Page 82 of Finding Us
“Thank you.”
“Are we good?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“I’m always going to protect you, Jaz … that will never change. You’re my baby sister.”
“I’m twenty-one.”
“Irrelevant. I know you’re all grown up now, and I suppose I’m lucky I haven’t had to worry about this kind of thing with you until now. Imagine if Cass had an older brother … he’d probably be serving life in prison by now, for murder.”
We both laugh at that. “Totally.”
“All I want is you to be happy, Jaz … I hope you know that. And if it’s with him, then I’ll deal, as long as he treats you right. If he doesn’t, then him and I are going to have a problem.”
“He treats me right.”
“Good.”
“Has Cass come out of her room today?”
“Yeah. Her and I actually had a big talk after you and Mason left.”
I draw back, looking up at him. “You guys had an actual adult conversation?”
“I never said that,” he chuckles. “She came out guns a blazing … completely ripped me a new one.”
“That sounds more like it.”
“What she said helped, it got me thinking. Like me, she just wants your happiness, at least we have that in common.”
“I’m glad.”
“Is Mason home?”
“Yeah.”
Connor places a kiss on the top of my head. “I’m going to go up and see him.”
“Are you going to be nice? I don’t want you two fighting in front of Blake.”
“I’ll be nice.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
“Yes!” we cheer in unison when Candy perfects the current move she’s been learning. She’s come a long way since she first started lessons. In the beginning, she was so uncoordinated I worried she’d never get there, but her hard work and persistence is starting to pay off.
Cassie holds up her hand, giving Candy a high-five. She’s been coming to work with me each day and helping me out with my lessons. Brooke doesn’t seem to mind her being here, and even offered her some part-time work if she was interested. She thanked her, but politely declined, which I can’t seem to wrap my head around. Her excuse is this stupid peasant thing, but I know it runs far deeper than that.
While she refuses to work for money, she’s far from lazy, the complete opposite actually. Her room is kept immaculate, she constantly helps me around the apartment, and works her arse off when she’s here at the studio. She’s quite the conundrum.
“What made you want to strip?” Cassie asks, because she has zero filter.
“The money. It’s not something I ever saw myself doing, but when my son was born—”
“You have a kid?”
