Page 38 of Broken

Nova

Max handed off two more jobs that I completed with ease. I'd pulled in ten thousand each for those jobs. Things were going well; I was finally leaving the broke stage of things. It was happening just in time for Thanksgiving.

Something else that I was thankful for was the fact that I hadn't seen or heard from Liam in almost a week and a half. Ever since I'd rejected him in his kitchen, life had been great. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting me to turn him down. The whole night had been bizarre, but I didn't want to think about it at all.

Yara and Des were sitting at the kitchen table, textbooks sprawled everywhere as I flipped through a cookbook humming to myself. Recipes lined the pages and my fingers traced the edges as I took in the common ingredients.

"This will be our first real normal Thanksgiving since mom, guys." I looked up to see what my siblings thought.

"As long as we don't have cranberry sauce." Des made a face.

"That was mom's favorite," Yara chimed in wistfully.

"I know guys, I miss her terribly," I replied.

I let the twins talk amongst themselves as I returned to the cookbook. Deciding on what I was making for the dinner, I wrote down ingredients on lined yellow paper. It was going to be a traditional dinner, and I had even invited Astrid and Lexi. They had even less family this way than I did; Astrid's parents had moved to south Florida almost ten years ago.

The twins began putting their books away and Des headed straight for their bedroom. Clearly, he was ready to game after finishing up his homework. Yara stayed back for a second.

"Hey, sis," she said.

"Hmm?"

"You think I can hang out at my friend Ashley's house for the night?"

This was a new Development. "Who is Ashley?"

"A new friend...finally making them. She wanted me to do a sleepover."

"Okay, as long you facetime me when you get there and any time I decide to call," I murmured.

She looked so happy and relieved when I agreed.

"Sweet, I'm going to text her after my shower. Love you, sis."

Yara flounced off down the hall and into the bathroom, excited. She and Des were finally settling in and having some vibes or normalcy. Which was all I wanted for them. I was just about to go back to thrumming through the cookbook when something beeped. I peered over and noticed Yara had left her phone on the table. The light pink of her case seemed to beckon me. I picked it up and noticed three messages had come through from someone with the initial "C."

“Baby girl...I miss you,”One of the messages stated.

“I'll see you soon, keep that pussy tight for me,”Another read.

“Nothing is going to stop us from being together.”The last message said.

A chill went through my body. Carefully, I placed the phone back down on the table and tried to will my nerves to calm down. Who in the hell was sexting my kid sister?

"Yo, I'm going to really have to fuck somebody up," I whispered out loud to no one.

"What are you doing?" I heard Yara ask.

Ihadn't heard her sneak up, but I was about to flip my shit. "What am I doing? No what are you doing? Who in the hell is texting you named C?

She stormed over and snatched her phone up screaming, "I can't believe you're going through my things, Nova!"

"I can't believe I can't trust you. Give me the phone," I screeched.

"No! YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER, NOVA!"

"YOU HAD BETTER BE GLAD I'M NOT YOU DISRESPCFUL BRAT!"