Page 124 of Scoring Eden

He hasn’t even told me he loves me yet.

“You should have heard some of the things Alex said.” Aspen flops her head onto my lap and stretches her legs over the sofa cushions. “The look on Sebastian’s face was priceless. I’ve never seen a man turn so red before in my life.”

“I can’t wait to hear about it when Alex gets back from practice.”

Aspen’s expression changes. She tries to hide it, but I catch the split second of guilt that flashes across her features before she masks it with nonchalance. The scrape of her teeth over her bottom lip. The inward draw of her eyebrows. It’s hard not to see it with her face just inches from mine.

“What are you hiding?”

She balks. “Nothing. I know nothing. W—why would you even ask me that?”

“Because you do, in fact, know something.”

She pushes off my lap and scrambles to the other end of the couch. “Nope. It’s just an ordinary day.” She muses on that then adds, “With the exception of an early morning heist that led to the epic downfall of your ex-husband, that is.”

I narrow my eyes. “Spill it.”

“I’m serious.” She laughs like a hyena. “Nothing to see here.”

“Aspen.”

She sobers. “Eden.”

The clicking of Macon’s Legos pauses, and I catch him watching us with curiosity. The tears that had stained his cheeks when I picked him up earlier have long since dried, but it hasn’t escaped my notice that he keeps casting worried glances at the front door, as if waiting for Sebastian to come knocking with another reason to take him away.

I’ve done my best to reassure him that that will never happen again, but it’ll take some time before he’s completely able to relax again. The same goes for me. I know he was gone for less than twenty-four hours, but the memory of what we’ve been through will be a stain on our nervous systems for a long time.

And given my sister’s suspicious behavior, the stress isn’t over yet.

I give her my most intimidating glare. “What. Do. You. Know?”

Her eyes roll skyward, and she lets out a long, jagged sigh. “I promised that I wouldn’t say anything.”

“Promised who?”

“Alex.”

What? Since when are they best friends who keep secrets from me?

“Oh, so your loyalty is with him now? Last I knew, you were threatening to castrate him with blunt instruments.”

“What can I say?” She shrugs. “Espionage really brings people together.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Tell me everything you know.”

Air hisses between her lips as she hugs her knees to her chest and rocks back and forth. “Alex isn’t at practice.”

“What? Then where is he?”

Surely, after everything he went through this morning to get Macon back for me, he’d have wanted to be here to welcome him back home. In fact, I know he would. Hell, if he could have found a way to miss practice to be here, then he would have. It doesn’t make any sense.

Aspen’s lip disappears between her teeth. “You remember the article Sebastian leaked?”

“The one that announced to the whole of the United States that I’m an unfit mother who brings her children around her pimps?” I snort. “How could I forget?”

I don’t know if it’s because I was dealing with something much worse when I found out about the article, or I’ve hardened myself when it comes to the media, but I’m handling the public execution of my character much better than I’d have expected.

It was hard to care about it when I thought I’d lost my son. And now that I’ve got him back and I know that my ex-husband will reap what he’s sowed, it’s water off my back.