Page 54 of Pretend it’s Forever

“Stop looking like you want to beat up everybody who compliments your sister.”

“I don’t know why I’m so angry,” I muttered, and Sophia just patted my chest and stared at me. And then it clicked, and I was a damn idiot. “They should be here.”

“No, they shouldn’t. Her family is here. You’re here. Her friends are here. Heck, I’m even here. That girl adopted me in two seconds flat, and I would do anything for her. Just like I would for my daughters. She’s not alone.”

And with that, the urge for a drink lifted, and it was all I could do not to pull her into my arms and hold her until my dying breath.

But that would never be happening.

Instead, I slid my knuckle over the side of her dress over her hip and licked my lips.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

“A few times.” She blushed, looking so fucking delectable. “And you better stop looking at me like that, or you’re going to have a hard time walking soon.” She gestured towards my crotch, and I snorted.

“I think I can deal with a hard-on.”

“I think you mean you want me to deal with that hard-on,” she teased.

I closed my eyes and groaned. “I didn’t know you were a sadist.”

“I try my best,” she teased.

I shook my head, ready to say something, but Cora patted my shoulder. “I’m sorry to interrupt, well, because, well… you know. That was way too much information.” She blushed the same deep red as Sophia, and I sighed.

“You weren’t supposed to hear any of that.”

“You didn’t exactly whisper it,” she said pointedly. “But it’s time for the first dance, and so you’re stuck with me. Sorry.”

I looked down at my sister and knew that tears threatened, but we weren’t going to think about our parents.

They loved me, or at least they professed they did. But they had said point-blank that they didn’t love or like their daughter, so they could burn in hell for all I cared.

So I squeezed Sophia’s hand, gave her a nod, and then moved towards the center of the dance floor as Juliet brought her father out.

“You ready for the family dance?” she asked, her voice low.

“I’ve already given you away, and now you want me to dance. So needy.”

She shoved at me, and I pulled her into my arms as the music began. We swayed back and forth, before I used those dance lessons that our parents had forced us to take to waltz her around the edge. From the look on Sophia’s face, I had surprised her, and I couldn’t help but let the pride filling me explode.

She wasn’t the only person who could dance out of the two of us. Of course, I was nothing compared to her, nor in the way that I knew dancing made her feel, but that was neither here nor there.

Because she wasn’t mine and that shouldn’t matter.

When the song ended however, and Juliet’s mom moved towards Juliet for another dance, I realized that I would be on the dance floor for a while. Juliet had other siblings who wanted to dance with her, and I was Cora’s only family.

“It’s okay. I can dance with my friends.”

“What about with me?” Sophia said as she moved forward, her chin lifted slightly. “I mean, I have no idea how to lead, but I figure all of those years in ballet could be used for something. What do you say?”

“Sophia, I would be honored.”

I moved back as the two of them began a complicated waltz around the dance floor, and I just shook my head, at a loss for words. Because without even trying, Sophia had showed Cora that she would never be alone. Even a woman that she had just met would be in her corner.

My heart ached and I rubbed it before I forced myself to turn away and head towards the bar. I ordered a whiskey, and downed it in one gulp, before going for a second.

It was time.