Some Kind of Perfect (Calloway Sisters #4.5) (38 page)

He nods more firmly. “Yeah.”

Moffy must’ve heard that last part because he shouts, “I think you’re brave, Uncle Garrison!”

Garrison smiles weakly and says to me, “Your kid is funny.”

“Or maybe he’s right.”

Garrison lets out a breath like it’s been sitting on his chest. “So I can take Garth when I fly to London?”

“Without a doubt, no take-backs. Cross my heart.” I remember to make an
x
motion over my heart, and I also add, “He’s pretty much the family bodyguard, and you’re our family.”

Garrison smiles more. “Thanks. I appreciate everything, you know?”

I nod again. I know he does. We see it in his eyes all the time. Years ago, he was just a teenager, knocking on the door of Superheroes & Scones and asking for a job that Lo once offered. He almost turned around, but I let him in.

We both let him in our lives, and the good person we saw beneath the layers of hatred and self-loathing emerged.

“So really,” I say as we resume our Sorin-X search, “what are you doing with all of these?”

“I guess I have to ask about it anyway, but you have to promise not to tell the tall one. He’s literally throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at my face. I’m scared shitless he’ll shut the entire thing down and fire me if he finds out.”

It’s about what he’s been secretly working on for three years at Cobalt Inc. No one really knows what the project is, and Connor gave him five years to execute it, which he said is realistic for someone working alone.

“Cross my heart.” I catch myself making a cross-symbol with my finger instead of an
x
. I stop midway and just drop my hand. I was doing so well.

Before he spills the news, the storage door cracks open.

Moffy whispers to Luna, “Shhh.” Hidden in the cardboard box, Moffy yanks down a flap.

Lo pockets his keys as he enters, and we instantly lock eyes, the magnetic pull drawing me to my best friend, and Lo urgently reaches me.

“Lily,” he breathes, his hands on my cheeks.

“I’m okay…” He has the prettiest pink lips.
Focus.
My mind wanders to nefarious places, and I hang onto his belt loops. “We’re okay.”

Lo kisses me lightly but only for a second.

My body warms. I push against him. Melded. My chest up along his. I cling to him like a tree, but he’s holding me back.

While he stares down at me, I steal another kiss. I feel a smile on his lips, but he’s the one who breaks apart. He scans the area, nods to Garrison, and then asks quickly, “Where are our kids?” His edged voice carries a severe amount of panic.

Then the box giggles and laughs.

His alarm depletes, but Loren Hale is not nice. I know what he’s going to do before he does it.

“Moffy?! Luna?!” He layers on fake fear and panic. “Lily, go call 9-1-1 right n—”

“No!” Moffy shrieks with tears in his eyes. He pops out of the box and bolts to Lo as fast as he can. “I’m right here! I’m right here!” He hugs onto Lo’s legs, and Lo crouches down to hug him tight, acting relieved to find him so quickly.

I lift Luna out of her box, and she keeps one of the plushies clutched to her chest.

I whisper to Lo, “You just wanted that hug.”

Lo smiles like that was his evil plan all along. Then he assesses Moffy. “Are you in one piece? Are you okay? Did the aliens get you?”

“What aliens?”

Lo lets out a choked laugh. “You didn’t hear about the alien invasion last night? What were you—
sleeping
?”

“Yeah, I like sleep.”

“No way, me
too
.”

Moffy holds his dad’s hand as Lo rises to a stance beside me. “If you were sleeping and I was sleeping, then who was awake to see the aliens?”

“Crazy Uncle Ryke and Aunt Daisy,” Lo says without a beat.

I break into their conversation since Garrison still needs help finding comics. “We’re trying to separate all the ones with Sorin-X. He said…” I trail off because Garrison is shaking his head at me like
stop talking
. “What?”

I’m not good with these kinds of cues.

Moffy runs off towards a bucket of Tilly Stayzor action figures, a very popular female character in
The Fourth Degree
universe.

“I did have something to ask you,” Garrison says to Lo. I think he plans to bring up the airport subject, but then he suddenly takes an abrupt detour. “Will you be my best man at my wedding?”

Lo looks floored.

Garrison says, “You’ve been more of a brother to me than my brothers. I probably wouldn’t be
here
if it weren’t for you…and you.” He looks to me.

I wipe my tears.

Lo’s amber eyes glass. “Of course I’d be your best man.”

Willow asked Daisy to be her maid of honor the day she got engaged. Garrison might’ve been worried Lo would say no. He overthinks a lot.

“Thanks,” Garrison says. “Do you think the tall one and the angry one will want to be groomsmen?”

“Connor, without a doubt, and Ryke goes with the flow.” Lo laughs. “Christ, if you put him in the back row, he wouldn’t even care or take it to heart.”

“Okay good.” Garrison lets out another long breath.

Lo picks up a comic from our stack. “What’s all this for?”

I say, “I don’t know, Garrison was just about to tell…” Okay he’s doing the
shake the head
signal again. How do I abort a conversation now that it’s begun? Daisy is better at social transitions than me. I just flounder with my mouth half-open. “Uhhh…”

Lo says to Garrison, “Is this about your video game?”

Garrison’s face falls. “What?”

Lo wears a half-smile.

Garrison chokes out, “How’d you know?”

“You’re working for
Connor Cobalt
, man. The guy probably has fifteen brains and seven pairs of eyes. You might not know what he’s thinking, but he knows what you are.” Lo touches his chest. “And he’s my best friend. He told me you’re working on a game based on a comic book character.”

Sorin-X
, I realize. He’s creating an entire video game from scratch—without a team behind him.

Whoa.

Garrison rocks backwards, disbelieving. “And he didn’t give a shit? I thought he’d pull the plug on the project.”

“He actually likes the idea. So do I.”

Garrison gawks. “What?”

“
I
own the video game rights to
The Fourth Degree
series, and Belinda and Jackson told me they’d rather eat their left arms than see a thousand people turning the game into a money-making soulless franchise.”

Belinda and Jackson Howell are a young brother-sister duo and the artist and writer of
The Fourth Degree
universe.

Garrison collects his thoughts fast. “I have most of the technical shit coded, but I’m at the point where storyline is important. That’s why I was looking through the comics, but eventually I’d need Belinda and Jackson for the art. I can only code, and what I’m making is classic, indie. I think the game style fits what the comic intended to be.”

Lo fought for
The Fourth Degree—
but he never thought it’d become the next
X-Men
or
Justice League
since Halway Comics lacks resources and name recognition like Marvel and DC.

It’s happening though. The popularity has been rising exponentially, right in sight of the comic titans.

All because Lo said
yes
to Belinda and Jackson after reading their submission
.
When every other big comic publishers told them
no,
he helped turn their potential and their dream into success and reality.

“I’ve been mentioning the video game to Belinda and Jackson for a full year,” Lo says, “and they’re interested. I know they’d work with you. I’ll give you their numbers.”

Garrison is speechless.

I struggle keeping Luna on the crook of my hip, and Lo takes her from me. He kisses her cheeks so fast that she starts giggling.

I think about all the ventures we’ve ever made now that Garrison is beginning his.
Halway Comics. Superheroes & Scones.
All three of us used to lack ambition, not because we didn’t love
something, but because we never believed we could be better than the people around us. Why try when someone else will just step right over you?

It seemed like too much work.

Now we’ve all discovered ambition and pride—but not without believing in ourselves first. That we could beat our own sad expectations.

And we did.

“Mommy’s bleeding!” Moffy shouts.

“What, where?” I spin around, so confused.

“Your butt.”

Ohmygod.
I can’t feel my face. I bled through my underwear and leggings.

Lo grabs onto Moffy’s shoulder before he tries to touch my butt.

Garrison acts interested in the comics to give me privacy.

“Is it bad?” I ask Lo, about to find a pair of extra pants in one of these boxes. We might’ve been shipped in some Thor pajama bottoms. The God of Thunder will get me through this.

Lo checks out my ass. “It’s just a spot.” He has this face that screams
it’s a bloody mess back there, love.
He even reaches for me, like he wants to hug me to make it better.

It’s not better. Paparazzi took pictures of my backside, which includes my ass.
My bloody ass.
I wince at myself and then point at him, so close to calling him a lying liar.

Luna distracts me when she kisses his jawline.

I melt.

Moffy tugs on his dad’s shirt. “Mommy’s hurt! We have to help her.”

“She’s not hurt, Mof. This happens to girls every month.”

Pants. Pants. Thor, where are you?
Further in the back, I peek into a few plastic containers, only to find shields and swords.

“No, that’s not fair!” Moffy shouts. “I don’t want Luna and Janie to bleed from their butts.”

I knock into a metal shelf and rub my forehead. Lo and Garrison stifle their laughter, but I can see their smiles through the shelves.

Instead of explaining periods in-depth, Lo just says, “It’s not happening any time soon, bud, and it doesn’t hurt them.”

“You promise?”

I watch through the shelves like a peeping Tom, but I can’t turn around.

“You think I’d let anything bad happen to your little sister?”

“No,” Moffy says without a pause, “because you make all the monsters go away.”

I rub at my watery gaze.

Loren Hale is not the monster in his son’s eyes.

He’s the hero.

[ 21 ]

September 2021

Arrapia Café

Philadelphia

ROSE COBALT

“This is beyond ridiculous.” I slide the
Celebrity Crush
tabloid to Ryke. The headline in neon pink reads:
Rose Calloway Baby Crazy!! Pregnant with Sixth Child!

My scowling brother-in-law lowers his massive burger and then wipes his calloused hands on the
tablecloth
of all things.

I bite my tongue but not for long. “A napkin is next to you,” I snap.

His brows knot. He didn’t even realize he spread beef grease on decorative linen. Also, he doesn’t care. “Do you want me to read the fucking magazine or wash my hands?”

I huff. “Read.”

Ryke flips through the tabloid, his scowl never changing shape.

I grow impatient. “The headline alone is ridiculous. Calling
me
baby crazy is like calling the sun a flaming ball of shit.”

Ryke ignores me as he reads.

This is the
last
time I invite him out to lunch. At least not without one of my sisters or Connor or Loren present. When we’re alone together, I feel like I’m arguing with myself. Or a caveman. Or both.

I tug at the hem of my blue dress, the chair creaking. The lighting in the café is more suited for dinnertime: too dim, the blinds nearly shut closed. It creates a
mood
that I’d rather share with no one. Not even Connor.

Okay,
maybe
Connor.

Maybe even more than
maybe.
But I’d never tell him so.

“It’s fucking stupid,” Ryke states after a prolonged minute of silence. He shuts the tabloid and tosses it aside.

My eyes narrow. “It took you
that
long to come to that assessment. What were you doing? Fact-checking them?”