Page 129 of Kiss of Seduction

Evie scooted over next to Sam. The birds took off when she did so.

“Sam, are you okay?”

Sam looked down at her feet. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. No offense.” Evie had grown to dislike the phrase ‘I’m fine’ almost as much as Natalya did. “You don’t have to tell me. But I’m here to listen if you want to talk about it.”

Sam narrowed her eyes for a moment. Then the suspicious expression dropped and her shoulders slumped.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” The tone she said it with was odd. It wasn’t said with resentment or dejection. It was said with frustration.

“I like you, Sam.” She bumped Sam’s shoulder with her own and grinned. “Not like that, though. Just as friends, so… down, girl.”

Sam actually laughed at that. It made her face light up, even if it was short-lived. “You don’t need to worry. There’s just a lot going on.”

Evie could tell she wanted to talk about it but didn’t want to be a bother. She was a mirror of what Evie had been just a few months before. Acting distant and braving something heavy on her own because she was scared to let anyone in.

When Evie took her hand, Sam looked at her with tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away.

“Is it your sister?” Evie remembered what Sam had said about her sister being institutionalized.

“No, Rachel’s good.” Sam laughed without humor. “Well, maybe not good. But she’s not worse, so…”

By how sad Sam looked, Evie gathered Rachel beingnotworsewas all she’d come to hope for.

“What’s she like? Rachel, I mean.”

Sam shrugged. “You know…”

“I don’t, actually,” Evie said gently. “I was in the system, on my own. Bounced around since I was a kid, and I never really stayed anywhere permanent. Having siblings is a foreign concept to me, at least biological ones.”

Sam frowned in surprise. “I didn’t know you’d been through that. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well…” Evie hunched slightly. She always felt uncomfortable talking about her past. People had a way of reacting to her childhood as though it was a tragedy, and while it may be that to some people, it wasn’t to her. It justwas.

“I found my way. Stumbled a bit, and it was painful, but I landed somewhere I like.” She touched the purple pendant around her neck. Then her lips. They were tingling.

“I didn’t mean to pry,” Sam said carefully. Evie laughed.

“Sam, you didn’t. You didn’t even ask me a question.”

Sam looked down, embarrassed. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

She apologized too much. “So Rachel? Older sister or younger?”

Sam smiled slightly. “Older. Only by a year, though she never let me forget it. She always felt way older anyway. She was always looking out for me, and now…”

The smile faded and she turned away.

“You got a lot on your mind,” Evie said.

Sam went from looking embarrassed to ashamed. “I guess.”

“I know a thing or two about dealing with more than you can handle. You don’t have to do it alone.”

“I’m not dealing with anything. There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s Rachel that needs the care.”

“You’re allowed to be affected by it too, you know? If you ever need help, I’m here for you. I have plenty of time, so if you need company or a distraction, I’ll be happy to provide either.”