read about happy people in books with happy endings.
It’s too hard.
When life is going okay, it gets easier to read about good things. I’m not as bothered about all the main characters living amazing lives. Having incredible experiences.
I bite the inside of my lip. I didn’t realize my sister saw through me so much and it’s scary. How do I explain that I never talked to her because she’s one of those people with all these great things in her life? Boys and friends and a pretty face and body.
Except the way she stares at me now, I can’t help but understand that I’ve miscalculated my sister all this time.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She pets Albert, not speaking right away. “Lying about a fling is one thing. But I don’t ever want you to think that you need to hide important things like a potential stalker from me, your own sister.”
“From now on, you’re the first person I’ll go to.” Lord have mercy on the person because hell hath no fury like Adeline Akatov.
