Page 87 of Don't Let Me Fall (Don't Let Me 1)

My nose wrinkles. “I don’t think I can handle any more drama today.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Nothing,” I lie, too exhausted to give her all the gory details.

She quirks her brow. “Liar.”

“Let’s just say our dear Mia needs to figure out what to do with Shorty as soon as possible.”

“Why? Because you wanna officially claim Colt for yourself? Because if that’s the case, you have my full support. You two are adorable together.”

“It’s not that,” I argue. “Especially not when I just caught him lying to me.”

“What?” she screeches.

“Okay, fine. Technically, he wasn’t lying. He was…” I shove my hair away from my face and blow out all the oxygen in my lungs. “Blah. I don’t want to talk about it. Right now, I want to focus on Mia.”

“What about Mia?” Kate prods.

“Shorty showed up on our doorstep earlier today.”

I swear her eyes almost pop out of her head. “Are you serious?”

“Yup.”

“Why does everything happen when I’m not home?”

“Consider yourself lucky,” I mumble, annoyed.

“What happened?”

“Honestly? I don’t even know. Like I said, Shorty showed up on our doorstep before Mia’s shift, said something to her, and grabbed her arm.”

“He grabbed her?”

“Yeah. And it freaked me out.” I sag further into the couch, my body feeling drained. It’s exhausting trying to keep everyone happy. Trying to take care of everyone. Trying to help everyone. I breathe out a sigh and put my feet on the coffee table, stretching out and letting go for a second.

“Holy crap, Ash,” Kate replies. “Did Mia call the cops?”

“No. But I did use Colt as her scapegoat when Shorty was here. Thankfully, it worked, and he left. But still.”

With a frown, Kate sits back down and pulls me into a side hug. And it’s nice. To not be the only one carrying the load anymore. To talk to someone. To voice my fears aloud. To have someone…listen. And if Kate’s good at anything, it’s listening.

“I know you love Mia like a sister,” Kate murmurs, “and I know you want to protect her by letting her borrow your boyfriend––”

“Colt isn’t my boyfriend.”

“He would be if you let him,” she argues. “But my point is…Mia’s used to handling the world on her own. And you’re used to being Mother Goose and swooping in to help anyone and everyone whenever you can.”

“So?”

“So, I think Mia needs to reach out to someone who can actually help her, and you need to not swoop in and try to fix everything,” she explains gently. “Especially when it’s out of your control.”

With a frown, I ask, “And you, oh wise one? What do you need to do?”

“I need to get ready for my date and not freak out.” She presses a loud, smacking kiss to my cheek and stands. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” I mutter as she heads to her room, but she stops, turns around, and faces me again.

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