Hard Feelings by Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James

Author:Ashlyn Kane & Morgan James [James, Ashlyn Kane & Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub

MILLER HAD taken his laptop and clothes out to the living room while Rylan worked on reassuring Scarlet, and he was still there when Rylan came out twenty minutes later, his head spinning over the whole thing.

“Hey,” Miller said when Rylan dropped onto the other end of the couch. “Sorry if I overstepped, I just—you always pick up when it’s that ringtone, and she called, like, four times in three minutes. I thought it might be important.”

Rylan nodded, wondering how much Scarlet had told him, never mind how much Miller had told her. “It was.” Finally he took a deep breath and admitted, “My sister is a drug addict.”

For a second Miller blinked at him with his mouth slightly agape. Then he closed his laptop and set it on the table. “I’m listening.”

“She’s never come right out and said, ‘Hey, this is why I started taking drugs.’” Rylan shrugged uncomfortably. He didn’t like the insinuation that drug abuse was anyone’s fault, but from Scarlet’s perspective—“But she’s the youngest of three, and I told you our other sister’s in medical school, right?” Miller nodded. “I think Scarlet’s always just felt like she didn’t measure up. And now Olivia’s getting married….”

Understanding dawned on Miller’s face. “And Scarlet already has a kid.”

“Yeah. A kid who’s being raised by our parents because she’s been in rehab since he was born.”

Miller winced. “No wonder she was so….”

“Yeah. So she always….” Blowing out a long breath, Rylan leaned back into the couch. “I’m the one who got her into rehab”—both times, since the first, shorter stay had failed—“and I’m—we have a system. We talk every day, and she tells me how bad the craving is. She’s been good lately, but it’s like every time she sees Olivia, she wants to backslide. Still, she hasn’t been above an eight on the craving scale since Jamie was four months old.” He cleared his throat. “Today was a nine.”

“Jesus,” Miller muttered. “I should have gotten you out of the shower. Is she going to be okay?”

And that was the weirdest part. Rylan had to clear his throat again, because it felt like it was trying to close up on him. “You talked her down to a six.” He didn’t think the English language even had the right words to express his gratitude for that. “And then after she got to lord it over me for screwing a coworker, the craving went down to a four. So. Thank you, for being kind to her.”

Miller put a hand on Rylan’s knee. “Hey, it was no problem. She seems nice.”

Rylan gave a tiny smile. “She is. She’s… so much better than life has given her, you know?”

Miller nodded earnestly.

They sat in silence for a while, Miller’s hand still on Rylan’s knee. Rylan stayed slumped on the couch, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. But as the stress of the conversation left him, he remembered the reason for her call. Olivia was getting married.

The burst of sudden joy he’d felt at hearing the news returned, and he couldn’t stop the grin from forming.

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