“They don’t even have that,” she fake gags.
“Figure it out princess.”
“Fiiineeeeee,” she drags this out begrudgingly, but her excitement leaks through. “This is going to be so much fun!” She pulls me into a hug from across the table, crushing my ribs and making the heart behind it beat a little more wildly.
“I hope so,” I reply, whispering to myself.
Chapter 8
Canon
“Wait, let me get this straight. Your birth dad hityouup randomly out of the blue, and now wants you to come play house with him and his perfect family?”
Leave it to Mason to put everything in a clearer perspective.
“Pretty much,” I say, toying with the blunt hanging from my mouth. Mason rubs his forehead from his side of the phone, looking about as stressed as I feel right now.
We’re having our daily facetime call where he tells me all about college and I tell him all about home. But it seems like this conversation is only going one way today.
“I’m both happy and scared shitless for you big bro,” he chuckles then picks up a pencil from his desk, tapping it on the corner of his lower lip. “What are you going to do?”
“I can only tell you what I’mnotgoing to do, and that’s get played.”
I refuse to let Kane think he can play daddy now that he’s found out about me. I’m twenty-one and have been independent since I was basically a toddler. Inviting me to stay at his house is probably the dumbest decision he’s ever made in his life. After abandoning me and my mom, of course.
“Makes sense,” Mason says while leaning back in his desk chair, “but I think you should give it a chance. I mean, it’s one summer, what harm can that do?”
“It can do a lot more harm than you think, Mase.”
He shrugs his shoulders then picks up the phone and plops on his bed a couple feet away.
“As long as you stay true to yourself and remain the Canon I know and love, you’ll be fine.”
“You’ve been talking to Mr. Holloway too much,” I joke. Mr. Holloway is Mason’s therapist who’s helping him get through a lot of that childhood trauma he first experienced when coming into foster care.
“Oh, and you better not give that ‘best little brother ever’ title away now that you’ve got another one.”
“That definitely won’t be a problem,” I sneer, remembering the entitled prick named Connor I met at the dinner.
“When I come back from vacation with my roommates, I’ll be down there to help you get through whatever, a’ight?”
“I don’t need your help,” I say, not letting the smile I feel spread across my face. A knock at Mason’s door has him looking past the camera at whoever just walked in.
“Suck it up ‘cause you’re gonna get it.” He looks back at me smiling, “I have to go. Think about what I said, Cay.”
The call hangs up and I let my phone fall to my chest. I’m supposed to be Mason’s big brother, but I swear sometimes it feels like the other way around.
He’s right though. I should give Kane a chance to be the dad he thinks he is. Besides, if the brotherhood is after me, they won’t find me hiding out in the Palisades.
Chapter 9
Demi
As I’m packing my suitcase for my impending stay at the Peterson’s, I can’t help but look around at all the family pictures decorating my walls.
There’re pictures from when I joined my parents on a couple of their missions, from actual family vacations, and just random pictures I took when we were all lounging around the house.
I walk over to my vanity mirror and look at the many pictures of Amy and I from when we were younger. I pull one down from where it’s tucked in the mirror and stare back at the fake smiling girl on her sixteenth birthday. I remember how my parents weren’t there to celebrate because they got stuck in the jungle trying to observe silverbacks.