And then he just fucking stares at me.
“Why are you here?” is what pops out of my mouth next. Oops. Maxine gives me her you’re being a rude dick, be nice! look. I pretend not to see it. “Don’t tell me you just happened to pop into downtown Seattle for coffee and coincidentally chose this exact place?”
Parrish sits up straight and then flicks a quick look my sister’s way.
“Of course it wasn’t coincidental: Chasm knew you’d be here so he wanted to come.” Parrish crosses his arms over his chest. “He has a crush on Mia.” My sister blinks several times at that, her gaze shifting over to study Chasm’s back before falling on Parrish again.
“Her name is Dakota,” she says firmly, in a tone I well recognize. Parrish is this close to getting his ass handed to him. “And you’re Parrish, the stepbrother who’s in love with her.”
Parrish laughs at that, this loud, sharp sound that reminds me that under that foppish rich boy disguise, there’s a spoiled rotten brat crouching.
“In love with her? I can barely stand to be in the same room as her.” He turns a much less amused expression my way. “So this is her, your pretend big sister? Does she know you stole a dead baby’s name?”
My mouth drops and this time, it’s me who has to blink through the shock a few times before turning to my sister. The expression on her face tells me she already knew, so that, at least, is a relief.
“You didn’t think that might be important information that needed to be handled in a sensitive manner?”
Parrish ignores me.
“Is it healthy, anyway, to keep this charade going? It’s killing my mother.”
“If Maxine is my pretend big sister then Tess is your pretend mom.” The words fall out of my mouth like they’ve been summoned by a dark god. The way Maxine is staring at me, I’m prepared to admit to witchcraft and take a burning at the stake. She’s never seen me like this before, this angry.
“Fair enough,” Parrish breathes, but he’s gritting his teeth and squeezing his hands into fists on the tabletop. “So why do I care more about her feelings than you do?”
I lean in close to him, and he shivers as my hair sweeps across the back of his right hand. There’s this stupidly strong urge in me to reach over and grab his face, shove my tongue down his throat like we did in my room that day.
“Because,” I begin, my own teeth clenched tight, “just like Maxine really is my sister—DNA aside—Tess really is your mom.” I pause and exhale, reaching up to rub a hand over my face and forcibly relaxing my jaw. “Anyway, what on earth are you talking about? What’s the matter with Tess now?”
“You told her you were going to Lumen’s,” he tells me, breathing heavily, hands still clenched into fists. “But you’re not at Lumen’s, now are you? You’re here. With Maxine.” He pauses again, and my gaze drops to his lips. Across the table from me, Maxine lets out a long, low breath that turns into a bit of a whistle, and I yank my gaze back up to Parrish’s eyes. “You forgot to turn your phone off; she’ll be here any minute.”
He leans back in his seat as my eyes go wide and flick over to Maxie’s. She’s up and out of her seat so quickly that when the front door to the café does open, and Tess strides in with a dark expression, my sister is already slipping into the bathroom at the back of the room.
“Mom,” Parrish says, sounding as bored as ever as he lounges in his seat. Tess pauses and looks over at us, still frowning, her eyes flicking to me before moving back to her son again. “What are you doing here?”
There’s about a three-second delay before the café door opens once again and Lumen appears, red-faced and flushed and wearing this absurdly conservative suit. She looks like a CEO or something. Without skipping a beat, she tosses her honey-colored ponytail over her shoulder and flashes a grin in Tess’ direction.
“I almost forgot about my interview today,” she says, shrugging her shoulders loosely and then slipping easily into Maxine’s seat. “Thanks for keeping my drink cold for me.” Lumen picks up Maxie’s chai and slurps it with a sigh.
Tess doesn’t look convinced, turning to face us and crossing her arms over her chest. She could be Lumen’s colleague, dressed in a black skirt suit with a white button-up underneath. She barely looks at Parrish, her attention focused on me instead.
Personally, I’m about three seconds away from a heart attack. I can hear my pulse thudding in my ears, and my palms are so sweaty that when I try to pick up my drink, it nearly slides out of my hands. My eyes meet Parrish’s from across the table. He and Chasm just saved my ass, didn’t they? Fuck.
“Hi.” I give Tess a skeptical look that I’m not entirely sure she deserves. Like, it’s weird as hell that she followed me here, but also, she has a lot of trauma when it comes to me and disappearing. I try to be sympathetic. Also, I did lie to her about going to see Lumen today.
“Hello.” Tess moves over to stand beside the table, pausing to rap her knuckles against the surface. She looks a bit chagrined which isn’t totally fair considering I was seeing my sister behind her back. Her fears are very real, apparently. “What are the four of you up to?”
“Discussing our plans for the three-day weekend,” Parrish replies smoothly, leaning back in his seat as Chasm approaches the table with two drinks in hand. He sets one in front of Parrish and then grins at Tess before sliding onto the bench beside his best friend.
“Hey Tess.”
“Chasm,” Tess replies carefully, her raven eyes sliding back to me. Meanwhile, poor Maxine is trapped in the bathroom for the indefinite future. “I … think I owe you an apology.” She pauses and then puts her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes for a moment as I cringe internally.
While on the one hand, I feel like she has no right to keep me from my sister, I also feel bad for making her feel like a crazy person when she most definitely isn’t one. Her suspicions are dead accurate.
“Allow me to apologize,” Lumen suggests, rising to her feet and giving one of those award-winning smiles of hers. She could charm a leprechaun out of his own gold with that grin. “I should’ve clarified our plans with you.”
“No, no, you’re allowed to go out and get coffee,” Tess suggests, opening her eyes and huffing out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just wrapped up in this deadline; I haven’t released a book in months and my readers are getting impatient.” She trails off and blinks a few times, like she didn’t mean to give up her insecurities so easily. “Oh, but you kids don’t care about that. I just … I’m going to grab a coffee to go and leave.”
She heads for the line as I turn wide eyes back to my … friends? I mean, I know Lumen’s my friend, but I guess Parrish and Chasm are, too? When the fuck did that happen? Don’t we all hate each other? I mean, I do hate Parrish a lot …
“You’re welcome,” he drawls, lounging like he’s on a throne crafted of gold. He has so much easy confidence but at the same time, there’s a frightening level of insecurity beneath the façade. It shouldn’t be intriguing but somehow it is anyway.