“Nothing is going on.”
“Fine.” He shrugged. “Whatever isnotgoing on, it’s okay. I mean, if it’s okay with you, it’s okay with me. You know?”
I shot him a sideways glance. “Are you saying that if whatever isnotgoing on between Noah and me,isactually going on, you’d have no problem with whatever is not going on?”
He frowned, dark eyebrows knitted together. “If what you just said means what I think it does, then no. I won’t have a problem with it.” He pulled his lips in a thin line, placing his hands in his pants pockets. “I’m the last one to judge, Sienna. You know that.”
I walked to the bed and sat down. “Do you miss her?”
“Every fucking day.” He sat down next to me. “But I know it was for the best. Ivy and I were going nowhere slowly.”
I watched as my brother’s expression faltered just a little, his eyes downcast as he tried to hide the hurt. Ivy Monroe was the illness his heart hadn’t been able to recover from since they ended their relationship two years ago.
“Just,” he glanced at me, “be careful.”
“I always am.”
“Liar.” He smirked, then stood. “Good thing I invited him to come tonight.”
“You what?” I launched to my feet. “Are you serious?”
“Ah-huh.”
“Jesus.” I brushed my fingers through my hair, the nerves I had two minutes ago now heightened on the potential of a clusterfuck happening tonight. “Silas invited Oakley.”
“So what? You’re broken up. I don’t see a problem.”
Of course, he didn’t. He wasn’t there yesterday morning when Noah tried to make Oakley one with the goddamn concrete wall.
“Sienna.” He stepped closer, eyes narrowed. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.”Fuck.
“Tell me, or I swear to God I’ll tell your birthday story to you again.”
“Okay fine.” I closed my eyes, my hands balled into fists. “Noah and Oakley kind of, sort of had a teeny-tiny misunderstanding yesterday.”
Spencer frowned. “What kind of teeny-tiny misunderstanding?”
“Long story. But the bottom line is, if Noah decides to come—which I highly doubt—we should probably try to keep the two of them as far away from each other as possible. Okay, bye.” I rushed past him without giving him a second’s chance to look me in the eye and force answers out of me. The entire thing was already embarrassing as fuck.
The closer I got to the back patio, the louder the music became, drowning out the noise of my heels across the tiled floor. At least there weren’t too many guests. Unlike the last party Silas organized which ended up with me kissing a stranger twenty seconds before our dad started yelling at our guests, chasing everyone out like animals. Of course, by then, Silas was too drunk to care, and I just didn’t give a fuck since Elenor stood two feet behind my dad, her pasted make-up cracked above the corners of her lips as she grinned with glee, loving every fucking minute.
I stepped out on the patio just as Oakley came walking up the stairs. The moment of eye contact between us was awkward as hell, my skin crawling with the memory of what happened that morning. The look on Oakley’s face as he stared at me was a silent confirmation that we weren’t done, and a lengthy discussion over what happened would still take place. Soon.
Luckily for me, Silas had intercepted Oakley by putting a beer in his hand and dragging him toward the small crowd of guests.
I breathed in deep, relief slithering down my shoulders, and I stared at all the familiar faces as I sauntered to the glass barrier, placing my fingers on the edge. Music pumped, setting the mood of the party with its beat. Suddenly I no longer wanted to be there. I didn’t feel like keeping up appearances tonight, pretending that my life was this perfect little bubble of glitz and glamor with endless showers of champagne. All these people, supposed friends, only knew the Sienna who laughed, partied, and socialized while clinging to Oakley Keller’s side. They had no idea who I really was—the Sienna who would lie awake on her bed at night, hidden within the darkness.
The sun had started to set, the summer evening weather setting in as birds returned to their nests. Garden lights lit up, casting an elegant glow over the estate. It was crazy how life worked. How people on the outside always thought the grass was greener on the inside. Meanwhile, here I was—a daughter who would give it all up to have just one more day with her mother. No amount of money could ever be worth the time lost with a loved one. The picturesque scene in front of me could never be as beautiful as my mom’s face while she baked pancakes for us on a Sunday morning. Or when she’d wake us up for school with a smile even though she’d have dark circles under her eyes because she’d been up since five a.m. preparing our lunches. We could have easily afforded hired help to do all those things, but Mom insisted on doing it herself whenever it came to my brothers and me.
God, I missed her. I missed her face, her voice, the gentle way she twirled my ponytail between her fingers.
“There you are.” Cleo snuck up on me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Why is it always so hard finding you at these shindigs?”
“Because you spend twenty minutes being a social butterfly before you actively look for me for about five minutes.”
She snickered. “True. You want something to drink?”