Page 162 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

Here we go.

“Her mom is MIA, has been for a while. With Lakeland gone, she doesn’t have anyone.”

Shae makes a face.

“No other family?” she asks. I shake my head.

“Sooooo…” she draws out, and I try to smile, but I cringe instead.

“So, she’s sick, alone, and young, and she needs help,” I say, latching on to the fact that the girl’s gone through Hell, even though it feels like a threat to my family to bring in another element, especially someone connected to Lakeland in any way.

What if it were Tempest?

My jaw tightens.

“I’m going to help her. She’s stuck in a state hospital right now and receiving subpar care. She’s been asking for me, and I plan on moving her into the wing on the opposite side of the house. She knows I’m her only family left, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I let her rot in there forever.”

Shae stays still as she examines my face. After seeing whatever she needed to see, she gives me a small grin.

“Okay, Storm,” she replies.

“You’d be okay with it? She’d be here in a few days,” I say, a little surprised. Shae shrugs.

“This isn’t my house. You can move in whoever you want,” she says casually, but she doesn’t meet my eyes.

“First, this is your house.” I grab her chin, tilting her face toward me. “Second, I’m asking for your approval here, Shae.”

She arches an eyebrow.

“Are yousureyou’re asking me if I’m okay with this? It didn’t sound like it,” she throws back, and I sort through the last few sentences I said.

“Well, Iamasking. I want you to be comfortable in your home.”

She sits in that statement for a moment before leaning forward to give me a sweet kiss.

“It’s fine, Storm. I’m glad you’re helping her, but I wouldn’t expect you not to,” she says.

“Oh, I was not easily convinced. Axel really put on the pressure,” I confess.

“Still,” she says. “I know your heart. Even if you hesitated, you would have come around eventually.”

I smile, deciding not to tell her about my initial plans for my cousin.

“I love how you see the best parts of me, baby.” She kisses me again in response.

The car clicks off as the automatic timer on the engine shuts the vehicle down, saving me from the conversation.

“We should go in,” Shae says.

Here it goes again. She’ll exit first and tell me to give her a five-minute head start so it can appear we’re not coming from the same place.

I hate this so damn much.

Shae straightens her clothes, shimmying back into her underwear while I stare at her with my elbow propped on the windowsill.

“What?” she asks, running her fingers around the rim of her lips to fix her smudged makeup.

“Nothing,” I say. “You’re perfect.”