by Claire, Ava
“Nice place.” Liam whistled.
“No, it isn’t.” I muttered. I eased around the circular driveway, parking beside Jenna’s cherry red BMW. I killed the engine, but I didn’t move. Once upon a time, I barely waited for Mom to put the car in park before I was out, bounding up the steps. Going home was the light at the end of the tunnel, but this place hadn’t felt like home in a long time.
Liam shifted and I whipped toward him. I’d almost forgotten about him completely, lost in my thoughts.
“You want me to hang out here and give you some time alone with your sister?”
I sighed with relief, shoulders slumping. “That would be amazing. Not that I’ll be in there long. She’ll probably threaten to call the police on me before I can even say hello.”
“Well, I’ll be out here with the getaway car,” he joked. When I couldn’t even respond with a grimace or eye roll, he gripped my hand. “Everything is gonna be okay, Mia.”
I dragged a smile to my lips. “Duh.”
My confidence evaporated when I marched up the steps. The door opened and my sister looked at me with a disgust that was impossible to fake.
She was in a simple black sundress, her white blonde hair piled into a ponytail on top of her head. Her blue eyes burned holes in my skull. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing great, Jenna, thanks for asking!” I said sarcastically. “How are you?”
“I was doing okay,” she said, stressing the past tense. She didn’t step aside to let me in. She blocked the way like I was some stranger trying to sell her a product or save her eternal soul. “Mom’s not here, but I think you know that.”
“If Mom was here, I wouldn’t be,” I said darkly.
Jenna pouted. “Trouble in paradise?”
I knew she had every right to be pissed. We used to be best friends, thick as thieves as kids. We grew apart as we got older, but we always reconciled. Teamed up against Mom. Then my life got crazy after Carolina, California ended and I pushed everything and everyone away, including the one person I cared about the most.
The sun was setting my neck on fire and I could feel the chill of the house calling to me. Before I could ask the obvious, the car door opened.
“Everything okay?” Liam’s voice was deep and protective. It gave me strength.
I turned to him, smiling, not hiding my relief or gratefulness. “Ye—”
“Who is this?” Jenna turned the charm up to 10, pushing past me. My little sister played for keeps. She pulled her hair down, shaking out the golden strands, striking a centerfold worthy pose. Most guys would have blushed at the overtly sexual way my sister was ogling them, but Liam’s eyes were on me as he climbed toward the porch.
He shook her hand. “I’m Liam.”
“Liam,” she said seductively. “I’m Jenna and I’m—”
“Seventeen,” I said loudly.
Liam arched an eyebrow in my direction.
“And what are you doing here, Liam?” Jenna purred. Her hand traveled to his biceps. “So firm. Bodyguard?”
“Boyfriend,” he said without hesitation. His eyes passed hers and locked on mine, playfully issuing a challenge. I put a hand on my hip, but I didn’t say a word. After fighting my feelings and desires tooth and nail, I couldn’t deny how natural it felt to hear him say that.
My sister’s face scrunched up like he said a dirty word, but she recovered and held open the screen door for us. Liam and I exchanged a look.
“Well, get inside!” she chastised. “The AC is workin’ hard enough as it is.”
We obeyed and I shut the door behind us. Everything was just how I remembered it, from the sitting room with furniture that looked pretty and wasn’t very functional to the glittering chandelier in the foyer. Everything screamed ‘we have more money than you’.
Jenna bestowed a sugary sweet smile on us. “Anything to drink?”
Kind of weirded out by her 180, I stammered, “Water for me.” I glanced at Liam.
“Water’s good for me too, thanks.”
I watched Jenna go then followed Liam into the sitting room. There was a huge portrait of my mother hanging near the entrance. She was coldly beautiful, looking down at us like we were her subjects.
He frowned as he picked up a gold apple knick knack from the mantle. “This is all...”
“Too much?” Jenna was in the doorway, cradling three bottles of Evian. I rushed over to help her like she was holding an armful of bricks. I expected her to snap at me, but that eerie smile was still on her face.
I handed off Liam’s water and turned back to my sister. “I know you’re wondering why I’m here—”
“Oh, I know why you’re here.” Her smile hardened to glass. “But I’m not gonna get into it with a virtual stranger in the room, boyfriend or not.”
Liam got the hint. “I’ll let you two talk.”
Once we were alone, it was even more quiet. I watched Jenna warily. In the olden days, I would tell a joke and the awkwardness would fade away. It wouldn’t be that easy.
I grasped at straws. “I saw your picture in Maxim.”
“So what?” she snarled. “You here to save me?” She wasn’t stopping for my reply. “How are you gonna save me, Mia? You can’t even save yourself.”
Our roles were reversed, my sins out in the open with Jenna forced to look at me and carry the weight of my secret. “I should have called you. I shouldn’t have let you find out how bad I was doing by turning on the news.”
“And you’re sorry, right?” She flipped her blonde mane dismissively. “I’m supposed to forget all the times I tried to call you, the unanswered emails—”
“What was I supposed to say?” My voice rose with every word. “That I was handed a dream on a silver platter and when that dream ended, I had no idea what to do? That it frightened the shit out of me? You didn’t want to hear that! Not when you were trying so hard to get into the business that was swallowing me whole.”
Her eyes widened and she took a step back like I struck her. “You think I wanted to get into the business? You think I wanted to be like you? Miserable and chained to Mom?” She shook her head disgustedly. “I went to the auditions and did the spread because it was the only time you took notice of me.” She bit her lip, her eyes glittering with tears. “I was trying to save you, Mia.”
It was my turn to step backward, her words slamming into me. “But I...” My mind shot back to the first audition Jenna went on. It was a harmless insurance thing, but something in me made me call her from my trailer on set, telling her to be safe.
Emotion consumed me. “I called, texted...every time you had an audition. I was so worried about you.”
“And I was worried about you. Letting Mom pimp me out was the only time I heard from you. Then I heard about your first OD last year.” She clutched her chest like she was in indescribable pain. “I was a wreck. Mom was worried she was losing her meal ticket, so it completely slipped her mind that she had another daughter that was losing her sister.”
Even at my lowest, I never thought about it like that. I wasn’t suicidal. I just wanted to be numb, and sometimes I took too many. As her tears fell, so did mine.
“I’m so sorry, Jenna.”
Even with tears, I saw her skepticism.
“Were you sorry then, or the second time? Or the third?”
“I’m here, I’m trying to get the help I need and be better.” I said forcefully.
“Don’t give me spin,” she spat.
“It’s not spin,” I insisted. Needing her to believe, I took a risk. I went to her and I wrapped my arms around her. She was rigid, fighting me, but then she crumbled. We stood there sobbing, crying for the mistakes we’d made. The time that was lost.
“I...didn’t—” She couldn’t catch her breath. “What I said a-about killing y-y-yourself—”
“I know,” I interrupted gently, sniffing. “Even though it cut me to the bone, deep down I knew you didn’t mean it.” I held her at arm’s lengt
h. “And I’m sorry for the hell I put you through. I’m getting my shit together. Not just for me and my career, but for you too.” I remembered her face smushed against the glass as fate hurtled me toward that first commercial. The pride in her eyes. “I want you to be proud of me again.”
She wiped her cheeks, a smile on her lips. “I will be. Or else.”
I pulled her back in for another hug. There was no erasing the past, but I had hope for our future.
When we separated, Jenna had a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “So tell me about Liam! And start from the beginning.”
I smiled at her and took a long gulp of water. This was going to be one hell of a story.
“Well, it’s kind of amazing.” I began. “And it all started when he saved me.”
****
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ava Claire is a sucker for Alpha males and happily ever afters. When not putting pen to paper or glued to her e-reader, Ava likes road tripping, karaoke, vintage fashion, and swooning over her book boyfriends.
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