Tempted

Chapter 46

James' POV

The past few days have been pretty calm.

Harry's been making me and Raven do a lot of stuff. I guess it's to help us get our mind off of our mom, and I must admit it's working.

I almost forgot that we were burying her today.

Harry is making all of the guys go. Raven and I tried to tell him it wasn't necessary, but he thinks that it's only right that they show some sort of respect.

Since there was no changing Harry's mind Raven just told everyone to show up in a suit and that we would all meet back at the house after mother is finally buried.

I've been talking to Keith for the past few days. He keeps trying to convince me to let go of whatever anger I have built inside of me over my mother's death.

The first time he told me that I thought he was kidding, but when he said it again one night at dinner and everyone heard him, I got pissed. Except it wasn't me that went batshit crazy. It was Raven.

She went on some crazy rampage and practically cut him with a knife. If it wasn't for Harry, Keith would have a pretty bad scar on his left cheek.

For the last ten minutes I've been standing in front of the mirror, in what is to be considered my room, trying to fix my tie.

With a sigh of defeat after another failed attempt I stop trying and walk out of the room in search for Raven.

Walking down stairs into the living room I see my baby sister sitting on the couch looking through an old family photo album.

"She was a great mom, James." Raven whispers as she turns the page.

"Do you remember that time when I was five and we went to Disney World? You wanted to get on the rollarcoaster with mom, but I wanted to go see Cinderella. We got into this big fight and mom had to compromise with the both of us."

"She promised that if I waited until after dinner and wouldn't be grumpy about it then I could see Cinderella and get my picture taken with her. She was such a good negotiator, maybe that's why none of her clients ever had a divorce."

I take a seat next to Raven and look at the photo album that's sitting in her lap.

"It's gonna be really hard to let go today." Raven whispers as she runs her fingers over a picture of our mom.

"Have you heard from dad?"

"Yeah." She scoffs. "That asshole wants to bring Veronica."

"Are you kidding me?" I ask outraged.

"Dead serious. I told him she wasn't allowed and he said if she wasn't going then he wasn't going."

"You're kidding me right? He's not gonna even be there for his wife's funeral." Raven nods her head.

"So in response to his statement I called him an ungrateful excuse of a husband and a father. I hung up on him before he could reply."

"When the hell did you grow a pair of balls? You've always been daddy's little girl." I nudge her with my shoulder.

"I think I've finally had enough of his shit. He's always been an ass and I just refused to see it. Maybe that's why he liked me so much. You called him on his bullshit when I didn't."

"Baby sis. I think you've finally turned into a woman." She looks at me before rolling her eyes.

"You're an idiot, but why did you come down here?"

I reach down and pick up my tie that has been laying flat around my neck.

"I can't tie it." I mumble.