He glanced at her and chuckled before downing his drink. "Do I really need to say it out aloud? Can't you guess?"
She thought about it for a few seconds. It didn't take her long to come up with a plausible guess. "Our family?"
When he nodded, she scrunched up her face. "I thought it was her family who didn't want you to be together because her brother said bad things about you."
He shook his head. "I doubt her parents even knew she had a boyfriend." The thought of it made him hate them more than he already did. If they were a little more caring, she would not have suffered so much. They would have comforted her when his family harassed her and even told them off—but they didn't even know what their daughter was going through. They should have given her up for adoption when she was born. He was certain any random family would take better care of her as long as she didn't end up as his foster sister. That would not have made any difference.
Mabella didn't need any details to guess what must have gone down. When she did a mental walk through everything that had happened five years ago before Damon told her that he and Avery had broken up, she didn't want the details anymore. There must have been conspiracies worse than murder.
"I'll hold back from scolding them but that's only because they indirectly helped you get close to Vee." She rolled her eyes. He and Avery had found common ground in the fact that they were both members of unloving families.
He scoffed. "You're giving them too much credit."
She laughed as she nursed her wine glass. "Oh, by the way. I came to hide here because our jerk of a dad wants me to go home for a few days. My mother agreed."
He frowned at her complaint. "Aren't you like, twenty-seven?"
She shrugged. "I'll be seven in my mom's eyes until I'm married."
He smirked at her predicament even though he found it ridiculous. "Don't worry. Elder brother will protect you from them. You can stay here until you find a place of your own."
Mabella was overjoyed. She was not planning to overstay her welcome but having a brother to take care of her could never feel any better.
"Hey, give me your phone." She said out of the blue.
He knew from her slight slur that the alcohol was starting to kick in. "Why do you need it?" He asked.
She stretched out her hand. "Just hand it over. Humor me."
He had a weird feeling about her expression but he reached for his phone in his pants pockets and slid it over the counter to her.
"Awesome!" She happily entered his pass code—which he didn't remember ever telling her—and tapped on the screen frantically with a frown.
"Are you sending some crazy social media post?" He snatched the phone from her but he was probably too late since she let go without a fight. She must have already posted whatever she wanted.
He checked the recently used apps and his heart sank when he saw that it was his messaging app. She didn't send an embarrassing text to anyone, right?
He worked up his courage and was relieved to see that she had sent two mild texts to Avery.
[Please show the text below to Angel.]
[Hey Angel, did you have dinner?]
A smile formed on his face as he looked at his drunk sister. "Good idea. I owe you one."
She rolled her eyes and smacked him. "You idiot. That was so obvious. Send text messages for Angel to Avery's phone and you will have a legitimate reason to chat with her."
That was not exactly what he had in mind. He was thinking of something naughtier.
He smiled as he typed another text message. Well, a whole lot of them.
___
Avery's phone pinged with a text message when she and Angel were selecting a book for his bedtime story. She glanced at it and looked at him.
"Your papa sent a message for you." She spoke softly. He looked up from the small pile of books with colorful covers in front of him and waited in anticipation.
She was yet to tell him what Damon had sent when another text message came in. An entire flood of messages pinged one after another.
He read all of them and summarized the information to her son.
"He said you should get to sleep soon and dream about him, and that he loves you."
Angel scrunched up his little face as if he found it odd.
She chuckled. "I know. I found it odd too. But your papa is odd, so we are going to do what's best for our state of mind—choose a bedtime story and get some sleep."