Page 134 of A Kingpin's Weakness
“The way you scratched up my BMW? Hell yeah,” he said, cracking up.
I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning. “Can we take it for a spin?”
Seth looked at his watch. “You can drive it all day, baby. I’ll catch up with you before dinner.”
He pulled me in again, this time slower, softer, kissing me with the kind of love that didn’t wear off over time.
“I love you,” I whispered into his neck.
“Love you too.” I nodded, already sinking into the buttery seat of my new ride, feeling like a version of me I never thought I’d get to be.
I pulled off smooth, windows down, wind in my curls, and headed toward Jo’s rehab for our family therapy session.
I leaned back in the driver’s seat. When I arrived, I parked outside Jo’s rehab, the engine humming low beneath me. I sighed, staring out at the sidewalk, then hit Noah’s name in my phone. I needed to know he was coming. I needed him to just show up. The phone rang twice before he answered.
“Yeah, Stormi.”
I paused. That was it? Nohey sis?No nothing.
“That’s how you pick up for me?”
He let out a slow, tired breath. “I’m tired. Had a long night.”
“What time did you even come home last night?”
“I don’t know. Late.”
That same heat rose in my chest, the kind that builds from worry and turns into something sharp when you love someone who’s lost.
“Noah, I think you should come stay with Seth and me. You got too much freedom right now. Too many nights with no one checkin’ in.”
“Stormi, don’t start.”
“No, you need structure,” I said firmly. “And you might not want to hear it, but I’m not gonna stop saying it.”
The line went quiet. That kind of silence where you know the other person heard you, but they didn’t like it.
“You coming to therapy?” I asked after a beat.
“Not today.”
I felt my jaw tighten. “Why not?”
“I don’t wanna sit in some room and tell a stranger my feelings,” he snapped. “So they can judge some shit they didn’t live through.”
My heart cracked at that. Not because he was wrong, but because I knew exactly where that came from.
“At least do it for Jo.”
Noah snorted. “You and Jo’s relationship was broken. Not mine and hers. You left her. I didn’t.”
That landed like a slap. I sucked in a breath, my voice smaller than I meant for it to be. “Wow, Noah. Really?”
“I’m just sayin’,” he said, more defensive now. “You the only one carryin’ guilt.”
I stared out at the sky, blinking fast. I wasn’t about to let him hear me cry.
“Listen, I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”
