don’t know. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
“Don’t you want to go home? See your family?”
“I’m not sure I have a family left. Even if I do, I don’t know how to go back to that. I lived a different life for over two years. It’s not as easy as waltzing back home and walking in the front door. There’s so much shame. I’m not the daughter they knew.”
“If you were Molly, I’d take you however I could get you just so I could have you back.”
“I know. But I need to do it my own way. When I’m ready.”
“Don’t you want to call? Let them know you’re alive?”
She sighs. “I know you’re thinking from the other side. And I appreciate your input. I really do. But after two years of being forced how to live, I need to do this for me. I know I’ll never be back to normal, but before I talk to them, I want to be as close as I can be to the daughter they knew.”
I start to open my mouth, but she cuts me off.
“Can we move on from the heavy? I need a dose of happiness right about now.”
“Right.” I spring off the couch and grab the controller that fell to the floor at some point. “Use the directional pad to move between movies. Pick what you want. I’m going to grab something to drink.”
She takes the controller delicately as if she’s trying to avoid brushing my fingers. “No alcohol, please.” The words are so soft I almost don’t hear them.
And it hurts that I was naturally going for the liquor in the cabinet. The motion was subconscious. I never actually made the decision to grab a hard drink, but I’m Sin, and that’s what I do. Now I have to decide if I’m going to do what I always do or make a different choice for the woman in my living room.
Do I care?
Do I want to?
When I stop fighting, it seems so easy. “Only water here,” I lie.
“Good.” She smiles at the TV as she flips through the selections.
I make myself busy adding ice to a glass and filling it from the tap to give her a little space. I need it too. I’ve never talked so openly about my past before. Not even to Elias. He’s only heard bits and pieces, usually when I’ve been too drunk to censor myself.
“Do you want some?”
“No thanks,” she calls out in a timid voice.
“Shelby.”
The cursor on the TV stops moving as her fingers lock around the controller. “Yes?”
“Do you want some fucking water?”
Her eyes go wide as they lock onto mine. I can see it there. She wants water, but she’s so damn conditioned not to ask for anything.
You’re thirsty. Ask me for some damn water.
I hold her gaze as I bring my glass to my lips. Condensation has formed from the ice. A drop trickles down the side of the glass, and I catch it with my tongue, licking it up to the rim. We stare each other down as I take a long, cool drink.
“Shelby,” I growl. My voice snaps her out of her trance.
“Y-yes, please.”
The glass hits the counter with a thud, and I cross my arms over my chest. “Yes, please what?”
She takes a deep breath, her shoulders shuddering. “Yes, please, I’d like some water.”
“Then go get some. You’re free to help yourself in my house.” I grab my glass and saunter back into the living room.
She scrambles off the couch and into the kitchen.
“You haven’t eaten all day, have you? Not even a drink.”
“Will you get angry if I answer honestly?”
“You just did.” A darkness filters through my voice. What was Elias thinking, leaving her here all day when she can hardly fend for herself?
“Why ask me if I want a drink if you were just going to make me get it myself?”
I sling my arm over the back of the couch and twist to face her. “You’re back in the real world, princess. You want something, you get it. No more of this waiting for permission shit. That said, you better also fix yourself a damn sandwich, so help me God …”
“I don’t know how to do that. Not ask for permission, that is. I know how to make a sandwich,” she answers softly as she goes about doing that.
“Then I’m gonna teach you.”
Shelby starts coughing loudly. I raise an eyebrow in her direction.
“You?” she sputters, trying to catch her breath.
“Who better? I’m