Page 104 of Make Me Bleed

“All right…” I drawl, unsure where this is going.

“I would like you to come with me,” he says confidently, and I want to laugh, but he seems so serious, so I don’t.

“Okay… where the fuck are we going?”

“I want you to meet Mo,” Abel says, and I kind of freeze.

“You want me to meet her?” I ask, my heart kicking. She’sAbel’sfamily…

“Yes. My old foster sister, who’s kind of like my actual sister. The one?—”

“The one you’ve been taking care of,” I say, and Abel nods. “Why today, though?”

He takes a deep breath, which I feel against me. “Because if something happens with this jail shit, I…”

“Abel,” I start, tightening my arms around him, but he cuts me off.

“No, let me say it. If something happens, and I go to jail… I want—no, Ineedto know she’ll be taken care of. Everything is already good to go in that respect so shouldn’t have to worry about it, but I want her to be visited often. She likes visitors. And playing Uno. And she’ll kick your fucking ass at it, too,” he adds with a wet laugh that makes my heart crack.

I don’t like hearing him talk like this. Not because of me.

“Abel,” I try again, and he doesn’t stop me. I feel him swallow, so I continue. “I don’t like that you got in trouble for what you did for me.”

He stiffens. “I don’t regret it.”

I sigh, and squeeze my arm around his waist, digging into his flesh. “I know you don’t, runt.” I press a kiss to the top of his head and breathe in the smell of him. Something sweet like candy and a little sweaty from our escapades.

“I just need you to promise me,” he says after a short while of us just breathing each other in.

“Of course, I will, Abel,” I say easily.I’ll do anything for you.But that goes without saying, I think.

“Morana,this is Peris. Peris, this is Mo.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say easily as I stare down at the girl who means the most to Abel. The first and only of his family. And I’m fucking nervous.

She stares up at me with dark eyes from her chair, curly hair tucked behind her ears. Her brown skin glows in the evening sunlight, and I can’t help but smile back at her when her face cracks into a grin.

“Hi,” she says, then she turns to Abel. “Is he your boyfriend?” she teases, and I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes.

“Yes, Mo, you little smartass.”

“He’s cute.”

“I know,” Abel mocks her, and I smile as I look back and forth between them. Their banter is sweet, and it makes my heart squeeze.

To see Abel with someone he considers his family outside of us… it’s surreal, but it’s nice.

“So…” I drawl as I pull up a chair beside her. “I hear you like to play Uno.”

“Abel’s telling all my secrets, huh,” she says but pulls out a pack of cards from seemingly nowhere, and I blink at her, shocked.

“Yes, she does that,” Abel says with a chuckle at my surprise, completely unsurprised himself.

“Well,” I say, getting settled as I crack my knuckles, my own grin on my face. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

“We shall,” Abel says. And when he looks over at me with a soft smile on his face and reaches across the table for my hand, I squeeze back with a soft smile of my own and purse my lips in an air kiss.

“Thank you,” he mouths as Mo starts dealing, and I shoot him a wink.