Page 75 of The Fractured

“With the psychologist? You said it was Monday, right?”

“Oh. No, I meant next Monday.” She took a few sips of water and then smiled at me. “Don’t worry, I haven't forgotten our pact about healing together.”

“Right.” I shook my head in confusion and went back to looking at the shelf. “Did you go to work today?”

There was a pause before she ran the water again to rinse her glass. “I planned to, but then I didn’t get off the bus when it stopped. I wasn’t feeling it today.”

I turned away from the shelf and approached the kitchen counter. “Is everything okay?”

Dean and Seb would be fighting again tonight. Maybe that’s why she seemed off. I was a little nervous about it too.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” she said with a nonchalant wave of the hand. “I think I needed a day for myself. Anyway, how was work?”

“It was good. Just the usual…” I knew she was trying to avoid the topic. It was true that she might’ve needed a day to herself, but I couldn’t help but think of what I had told Seb during our first date; Lily didn’t seem like herself.

She was shot. Of course, she isn’t going to be feeling great just yet…

“Are you excited about this evening?” Lily asked. A knowing smile was on her face as she braced her elbows on the countertop and rested her face in her hands. “WithSeb.”

It shouldn’t have distracted me so easily, but the mere mention of him caused my stomach to flutter.

I received a text from Seb over the weekend. It was an out-of-the-blue type of text. The out-of-the-blue aspect tied in well with most of my life events and his general personality anyway, so I wasn’t too shocked by it. But the substance of the text introduced a new flutter of butterflies to my stomach.

Seb wanted to know if I would like to meet his family before he had to fight tonight — he figured it was only right for me to meet the people who had had his full attention recently.

Of course, my habit of jumping first and asking questions later had me texting aYes!the second I finished reading the text.

I inhaled shakily, grinning. “I’m feelingallthe feelings about it.”

Lily reached across and squeezed my shoulder. “They’re going to love you.”

No matter how hard I tried to make things feel normal again, there was some tension between Seb and me. The kind that was filled with awkward smiles as I walked to where he waited on his bike in the street.

He held out his spare helmet and pulled up his visor. “Hey.”

I took the helmet with a small smile. “Hi.”

“Things are weird, right?” He cringed slightly.

I was glad I wasn’t the only one thinking about it. “Yeah. Things are weird.”

He huffed. “Okay. How should we make thingsun-weird? I mean, the reason things are weird is because I monumentally fucked up. Like, we had sex—greatsex by the way—and we never really got to talk about it. The other night didn’t really smooth things over.”

“No, but at least I know why you disappeared. It was a messy situation to begin with. I think we need to find our groove again.” I raised a shoulder. And then inhaled shakily as the evening dawned on me. “I’m about to meet your family.”

He pulled his helmet off as he looked ahead. A lopsided grin spread on his lips. “We really don’t do things slow, huh?”

“Nope.”

“You don’t have to meet them if you don’t want to. We could go another time. Or never. I don’t mind—well, I’d probably mind a little bit if you never wanted to meet them, but right now there’s no rush…”

I smiled wider at his rambling and stepped forward, much closer to him, as I leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. His eyes filled with pleasant surprise first, and then changed to adoration as he looked at me.

To witness that change in someone’s eyes was far better than the gaze Aiden ever cast in my direction — his gaze was always one looking to control me, or keep me in check.

“I want to meet your family, Seb.” I gently squeezed his forearm, staying close to him, before I grabbed his helmet and lifted it onto his head again. Smiling still, I slid my helmet on too and climbed onto the small seat behind him. “Let's go.”

“Say less, Smiles,” he chuckled, bringing the bike to life beneath us with a flick of his thumb.