Misfits Like Us (Like Us #11)(83)

“It’s not…I didn’t…” Heat flushes me. “I just like how it looks and that I can feel it when I’m…anxious.”

He’s still staring at me through the mirror. “Yeah, I get it.”

“You do?”

“Same reason you got your galaxy tattoo, right?” He nods to my thighs. “Calms you down.”

I nod over and over. “Yeah.” Then I remember why I’m here. “Shit, Moondragon.”

“Moon who?” Donnelly frowns.

He doesn’t know.

No one does.

I spill my secret. “Moondragon,” I confess. “My pet fish. I thought I left her fish food here, but I think I must be out.”

“You have a fish?”

“She’s kind of a secret,” I mutter. “I was hoping to never tell anyone in case she accidentally croaks on my watch. Which is likely. My mom was never able to keep a pet fish alive.”

He turns on the sink faucet. “Yeah, but you’re not your mom.”

That nearly sends me over. I hold back tears. “Maybe I am though.”

His eyes find mine again through the mirror. He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m seeing all Luna Hale.”

“Fog must be triple thick.”

He turns to face me. Smiling brighter, he says, “Still Luna.”

Still Luna.

Tears threaten to rise, but I fight them down. “Thanks,” I whisper.

He opens his mouth to say something, but his phone buzzes near my side of the sink. I grab it for him and barely glance at the text that popped up. But I see the words Beckett and steal.

Huh…

I hand him his cell, trying not to snoop.

“Thanks,” he says.

I watch him read the text, his lips downturn. Face falls. His shoulders grow stiff. And then he says a rough “fuck” under his breath.

Donnelly slumps forward in a lunge, facing the mirror. Phone still cupped in his hand, I think he’s rereading the text over and over.

I’m unsure if he wants me involved, but I just ask quietly, “Is your cousin still blackmailing you?”

“He hasn’t sent that photo to anyone yet. But he’s trying to scare me.” He straightens up and shows me the text on his phone.

You have until Halloween to deliver the Thomas Cole painting with you know who’s signature on the back. Otherwise, we’re going to have a Finn situation on our hands. – Colin Donnelly





“Who’s Finn?” I ask.

“Another cousin.” Donnelly holds on to the edge of the counter, staring into the sink. “He was planning on ratting out my parents to the cops. This was when I was a little kid. And my dad and uncle planted meth on him and set him up. Finn got five years’ prison time.”

I go cold suddenly.

“Halloween,” Donnelly murmurs, his brows knitting in thought. “I’ll be at your dad’s party with almost all of security.”

He doesn’t mention the obvious: my dad’s birthday is on Halloween.

“Uh-huh,” I nod. “The Halloween Hellfire Gala. It’s a big one for his 50th.”

Cousins, aunts, uncles—nearly my entire family should be there for this elaborate X-Men-themed ball my dad has been planning. Maybe Donnelly will be safe among all the extra security. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any public announcement about the private b-day ball, so they might not realize that’s a horrible day to try and fuck with Donnelly.

I glance back at the text. “How does your cousin even know Beckett has The Consummation of Empire?”

“I was wondering the same thing then I remembered…” He turns the phone back to himself and edges closer to me. His body bumps up next to mine, the cedar and eucalyptus smell of his shampoo intoxicatingly close.

Instagram on his screen, he clicks into Beckett’s account. More posts than ever flood his feed. Audrey has been posting at least twice a day for Beckett. When Donnelly clicks into the latest reel, I hear her voice.

“And this is where the magic happens,” Audrey says in a voiceover. The video zooms around his neatly organized room, a pop song playing in the background. Hung clear as day on the back wall is the painting. To Audrey’s credit, the reel has millions of views.

My lips fall, thinking about the safety of everything, but I trust our security. They’ve taken care of us for eons, even under threatening stalkerish circumstances.

“Your family must’ve seen this,” I say under my breath.

He hears in the quiet. “Yeah.” He pockets his phone. “It’s not Audrey’s fault. My family just has a way of finding cracks. It was bound to happen at some point.”

This is why my dad doesn’t want us together.

I remember my dad saying he can barely trust Donnelly, and knowing Donnelly is tethered to a darkness that could seep into me—that’d escalate fear within my dad.

I guess I never fully realized how corrosive his family could be, but his past shouldn’t be a reason why we can’t have a future. Donnelly has fought against more than I’ve ever faced just to be free of them, and that means something.

“Do you think they’d really go through with it?” I ask him. “They’d really plant meth on you?”