I liked sharing my coffee with him. I liked eating off his plate. I liked anything that moved me just one centimeter closer to him.
“You two are like a damn Nicholas Sparks movie,” Braeden announced, and T choked on the coffee he was drinking. “Stop it. We got shit to deal with. People to payback.”
“You watch Nicholas Spark movies?” Romeo asked, blinking at Braeden.
Rimmel giggled.
“Maybe once,” Braeden muttered.
“And you think we’re the gay ones?” Trent goaded him.
I laughed. So did Romeo.
“Oh, for shit’s sake!” he declared. “Ivy was all hormonal. Have you ever told a pregnant woman no?”
Ivy grinned from her seat on the floor, and Nova laughed. Trent’s chuckle was rich and deep. I enjoyed the sound until he sucked in a breath and shifted.
I took the coffee from his hand and gently pressed my palm over his middle. I knew it wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t do nothing.
“I’ll get some ice.” Rimmel fussed and rushed into the kitchen.
Why didn’t I think of ice?
Seconds later, she came back with a bag of frozen peas (no one ever ate them, so they made for good ice packs) and an actual bag of ice wrapped in a towel. “Here,” she said, leaning over Trent to place the peas against his side.
It wasn’t lost on me that the second Rim leaned close enough to touch him, Braeden sat up quickly, ready to act.
I knew he was thinking of last night when Ivy tried to clean Trent up and I’d snapped at her for getting close. I still felt like shit about it, but it was a natural reaction. He was suffering, and I felt like a lion standing guard.
I caught B’s eye and shook my head slightly. “I’m cooled off.”
Braeden nodded and sat back, but his eyes remained sharp on his sister, like he wouldn’t leave anything to chance.
“Is that okay?” Rim asked him, holding the ice against his side. If she noticed the undercurrents between me and her brother, she didn’t acknowledge them. Instead, she was focused just on Trent. “Lower?”
Rimmel had an extremely caring and tender nature. It made her job running an animal shelter perfect for her.
Trent covered her hand with his and smiled. “Right here is good.”
Rimmel smiled and pulled her hand from beneath his and gently put the second pack of ice against his eye. “Hold this there.”
I took the coffee from him so he could do as she said. I would have laughed at him sitting there with ice all over and both hands holding it in different places. But his injuries weren’t funny.
Trent seemed like he didn’t want to put the ice on his face. I knew it probably made him feel like a wimp, but he didn’t argue. No one in this house argued with Rim.
Romeo would kick their ass.
Besides that, it was hard to defy such an innocent face who truly just wanted to help.
“Just hold it on there for fifteen to twenty minutes.” Rimmel drew back and stared down at him. “Sitting upright and icing it like this will draw out a lot more of the swelling. You’ll be more comfortable.”
“Thanks, sis.” Trent nodded.
Everyone in the room reacted. Not really a physical reaction. Not even the kind of reaction most people would notice. But we were family; we noticed. We heard.
He called her sis. A three-letter word. No big deal.
Way big deal.
It was the first time—ever—Trent actually acknowledged the way he felt about our family out loud.
Yes, he called everyone in this house his family. Yes, he attended all the family meetings, and yes, he was one of us.
But…
He was the quiet one. The one who sometimes silently set himself apart.
A light bulb went on inside me. Around the mug, my fingers tightened.
He’d always done that because of me. The closer our family got, the more determined he’d been to draw a line, keeping himself just out of reach.
In case he had to walk away.
He confessed he fought his feelings for me a long, long time. He confessed he never thought I’d feel the same. All this time, the distance he allowed between us all… it was so he would hurt less when he had to walk away.
I rubbed a hand over my jaw, flabbergasted.
Last night had been hell.
Pure hell on Earth.
Now that the sun was up and we’d battled out the worst of it, I could look back on it with a little clarity.
Stars can’t shine without darkness.
He never would have been able to fully accept his place in this family if I we hadn’t gone through that fight—if I hadn’t fought for our relationship.
He was totally mine now.
He was all in.
Acknowledging Rimmel as his sister was proof.
Everyone was quiet, sort of still (except for the baby; she was drooling all over her toys). Rimmel sniffled and pushed at the wild mane of dark, tangled hair around her face.
Trent looked up at her, almost timid.
“You called me sis,” she whispered.
I read the self-consciousness in his body language. I practically heard him debating in his head. Obviously, he’d said it naturally, but once it came out, he realized all the shit I’d just sat here and understood.
“Is that okay?” he asked.
Rimmel made a choked sound and practically threw herself at him.
A few things happened at once.