Chapter 24 #2
“She’s lucky to have you,” I say, brushing a lock of brown hair away from his eyes. “Is she your only sibling?”
He smiles, but it’s thin. “Not exactly. I’ve got five more that I’m aware of.
Three sisters, two brothers. But Hannah’s the only one who matters.
I know that sounds awful, but with my dad, it might as well be five out of a hundred.
He doesn’t even see two of them. I’d be surprised if he remembered their names. ”
“I’m not judging.”
“I know,” he says. “I guess…maybe I am.” He pushes up beside me, his hand finding mine on the sheet between us. “Cara, Hannah’s mom, was the first after my mom, and I stupidly thought she’d be the last. But Dad left her when Hannah was two.”
“And you and Cara get along?”
“We had a rocky start. I mean, she married Dad before my mother’s body was even cold.” His head tips back against the wall above my headboard. “But she was really young. Naive. And my dad, well, he can be pretty coercive.”
I shudder at his choice of words. Persuasive would be one thing, but coercive is control. Abuse.
“We’re close now, though.” His voice softens, his thumb following the ridge of my wrist bone. “I’m actually kind of worried about her.”
“How come?”
“Lately, she’s just been…off. Slurred words.
Foggy. She keeps saying she’s tired, and I don’t know.
Maybe that’s true.” He frowns like he doesn’t buy it.
“It’s just…when she met my dad, she was deep in the party scene.
Drinking, drugs, the whole bit.” His thumb stills on my wrist. “But she got clean—stayed clean—until his pregnant mistress showed up on their doorstep. Then she relapsed.”
The AC cuts off, and the room goes quiet except for the song playing through the Echo on my desk.
Holden meets my eyes. “I’m only telling you this—I only know about it—because it was in that exposé that came out earlier this year.”
“What exposé?”
“The one on Cade Corban’s disappearance. You’ve heard of him, right? The singer?”
I tap a nail against my chin. “Name sounds familiar.”
“Alexa,” Holden says, “play ‘Stitched-Up Heart.’”
The music stops, and a low, gritty guitar riff fills the room, dark and familiar.
“Oh my gosh.” I sit up straighter. “Cross to Bear…that Cade Corban?”
He nods.
Ben mentioned something about it. How the guy basically fell off the face of the earth, then popped back up months later like nothing happened.
“What does he have to do with Cara?”
“He’s her brother. Her twin. They’re not close like you and Ben. Haven’t been for years. But when Cara relapsed, he dropped everything to help her get clean again.”
“And somebody wrote an exposé on that? Years later?” My skin prickles. “The guy helped his sister. Who cares?”
“It was actually pretty scandalous. My father’s high-profile. To him, image is everything, and the circumstances surrounding it…” He blows air out his cheeks. “Let’s just say, there’s a reason they wanted it kept quiet. All of them.”
His thumb starts up on my wrist again. “Dad cut her loose, stuck her in one of his empty properties, and told her she had three months to get it together and get out. That was almost a decade ago, and Cara’s still there.”
“Is it possible they were trying to work it out?”
“No way. He’d already moved on with the mistress, who I fondly refer to as Wife Number Three.
” Holden rubs the back of his neck. “Cara said he wanted to keep Hannah close, but I remember the fights. Loud ones. He was dead set on getting full custody, and with Cara still in recovery? He would’ve, no question. ”
“She’s the mother of his kid. Maybe he softened.”
“That man doesn’t do soft.”
“And you think she’s using again.”
“Maybe not using, not the hard stuff anyway. But drinking? Yeah, I do.” He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “I just totally unloaded on you, didn’t I?”
“You can talk to me about anything, Holden. I’m not the villain, remember?”
“Maggie, you’re the opposite of a villain. You’re—”
“The good part?” It’s out before I can stop it, and my cheeks light up.
“Yeah,” he says, eyes warm and unguarded. “You’re definitely the good part.”
And still stupidly glowing.
The vanilla’s all but faded, and the playlist has gone rogue. I don’t even want to know how late it is.
I glance at Holden through heavy lids. “You’re gonna look like chewed twine tomorrow if you don’t get some sleep.”
“I might be too relaxed to sleep,” he says, but yawns all the same. “I assume you’re not coming to set with me?”
“I’ll pass—unless we need to practice between takes or something?”
“Nah, I think I’m good.”
His smile dims a little. I can tell he wants me there, but I’m still recovering from today’s emotional face-plant.
He lets go of my hand to fluff his pillow, then lies back down. “What are your plans for tomorrow?”
“Actually,” I say, that familiar pull returning, “I think I’m going to write. I’ve got a plot percolating, and I’m feeling oddly inspired.”
He waggles his brows. “Sex with a devastatingly handsome megastar will do that to a girl.”
He’s not wrong.
This morning, I wasn’t sure Holden was even speaking to me. Now he’s my muse. My very naked muse.
“Alexa, off,” I say, fighting a grin as I stretch out beside him. I reach for the lamp, and the room goes dark.
He pulls me against him, the sheet settling warm around us.
A girl could get used to this.
“Good night, Maggie.”
I thread my fingers through his. “Good night.”