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Nix
“Nix, sweetie. What the hell happened?”Jessa picked up my hand, balking at the sight of my busted knuckles. They had started to heal from my disastrous fight with Meathead at Busters, but I’d split them open again, teaching Chloe’s friend Dan a thing or two about how not to treat women.
He’d taken her to some party, gotten her wasted, and tried to fuck her in the bathroom. When she kneed him the balls, he’d gone and found another girl to stick his dick in.
I’d lost it.
Not even Zane could pull me off the asshole. I didn’t always get things right, but Chloe was as good as family and the thought of some entitled douchebag putting his hands on her was like a red flag to a bull.
“Don’t worry about it,” I pulled my hand away and tucked it under the counter.
“I don’t like the idea of you fighting, Nix. That’s twice in as many weeks.”
“Relax. I said don’t worry. So don’t.” I shoveled another spoonful of cinnamon crunch into my mouth.
“I hate that he did this to you.” She brushed my cheek, the way she had when I was a young boy. “You have so much anger in you, Nix. It isn’t health—”
“Spare me the lecture.” She moved her hand from my face, stepping away. “It’s The Row, Jessa. In case you haven’t noticed, being angry is required body armor around here.”
She leaned back against the counter and let out a heavy sigh. “You know, Nix. You can do so much better. Be so much better. I always thought you and Harleigh Wren would—”
“Don’t.” My body went rigid, my blood turning to ice. “Don’t say her name.”
Her brows knitted. “What happened?”
How did she do that? How did she know that something had happened?
She studied me quietly, the air thick, pressing in around us. “You saw her, didn’t you?” It was a soft whisper full of sympathy and pity that made me bristle.
“How can you possibly know that?” I breathed.
“You’ve been different,” she said. “I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it all makes sense now. She’s back.”
“In a fashion,” I murmured, trying not to think about her breathy moans as I’d kissed the shit out of her.
“What does that mean?”
“She lives across the res now, Jessa. Her life is there. Not here.”
“I thought we’d decided that was a good thing? Her getting out of here, having the chance to make something of her life.”
We had said that. Months ago, after I’d gotten into a fight after one of our games. She’d pulled me into her arms and held me like a baby, soothing me in the way only a mother could.
Except, she wasn’t my mother.
I’d learned a long time ago that family wasn’t always the people whose blood ran through your veins. Sometimes it was the people you chose. The people who were there, who showed up time and time again, despite the fact you didn’t share DNA.
Jessa was family. Just like Zane and his gran, and Kye and Chloe were family.
Harleigh had been family too.
And since seeing her again, my head and heart couldn’t accept that she was really gone.
“You know, Nix.” Jessa laid her hand on my arm. “Sometimes the best thing we can do for the people we love is to set them free. She’s always been your Birdie, sweetie. Maybe it’s time for her to spread her wings and fly.”
Damn, I fucking hated that she was right. Hated that no matter how much I rejected her words, I knew them to be true.
But I’d set Harleigh free once. I’d walked away, let her go, only to have her land back on my doorstep. So close… and yet, still so fucking far.
