Hothouse Flower

I open my mouth to chew him out, but he cuts me off.

“But if I’m you,” he says with the tilt of his head, “I’ve also been there for that girl. When she had an ape of a boyfriend, when she was alone and all backs were turned, when she was going through heavier things than all of us realized.” His calm tone soothes any anger that threatens to rise. Just like that. “If I were you, Ryke, I’d stop letting people see the worst parts of me, and I’d finally show them the good.” He shrugs. “But I’m clearly not you.” He stares around at the forest landscape. “And you’re not me.”

“I just don’t see what good it’ll do to have those fucking arguments.” I don’t want to fight. I just want to leave it all behind. I watch Daisy unfold all of the chairs with Lo. He motions to her messily cut hair, and she shows him the back, the blonde strands uneven. He shakes his head, but her face has never been brighter, even with a scar.

“Why does there have to be an argument?” Co

“You think people are just going to accept any explanation that comes out of my mouth? I can talk to her mom until she’s blue in the fucking face. She won’t accept me, Co

“First off, he didn’t let her date Julian,” Co

“That clearly didn’t work.”

“I said tried,” Co

I wish I had a better relationship with her parents, but I don’t. In order to be Greg’s friend like Co

“I know this is going to seem like such a foreign concept to you,” Co

But he forgets that I don’t speak with an even-tempered voice. I’m rough. I’m abrasive as hell, and the moment I try to talk, everything comes out coarse. Nothing comes out how I really intend. I gave Daisy sex advice when she was fifteen because I was trying to steer her towards the kind of guys that would treat her right. And I got shit on for that conversation for the next two fucking years.

“Hey,” Lo calls. He holds up a package of hamburgers and then points at the tent that Daisy tries to set up alone. “You two helping or is doing five things at once part of my rehabilitation?”

I’m about to walk over to him, but Co

“No.” I groan. “Lily promised me she wouldn’t arrive early.” All three Calloway girls for twenty long days in a confined space—shit.

“She broke it then,” Co

Fuck me.

< 37 >

DAISY CALLOWAY

Rose and Lily are here.

At the begi

But they have to reunite with their respective partners.

I back away from my sisters while Lo wraps his arms around Lily. She’s wearing her Wampa cap, a white furry hat that has flaps for her ears. Lo whispers to her, and she blushes bright red. As I keep backing up, I bump into something hard and two pairs of hands rest on my shoulders.

I crane my neck. “Hey you,” I say to Ryke. He stares at me with those brooding eyes. I wish he could kiss me the way Lo bathes Lily in his love. Out in the open, passionate beautiful kisses that seem to make them float off the earthen floor. But even in the darkened night, the campfire flickers close by, illuminating our features.

We can’t hide with everyone around.

Rose and Co

“Are you burning the burgers?” Lo asks Ryke, and I feel his hands drop off me, cold air replacing the spot.

“No, I just started cooking them.” Ryke checks the burgers just to make sure, leaving my side.

I sniff the air. “I don’t smell anything except wood smoke.” I hike over to where Rose stands, her five-inch heels sinking in the dirt. Co

“I’m not lying,” she says. “It smells foul.”

“It’s probably the fucking pit toilet,” Ryke tells her. “You passed it in your car on the way here.”

Rose shakes her head. “It’s closer.” She pinches her nose and gags dramatically.

“Maybe it’s your own stench,” Lo says, holding Lily to his chest like she’s a part of him, a piece that had been missing this whole time. He seems happier. “Bitch No. 5.”

Rose points a threatening finger at him, manicured and blood red. “You insult Chanel and my heel will find your asshole in a millisecond, Loren.”

“Oooh,” Loren mock cringes. “I didn’t know you could move that fast with your she-devil hooves.”

Rose shrieks, and I flinch at the violent noise, coming out of nowhere. She tries to catapult herself at Lo, but Co

It’s nighttime.

I hate nighttime unless I’m wrapped in his arms.

I nod, trying to play it cool and not act like a scared teenager.

Rose kicks her legs out, while wearing a pleated black dress, even as her husband restrains her. She looks more unladylike than I’ve seen her in a while. I know she has meltdowns. Lo has mentioned them before in their spats, but she almost always keeps these moments hidden from me.

My vision of Rose is this solid iron fortress that won’t let anyone in, not even Lo’s snide comments. She just bulldozes right over him with ones of her own.

Right now, his few words are crawling underneath her skin faster than usual.

Co

I turn to Ryke. “What’d she say?” I whisper.

He stares down at me. “I’m not overreacting,” he translates under his breath.

She shrieks again. I don’t flinch this time.

“Is that your she-devil cry?” Lo continues to antagonize. Lily slaps his arm, seriously telling him to quit.

Co

Rose is tearing at Co

Guilt washes over Lo’s features, and I catch Ryke watching his brother closely. “Lo,” Ryke says, nodding to him. “Help me with the burgers?”