Onyx | 18+ ✔️ Book 2

Chapter fifteen

Onyx

"Zane," Mum slurred from the kitchen, "you have to admit... I was way hotter than that bass player's girlfriend."

I rubbed a hand down my face from the couch.

Zane sighed, trying to pry the wine glass out of her hand. "Babe, I'm not arguing with you. Just, stop comparing yourself to twenty-year-olds on tour."

"They wish they had my rack!" Mum declared loudly, almost falling off the barstool.

Lucian swooped in from behind her like a vampire bat in loafers. "Alright, love of my life, let's sit somewhere that isn't a kitchen island before you impale yourself on a corkscrew."

She cackled. "Oh my god, you're still dramatic!"

Meanwhile, Rae was swaying dangerously beside her, wine glass still in hand, giggling about something I couldn't hear, which only made me more annoyed.

She looked too damn comfortable.

Too drunk. Too soft.

Too herself in a house that she hadn't been in for years.

Why was she laughing with my mum like everything hadn't shattered the moment she left?

Jace leaned against the doorframe, looking at me knowingly. "You alright, kid?"

"No," I muttered, standing up. "But apparently I'm the only sober one, so I'll drive her home before someone ends up on the roof."

"She's not that drunk," Damien offered.

Right as Rae bumped into the fridge and apologized to it.

"...Okay," he added, "maybe she is."

I stepped into the kitchen, cleared my throat. Rae looked up, eyes glassy and wide.

"Let's go."

"What?" she blinked.

"I'm taking you home before you and my mum start a podcast."

Nova waved. "Bye, honey! Drive safe! Don't forget Rae's bag, it's by the wine rack, or the second wine rack. The emergency one."

Jace muttered to Mason, "We're burning that second wine rack tomorrow."

I grabbed Rae's bag and held the door open. "Come on."

She followed me out, still giggling.

~

We pulled up outside her house, white fence, porch light still on. It looked the same. Like she'd never left. Like the last few years hadn't split us in two.

The engine idled as I stared ahead. Rae shifted in her seat, hugging her arms to her chest.

"I didn't think I'd ever come back here," she said softly.

I glanced at her. Her mascara had smudged under her eyes, not from tears, just time, and probably the wine. She looked tired in a way I recognized.

The kind of tired that comes from carrying too much alone.

"It's weird," she added. "Being back... being around you again."

"Yeah," I said. "But it still felt like you."

That made her go still.

She turned to look at me. "Did I change that much?"

"Yeah. But not the part that matters."

We sat there, headlights painting the empty street ahead of us. I didn't want to say goodbye. Not yet. Not again.

"I know I don't have the right," she whispered, "but... I've missed you."