Chapter 6 #2
Sebastian guided me towards a woman with her back to us as she crouched over the sofa.
He touched her shoulder, and she turned, smiling up at him, before giving Sebastian a questioning look at his arm around my shoulder.
I gathered she was Nox’s sister as I recognized her from the family photo by the front door.
She accepted the diaper from Sebastian’s hands and quickly slipped it on the squirming baby eager to leave the confines of the sofa.
“Who’s this?” She asked with curiosity, her gaze wandering to my side where Nox had stopped, and then back to my body which she flicked over more intensely.
I shifted awkwardly beneath the weight of Seb’s arm and realized Eden was probably really confused right now.
I was a stranger wearing her brother’s clothes and standing intimately close with her husband.
Not to mention the fact that my face was fucked up.
Not that I should care about what I looked like, but I wanted to make a good impression for Sebastian and his family, which included Eden and Nox and whoever-the-fuck else was here tonight.
“Eden, this is someone I grew up with. We were neighbors and I was best friends with her older brother,” Seb explained. “This is my wife, Nox’s sister, and our daughter Ruthie.”
“Hi, Eden. It’s nice to meet you,” I smiled politely, my throat feeling tense with emotions of pride and bitterness. Sebastian was doing well for himself, but I couldn’t help yearning for a similar future for my dead brother.
I waved and smiled as widely as possible at Ruthie who looked absolutely adorable with curly chestnut hair and a light olive complexion. She waved back and stuck her fingers back in her mouth to chew on them as she crawled away back to a tower of blocks on the floor.
“Wait, I thought you were from Dallas? How were you neighbors?” Nox asked Sebastian.
“I moved when I was fourteen,” he explained, wrapping an arm around Eden who smiled up at him with affection. My stomach twisted with envy and guilt. “Up until then, Shy was my annoying little sister. Speaking of, how are you and Javi doing? Did you guys ever move out?”
I cracked my knuckles anxiously. “Have-have you spoken to your dad or uncle recently?” I asked hesitantly, my stomach churning at the thought of Poncho and Pedrofilo.
“No,” he shook his head slowly. “Haven’t spoken to anyone from here since my mom and I moved out.”
I let out a small breath of relief. I hated that I would have to lie, but I was glad knowing that he had cut all ties to this place. That Los Siete never got their claws into him.
“Uh, yeah. We’re doing good,” I nodded trying to smile convincingly despite the sour taste it left.
He smiled almost solemnly and repeated the question I had avoided, “You still at home?”
I bit my lip and nodded, glancing over at Nox who seemed a little too engrossed in our conversation. Seb pursed his lips in thought before releasing Eden to pull me into another hug.
“It’s so good to see you. We’ll have to grab lunch and catch up properly. Tell your brother to come too, yeah?”
I just nodded, worried I wouldn’t be able to lie to him again.
My heart was aching for the closeness I felt when we hugged, and I didn’t want to have to let him go but I knew it would be weird if I didn’t.
It somehow felt like I was getting a hug from Javi even though I couldn’t remember the last time Javi and I had ever hugged.
Javi wasn’t an affectionate person, and come to think of it, Seb was probably the last person I had actually hugged, and that was at least seven or eight years ago.
Damn, that’s depressing.
“Wait, so how did you wind up here tonight? Did you know she was coming?” Eden turned to ask Sebastian.
“No, um, I invited her over. We’re friends from school.” I eyed Nox, confused at the label when we’d barely spent but a handful of hours together and knew virtually nothing about each other.
“Give me your phone number and we can set up a time to catch up,” Seb smiled, pulling his phone from his back pocket.
“Pues…es que no tengo un celular,” I answered, unable to meet his eyes, hoping Eden was just as clueless as Nox with Spanish.
“No te preocupes,” he shrugged. “Hablemos antes de que te vayas, ?sí?
I nodded and he smiled down at Eden.
“Well, I’ll let you get the rest of the introductions out of the way before dinner,” Eden said, eyeing Nox.
“Right,” Nox nodded, grabbing my arm and pulling me along with him through the dining room and into the kitchen.
“Fucking hell, Nox. When you said family dinner, I thought you meant, like, with your parents and a sibling or something,” I hissed into his ear, using his body as a shield as he entered through the doorway first.
Nox, the pisshead, chuckled and shook his head, pulling me away from the shelter of his body so the room could see me.
“Hey, honey,” a woman greeted us from the doorway, her eyes landing on me for a long moment before she smiled. “You must be Shiloh. Welcome. I’m so happy you’re here.”
The rest of the kitchen crowd turned towards us, and I swallowed against the lump of nerves in my throat. My stomach growled loudly at the smell of the home cooked meal, and I coughed trying to cover up the sound, only to then wince at the sharp pain in my ribcage.
Fucking cumwipe dickweasel. It’s a fucking family reunion and I look and probably smell like I got ran over by a fucking dumpster truck. Thank fuck I had the foresight to steal a spare toothbrush from Nox’s bathroom and brush my teeth.
I quickly surveyed the group of adults and what looked to be someone my age surrounding a kitchen island cluttered with food, a pile of mail and various knickknacks.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, ma’am. I apologize for intruding on your family gathering, Mrs.…” Fuck me, what is their last name?
“Please, just call me Miss Shelby, I know it’s a mouthful of a last name. And nonsense. We’re always happy to have company over anytime.”
I was surprised by her drawl, something we didn’t hear a lot of in our part of Texas unless you weren’t local, like Mr. Crane who was from Tennessee.
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.” I was fucking sweating under everyone’s gaze, and I knew I was making a fucking fool of myself. I tried to discreetly wipe my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt in case anyone tried to shake hands.
“And this is my husband, Daniil,” she said, elbowing the man who had yet to turn around from whatever he was doing at the stove. “My brother Quintin, his wife Ha-Eun and my nephew Jae, who you probably know from school.”
Everyone gave me a wave, and I could tell some sort of silent conversation was happening between Jae and Nox based on their facial expressions. I gave a wave and a smile back, clenching my nails into my palms to try and distract myself from all the attention I was receiving.
“Uh, dinner’s got about ten more minutes, why don’t y’all three go set the table? Make sure everyone has a table settin’.”
“Sure, come on Jae,” Nox said.
I followed behind them, anxious to get away from the crowd.