Hayes slaps me on the shoulder just as we hear a squeal from behind me. “Don’t be a stranger, Brenner. I’ll talk to Tanner if you want to fight.”
I give him half a nod before a body slams into my back and small arms wrap around my neck. Hayes shakes his head and walks off. Xana jumps off my back, and I take the opportunity to turn and face her. The smile on her face tugs at my heart.
“You look like shit,” she teases as she playfully shoves my shoulder.
I groan, then bend down and pull her into me. Xana’s an asshole—something we have in common—but I didn’t realize how much I missed my baby sister until now. She’s small, like our mom was, and my arms swallow her entire upper body as I hug her.
Xana favors our mom in looks, while I favor our dad. She’s colored her hair blonde since the last time I’ve seen her, and it brings out her naturally tanned skin.
We don’t waste any more time before hurrying back to my car. After all, she has been on the plane for hours and I’m sure she wants to relax.
“Can you drop me at the hospital?” Xana asks.
I look over at her, but she’s staring out of the window, clearly avoiding making eye contact with me.
I sigh and bite back a smart-ass comment to avoid starting this visit off shoddy. “It’s still early. You’ve been on a plane all night, so maybe we can go home and you can take a nap first. Get settled a little before I take you.”
She looks over at me. “I’m sure you have better things to do than drive your baby sister around, Li. Just drop me off at the hospital, and I’ll call you when I’m done with Bass.”
I grind my teeth, my knuckles turning white on the steering wheel. It pisses me off that she wants to go directly there so she can listen to his sob story and make me out to be the bad guy. Xana is only twenty, eight years younger than Bastian. I know his maturity is on her level, and he will use her naivety to benefit him.
She’s my blood and the only family I have left, so the last thing I want is for her to see me as the monster that I am. It hurt to send her across the country for college, and I hate having her so far away from me. But I know she’s safer there, and even her being here right now, with so much unknown, worries me.
Signs for the hospital direct us to the next exit, so I flick my turn signal on and get on the off-ramp. Xana releases a long breath while she fidgets with her hands.
“Thanks,” she says with a strained smile.
We don’t say anything else as I pull up to the front of the hospital to let her out. The excitement from seeing each other dropped the second the car doors closed. There was no catching up, no jokes, just awkward silence. I already know it has to do with Bastian.
If that fucker turns my own sister against me, I’ll put him back in that hospital bed once he’s released. I don’t doubt that he’s petty and would do something like that just to get under my skin.
“You should come up,” Xana offers.
My body goes rigid. How does one say “fuck off” kindly? How do I explain that I don’t regret putting him in the hospital, and would gladly do it again?
Xana is going to try to make her whole trip here about patching up anything and everything between the two of us. However, that ship sailed and sank long ago. I realize now that I was just holding on to debris because he was familiar—he held pieces of my past with my Nonna.
We couldn’t be more different, and I won’t tolerate his disrespect toward Malia. Only I have that right.
“Xan,” I say with a sigh. I figure since lying is what got me into this mess, then I may as well be honest now. Somewhat. “There is nothing to repair between Bass and me. I’ve seen things in him that showed me who he truly is, and I don’t like it. And I don’t want you to see it either.”
I leave out the part about how most of this started because of a woman who came between us. In reality, Malia opened my eyes, but I’ll never admit that to anyone.
Xana’s eyebrows furrow as she looks at me, wondering what could have possibly happened between us for our friendship to be over. I just need her to accept it as it is and move the fuck on.
If I snap at her, it’s only going to push her more toward him, and I can’t stand to see that fucker win.
“I won’t push, but—”
Her lips purse when I give her stern look. I’m not budging, not even for her. Bastian Collins is exhausting, and I have bigger things going on than worrying about him and his bullshit.
“I’ll call you when I’m done.”
I nod in acknowledgment, and she leans over the center console to kiss my cheek before jumping out of the car, running to get inside the hospital to escape the frigid air. I stay parked until I can no longer see her, not wanting to risk someone walking in after her and whisking her off.
Perhaps I’m slightly paranoid, and the position I’m in is my fault. Any threat to my sister is because I kept digging into The Omen to build a case against him. Him putting Malia in my life proves just how far he will go to fuck with me. How long will he fuck with me before he makes a move and tries to kill someone again?
The only person left he hasn’t touched is my sister.