Page 52 of Spreading Her Wings

Claim me.

Why didn’t I? The look of shame on his face when I’d refused to acknowledge what he meant to me was pasted in my mind. I could see the visible lines cracking in his heart, and it shattered when the door closed behind him. Why didn’t I run after him?

“Okay, what’s wrong? I know you’re not just sad about Aunt June,” Emma said. I sat with my sisters on either side of me. They rested their heads on my shoulders, their dark-brown hair mixing with mine.

“It’s Auston, isn’t it?” Amy added.

I sighed, dropping my head back against the couch and blinking to stop the tears from welling in my eyes. My sisters were a mirror image of each other when they lifted their heads and grinned, speaking at the same time.

“I knew it.”

They high fived each other, laying their heads back on my shoulders. “You knew what?” I rolled my eyes.

The way they rolled their eyes was vocal. “That you’re obviously in love with Auston,” Amy started.

“And that you’re fighting with him about something and that’s why you’re sad.” Like they always had, Emma finished her sentence, both of them punctuating it with a sharp tilt of their heads.

I scoffed and cleared my throat. “I’m sad because Aunt June is sick.”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s been sick for a while, but you’rereallysad.”

“Emma’s right.” Amy put her hand on my shoulder. “You’re like we-should-get-ice-cream-and-wine sad.”

They both laughed when I glared at each in turn. “You’retoo youngto drink, and I’m not sad. I don’t need ice cream.” I paused, resting back against the couch before sitting back up. “How did you know?”

“That you’re in love with him?” Emma asked with a giggle, as if it were a stupid question.

“Because we’re not stupid!”

I groaned, dropping my head forward into my hands. Was I really about to spill my guts to my sixteen-year-old sisters? “Okay, you’re right. I love him, probably more than I’ll ever love another person.”

Claim me, kitten.

“Fuck,” I whispered to myself, quickly standing up from the couch. “I made a huge mistake. I have to go.”

My sisters giggled behind me as I rushed out of the house. It would still be a few hours before Aunt June woke up. She had slept a lot the last couple of days. The doctor said she needed her rest, but that didn’t stop us from hanging out on her couch and waiting impatiently for the few minutes she was awake and alert.

Mom said we were overwhelming her, but Aunt June promised we weren’t. She said she loved seeing us when she woke up, so we made sure someone would be there each timeshe did. Emma and Amy were there now, though, and all I could think about was the broken look in Auston’s rich hazel eyes.

It wasn’t dark, but the sun was setting when I pulled into the dimly lit parking lot behind Pour Decisions. “Please be here,” I said, climbing out of the car. Auston wasn’t at his apartment or at Logan’s. He was supposed to be off tonight, but maybe he’d decided to work after all.

I flung the door open, entering through the back hallway past the office. When I saw the door was closed and the lights were out, my stomach sank. My heart pounded, the rush of blood echoing in my ears when I hurried to the front of the bar. It came to a sudden stop when I turned the corner, though.

It wasn’t Auston at the bar, or anyone I had even met, for that matter. The blond boy looked like he couldn’t be a day older than twenty-one, and when he turned to see me breathing heavily and staring at him from the end of the bar, he raised an eyebrow.

“Are you, uh, okay?” He was skeptical, slowly approaching me as if he wasn’t sure if he was going to take my drink order or tell me to get the fuck out.

Taking a deep breath and holding it until it felt like my heart rate had slowed a little, I put my hands on the counter. “Is Auston here?”

“Who’s asking?”

“His wife… er… girlfriend? It’s complicated. Is he here?”

The boy’s face scrunched up while he debated if he should tell me anything. He looked at my finger where the ring was missing, but when he moved his eyes up my wrist, he hovered on the butterfly tattooed on my arm. The one that matched Auston’sneck. With a sigh, he relaxed his body, letting me know he wasn’t so wary of me.

“He’s off tonight. All of management is. They went to some party for a friend from out of town.” He paused for a moment. “If you’re his wife or whatever, shouldn’t you know that?”

“It’s a long story.” I groaned, taking a step back from the bar. “Thanks for the help.”

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