Page 74 of Thirst For Me
She actually smiles. Genuinely smiles at me.
It makes my pulse pick up—and my defenses rise.
“Why do you want to extend your lease here, Sierra?” I press.
Her smile dies. “That’s really my business. Not yours. What kind of warrior would I be if I just handed my enemy more ammunition for his gun?”
That’s perfectly sensible, of course. But I’m not looking to shoot to kill. I just want the damn building. Butting heads hasn’t gotten us anywhere so far, and maybe my unfortunate crush on her has given me the idea that if I offer her a chance to understand my position, she’ll back off this fight.
I take a deep breath and tell her, “Buying back this building for my family isn’t just something I want. It was my parents’ dying wish. The last thing they were working on before they died. I’vecome to realize, especially in recent days ... that I feel an extreme responsibility to carry out that wish.”
I fully expect her to put up some argument, to tell me that none of this is her problem.
It’s not.
But instead, she says, “That sounds like a really heavy responsibility to bear.” She gazes at me with sympathy.
I look away, over the water.
“What were they like?” she asks, her voice gentle. “Samantha and Christopher.”
Fuck.
Do I really want to stand here and talk about them? With her?
Yes.How can I not talk about them? With anyone who asks?
How else do I keep them alive?
“They were ...” I rub the back of my head, an old nervous habit. Scrape my fingers through my hair. “Great parents. They were always ...” How do I even put it? “So excited about the idea of us as a family. But it wasn’t just an idea. Welivedit. Matching pajamas and yearly photos by the Christmas tree and marking our heights on the wall every birthday. We ate every breakfast and every dinner together around the table. And if we fought, they told us we had to have each other’s backs, me and Layne and Haven, no matter what—”
“Wait. Who’s Haven?”
“My sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“Yeah. A little sister. She lives in Seattle.”
“Hold up.” Sierra blinks at me. “Your sister ... is a city girl?”
I chuckle, caught off guard. “You could say that.”
She stares at me. “Who the fuck even are you, Mason Grant? Just when I thought I had you figured out, you throw me a curveball. I thought youhatedcity people.”
I don’t even know what to say.
As usual when I find myself talking to her, I’ve hit a point where I don’t even know what the hell is happening. I have so many conflicting thoughts and emotions fighting to get to the surface, I don’t know which one to respond to first.
“Who the hell areyou, Sierra?” I growl, letting some of my frustration slip to the top.
She laughs shortly. “What do you mean? I’m no mystery. What you see is what you get.”
I swipe my hand over my mouth, considering whether to go there.
Yup. I’m going there.
“Well, what I saw is a meme. With you in it. You ... and a purple dick?”
