Page 59 of The Naughty List
I nod, sipping the punch Hollis’s mom handed me since I don’t drink alcohol or eggnog.
“I’ve yet to find much she doesn’t love.”
She watches Hollis with an expression of fondness. I’m glad she has so many people who care about her.
“She hates doing laundry, when drinks are so hot they burn her tongue—says it ruins her taste buds and she can’t enjoy anything she eats for a week—and disappointing people she cares about.”
“I doubt anyone is ever disappointed in her.” How could they be? Hollis is just so…Hollis. She’s always smiling and helpful and happy.
Except when I acted like a complete ass. She wasn’t smiling then.
Addison’s eyes cut to me. “You okay?”
“I’m good.”
Her brothers are yelling something about cheating because she used antler props and their mom is refereeing. But all I see is Hollis, bright, shiny, beautiful Hollis.
The feeling I have when I look at her, I suspect it’s a lot like a kid on Christmas morning. A kid who had a much more traditional childhood than mine.
Every cell in my body wants to wrap her in my arms and shoutmineto the universe. But I know what I am. And what I’m not.
If I was to try to be more than her boss, I’d only dim her light. Soon that sparkle everyone loves about her would be extinguished by my darkness.
My mind works to try and figure out how to give her the job she wants with the WDA while keeping her safe from the monsters that lurk in my shadows.
“You know,” Addison begins quietly, “she feels things deeper than most people. She pays attention, sees things other people don’t notice. And when she cares about you, your happiness is her happiness. Your pain is her pain.”
Exactly why I try not to let her see any of my pain. I’ve tried to protect her from the worst part of me. But keeping Hollis out is like trying to live without exposure to the sun. Cold and empty.
“One day,” she continues, “someone is going to fall madly in love with her.” She pauses to let that painfully poisonous knowledge soak in. “And when they do, and they fight for her, stand up to her brothers and love her in the way she deserves, she will probably fall madly in love right back.”
My stomach twists angrily. Her words punch a hole through my chest.
“You going to be okay with that, Jonah?”
Fuck no.
“I’ll be happy as long as Hollis is happy. She’s an amazing girl. I hope she gets everything she deserves.”
Addison side-eyes me. “So do I.”
Before she says anything else, Hollis takes me by both hands and pulls me toward the fireplace.
“Your turn, Jonah!”
I want to protest, to tell her I’m just a spectator. But the look on her face, the hopefulness in her pleading gaze, makes it impossible.
She holds the hat full of folded slips of paper out to me and I take a square and unfold it.
“It’s tied 3 to 3, girls vs guys,” she informs me. “No pressure, but if the guys get this one, it’ll break their four-year losing streak.”
No pressure my ass. The cop brother that punched me, Mikey, says something about last year being rigged and they erupt into good-natured arguing once more.
I stare at the word on the paper and know I’m doomed.
I can only think of one way to act this out and no one in this room is going to like it.
Oh well. Fortunately I’m good at taking hits to the face.
