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Chapter 1
Catalina’s POV
They say that family is everything. That it’s not an important thing. It’s everything. I always wondered what that was like. To be able to say your family is everything.To be able to tell others how great your family is and how much you all love each other. But, to people like me, family is just a word. It doesn’t mean much anymore. You learn very quickly that if you love something out of the ordinary, you pay the price for it. Sometimes those things will be taken from you, and you’ll cry and be told to get over it, Other times you guard that thing so intensely that you push everyone away. Like those of us who enjoy the night. Most people will look and see an empty void to be afraid of. Wondering what dark creature lurks inside. However, for people like me, we don’t see. We feel. The dark is a heavy blanket that keeps us safe from the outside world. In the dark, the monsters can’t get us but take the cover off and we’re exposed.
“Started without me I see.”
Of course, he’d be early. I shook my head and turned as Gabriel made his way over to the spot on the roof beside me. Nothing about Gabriel blended in with the dark surrounding us. His golden blonde hair and light green eyes stuck out against the paleness of his skin and were at odds with the sharp yet boyish angles of his face and muscular body, but it was his overbearing dark gray feathered wings that stuck out the most against the midnight sky.
“Can you blame me, it’s hot outside.” I didn’t need to look at him to know he’d already started counting the empty liquor bottles around me. Five. There are five.
“What would you have done if you had fallen off this roof?” Gabriel asked as he took one of the few unopened bottles.
I rolled my eyes,
“Probably just laid there until you came. There are a lot of stairs after all.” I smirked back, and found him smiling down at me,
“Is that all I’m good for? Using my wings to fly you places at a faster pace?”
I knew he wasn’t offended. It was the kind of relationship Gabriel and I had. I wouldn’t dishonor him and call him family. Family meant so little to me these days but Gabriel was a constant in my life. Just as overprotective and caring as I had always imagined a brother who loved their sibling would be. This was how we were, We could be sarcastic assholes to each other one minute and laugh about it the next.
I pressed my bottle of whiskey to my lips, taking another sip.
“You having wings is certainly a bonus but your best quality is your impeccable taste in whiskey.” Gabriel laughed and for a solid moment, I had forgotten all the events that had happened earlier today.
“So what’s the occasion?” Gabriel asked, taking the bottle of liquor out of my hands and taking a sip for himself. We usually only met on the roof of the library when one of us had something important to say to the other. Something about being under an open sky full of stars was just so calming and seemed to put us at ease. Like when your parents would sing you a lullaby to help you get to sleep. Not that either of us knew how that felt. My mother’s version of a lullaby was telling me if I didn’t stop crying she’d give me something to cry about. However, I imagine for others when parents sing them a lullaby it is soothing.
“I decided to go no contact with them,” I admitted. It was a long time coming. I gave my family chance after chance to try and be a part of my life, to accept me for who I was but they had proven time and time again that they had no interest in me or my life or being a part of it.
“It’ll be hard, you know,” Gabriel said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I glanced over and saw him staring at the sky. Sometimes I forgot what Gabriel was and that he hadn’t seen his own family for quite some time.
“How do you deal with it?” I asked as I took back the bottle and poured another shot into my mouth.
“It’s hard I’ll admit but I know that the people I care about are safe.” He reached over and grabbed another unopened bottle. Drinking was my sedative. It calmed me down and relaxed me when I had a million thoughts going through my head. It helped me escape and forget.
“Well Gabriel, here’s to new beginnings.” We raised our bottles and cheered each other. Tomorrow will be a new day for me. I would no longer have to worry about all the toxicity that has plagued my life for Twenty-five years. Tomorrow I would be able to focus on me and my life and what I wanted. That was a scary thought but life was all about adventure.
“You know I’ll always be here for you. Whatever you need.” Gabriel whispered as I leaned my head against his shoulder. It was comforting to know that there is someone out there who does care about me. That I meant something to someone. Even if a part of me believed it was a lie.
* * *
3 Days Later
Hangovers fucking sucked. Luckily I knew a way to fix it immediately. The cure for any hangover? Another drink. I walked out of my room at Gabriel’s house to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of wine from his collection, the bottle opener, and my wine glass, and made my way over to the couch. Out of instinct, I pulled out my phone. 0 notifications. I decided to go no contact with my mother days ago and I thought after a few days of not hearing from me my brothers would maybe get a little worried or maybe even send a text. If I was lucky maybe they would call. They didn’t. I knew what that meant. They had taken her side once again. My brothers always took my mother’s side whenever she and I argued or fought. They would usually ignore me for a few hours and then talk to me again to try and get me to apologize to Mom. I never did. I should’ve known better. I should’ve just left my phone in my room. I glanced down at the still-unopened bottle of wine.
Maybe I don’t need a glass after all.
I opened up the wine and finished half the bottle in a matter of seconds. Gabriel truly did have one of the best wine collections. It was a holy experience. I settled in as the wine started to gently erase the feelings of this morning. I glanced at my phone, my finger hovering over an app I hadn’t used in months. Wine could only help so much and a girl has needs and it’s not like I was looking for anything serious and hell I needed some kind of distraction.
Screw it let’s have a little fun
* * *
After endlessly swiping guy after guy after guy and having the same old boring conversations, I managed to score a hookup for tonight. I reached over and grabbed the bottle opener and opened my third bottle of the day.
“Damn you look gross,” Gabriel muttered as he made his way into the kitchen and placed his keys on the hook by the door.
