𝑼𝑵𝑬𝑿𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑫 | 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡

𝐾𝐴𝑅𝑀𝐴

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　　 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐄'𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓 at pranking her brothers, I climb upstairs from the lab. Honestly, I don't know why she even tries anymore—it's like watching a child throw paper airplanes at a tank and expecting them to land. Chase sees through everything she does. Adam too, though he's more theatrical about it.

I'm barely in the kitchen when Janelle's soft, polite voice floats over the counter.
'What would you like me to call you?' she asks Rose with an almost painful gentleness.

Rose, however, is a storm disguised as a woman. She lifts her chin, inhales like she's gathering all the oxygen in the room, and huffs as though the very question offends her existence.

'Let's start with Madam, shall we?'

The words snap like brittle glass.

I step into the room and almost instantly Rose's expression shifts. Like a queen granting favor to her subject, she walks over and gathers me into her arms. Her perfume is powdery, old-fashioned, cloying—and for some reason comforting, even if she sometimes looks at me as though she can't quite figure out why I haven't left Chase yet.

'Addilynn, dear, it's so nice to see that you're still around.'

Still around. The words hit me like a slap and a compliment all at once. I plaster on a smile.
'Hi Rose, good to see you too.'

She pulls back, examining me like I'm on display. Then her sharp eyes narrow with a sort of fond approval. 'How many times do I have to tell you that you can call me grandma? I love your lip gloss. Has Chase already told you he likes it too?'

Her words hang in the air like a knife, and from the corner of the room I hear Janelle mutter under her breath, 'Are you kidding me?' Poor girl. She looks at Leo as though he's her lifeline, but Leo just gives her this helpless little smile that doesn't help her case at all.

I feel a pang for Janelle. Rose's cruelty isn't personal, not really—it's possessive. Leo is her golden boy, her flawless creation. Everyone else, even Chase, is second best in her eyes. I know it. Chase knows it. And Janelle? She suffers for it most of all.

So I open my mouth and say the first bold thing that comes to me.
'Well, it's on his lips too by now. He seems fine about it.'

The room goes still for half a second. Risky. Maybe even reckless. But Rose doesn't scold me. Instead, she lets out this throaty laugh that catches me completely off guard.

'You always say what's on your mind, huh? Chase is so lucky to have you.'

Before I can react, I hear his voice at the doorway.
'I'm very well aware of that, Rose.'

I turn, and my chest warms at the sight of him. He doesn't rush to me—he walks, slow, deliberate, like he's already claimed the space between us and is simply closing the distance. My heart is traitorous; it flutters at the smallest things. The curve of his smile, the dark softness of his eyes, the way his hair falls slightly over his forehead.

'Not as lucky as I am to have him,' I tell her, unable to keep the truth from slipping out.

The sincerity in his answering smile is enough to make my knees feel unreliable. When he presses a soft kiss to my cheek, the world narrows down to the ghost of his lips on my skin.

'The lip gloss is gone, Rose,' he murmurs, like it's only between us.

Rose shrugs, unimpressed. 'It doesn't stay on there forever.'