Page 41 of Hush Darling

She sighed, and Cassian held out his arms for a hug. “Bring it in.”

Wendy hesitated, then closed the distance. He wrapped her in a tight bear hug and held her for several heartbeats.

“He doesn’t mean the stuff he says.”

She pulled back from his warmth and looked into his eyes. “Don’t make excuses for him.”

“I’m not. Peter’s complicated. We all are. That’s what happens when you grow up in an orphanage. Survival makes you selfish. The twins lost their parents in a fire. Nibbs lost his in a car accident. With my mom, it was drugs. But Peter… He was abused for a long time before they rescued him. Unfortunately, the orphanage wasn’t the sanctuary many thought.”

“They were that cruel?”

He nodded. “Peter never knew it could be different until he was adopted. And once he realized some adults were actually nice, he never wanted to think about the nasty ones again.”

“Did the rest of you ever get adopted?”

“No, we ran away. We found Peter, and he helped us hide until we came of age. Then we didn’t have to run anymore.”

“Hide where?”

He grinned as if to say some secrets were meant to go to the grave.

She now understood that there was more to the story. Perhaps there was love to their loyalty after all. “I shouldn’t have said those things to him.”

“Don’t sweat it. Peter never stays angry for long. He prefers to think happy thoughts.”

That made sense now that she understood his background better. “It’s nice that you all have each other. In a way, you’re like brothers.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “Peter doesn’t like when we call ourselves that.”

“Why?”

“Because he had a brother once. It’s a touchy subject.”

“Oh.” She wanted to know what happened to his brother. Had he been at the orphanage, too?

Before she could form a question, Cassian asked, “What do you say we try to have some fun?”

She glanced out at the lagoon. “I’m not sure I know how to have fun like this.” Perhaps she was a prude.

He laughed. “You’ve just gotta loosen up.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Well, for starters, you need a drink. Here.”

He handed her his cup, and she sniffed the contents. “What is it?”

“We call it seawater. But this…” He withdrew a small capsule from his pocket. “This is pixie dust.”

She examined the pill, which looked as harmless as an aspirin. “What’s it do?”

“It fills your head with happy thoughts and makes you fly.”

“So, it’s drugs?”

He chuckled. “Don’t act so scandalized. You’re not driving anywhere. It’s going to be a long night. Might as well make the best of it.”

“Have you done it before?”