Page 154 of Midnight Curfew

“They know what they’re doing with you girls,” I spit out. “Macon must’ve given you the best dicking of your life. Now you’re his wife.”

She walks up to me, smirking. “Well, they must know what they’re doing with you boys, too.” She turns my chin to see the bruises on my neck. “I recognize Dallas’s handiwork.”

I whip my jaw out of her grasp. “I’ll bet you do.”

She screwed around with Trace after she broke up with Milo back in high school. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine she fucked more of her husband’s brothers.

But she just chuckles. “The only thing of Dallas’s I ever touch is his hair when I cut it.”

I don’t say another word, trying to ignore how I’d rather she slept with him. Somehow, cutting his hair feels more personal.

She sighs, leveling me with her gaze. “Trace slept at the bar, thanks to you. He barely spoke to her this morning, okay?” She tries to put my mind at ease. “Dallas was out all night. My husband only wants me, and Army and Iron are not in the habit of seducing…” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “…people who act like children.”

Sophia is more beautiful than ever, but a good man would know not to take advantage of her just because she has a woman’s body.

And I don’t believe for a second the Jaegers are good men.

“You think you’ll make friends with her, and it’ll change things with me?” I ask.

But she just shakes her head. “I think I’ll make friends with her, because I almost was her.” She inches closer, lowering her voice again. “Your friend Jerome Watson would’ve married me and taken me in there, and…”

And…

Yeah.

“Don’t think that I don’t know what went down,” she tells me.

I bite my tongue to keep my emotions in check.

Sometimes I think that what happened to my stepsister was a blessing for me. If it hadn’t hit so close to home, would I have ever cared? Would I have stood by, watching more people be taken advantage of in that room? I’d like to think I wouldn’t have, but I know for sure I won’t now.

I never gave two shits about Krisjen, but it’s hard not to admit that she’s probably a lot safer, married to Macon Jaeger. Safer in that respect anyway.

“She’s happy.” Krisjen smiles, her eyes light and hopeful. “Such a beautiful person, and I think the world needs to see it. Let her live her life.”

I turn away, taking a breath to think, but really, I don’t want her to see my face. The irony doesn’t escape me. For years, I could only talk to my stepmother about Sophia, but I almost never did. She was pleasant enough, but we never bonded, and after what happened, I resented her for not seeing it coming.

In the past few days, I’ve had more meaningful conversations about Sophia with the Jaegers than I have with the people I call family and friends.

I appreciate that Krisjen doesn’t want to change her. Doctors have tried and failed for years.

“She has episodes,” I say, pivoting around to face Krisjen again. “They’re rare, but if something triggers her, play ‘Once Upon a December’ on your phone as many times as possible until I can get there.”

Krisjen holds my eyes, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking before she finally nods once. “Okay.”

I’m sure this is another mistake, but I’ll deal with the consequences. It’ll be good for Sophia to be around women close to her age. Maybe it’ll bring her back to reality.

I don’t really want that, but it’s necessary. People need to evolve rather than staying stuck.

“I’m ready!” Sophia shouts from upstairs.

Glancing over my shoulder, I watch her jog down the stairs, one of those big smiles that parts the teeth spread across her face.

She leaps up to my side. “What time should I be back?”

I take in her favorite pair of tan bloomer shorts, and is that…?

I scowl, but only for a moment.