LOGINAva I slammed my phone down on the counter so hard the screen almost cracked, and the sound echoed in my mansion sort of like a slap. There it was, all over every single feed, every gossip site, every stupid notification that would not shut up. Famous hockey player Kacy, the guy everyone kept calling the hot soldier type turned pro athlete or whatever his story was, just got engaged to Olivia. My sister Liv. The same Liv who used to be with Rowan, that other famous hockey player who was now engaged to Kayla, and somehow the whole mess was trending like it was the juiciest family drama of the year.People were eating it up. Comments flying everywhere. “This family has way too much drama, it’s like a bad reality show.” “Liv jumped from Rowan straight to Kacy? Twins and all? Messy.” “Bet Ava is loving this, the sister in the middle of it again.” My stomach twisted. I had just started receiving top modeling gigs again after months of getting over being pregnant and some online stuff t
Liv That hit different. I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat making it hard to talk without my voice shaking. “You don’t get to decide when I forgive her. Or if. She’s done enough. I’m not ready to play happy sisters, and you don’t get to push that. Ever. I’m not saying I hate her forever, but right now? She stays out of my life and my kids’ lives until I say otherwise. You hear me? No surprise visits, no guilt trips about family bonds. I’m done.”Dad nodded fast, eyes wet. “We hear you. Loud and clear. We won’t push. We just… we want a chance to do better. Starting now.”Kacy took my hand then, for real, his thumb rubbing over my knuckles in that way that always quieted the noise a little even when everything sucked. “They mean it, Liv. I wouldn’t have brought them if I didn’t believe that. And I brought them because I want this to be clean. No more shadows. No more what-ifs about your family or your ex or any of it. Just us. You, me, and these two little screamers who somehow ma
Liv The knock came right as the pizza guy left, and I swear my heart did this stupid flip like it thought Kacy had come crawling back already with some half-assed “sorry I yelled about your vagina” speech. Zoe was still muttering under her breath about how men and their noble bullshit needed to be studied in a lab, Mia rocking Sara who had decided midnight was prime scream-o-clock even though it was barely evening, and me? I was a leaking, red-eyed disaster with pizza grease on my fingers and zero fucks left to give.I wiped my face on the shoulder of my shirt, the one that kept slipping because apparently even fabric hated me today, and yanked the door open. “If you forgot your keys after storming out like a…”It wasn’t Kacy.Well, it was, but not the version I expected. He stood there in the hallway looking like he’d run a marathon and lost a fight with a wind machine, hair all messed up, eyes puffy like maybe he’d been the one crying too. Behind him, my mom and dad hovered like aw
Liv “I love you stupid amounts. You’re the only one who makes the noise in my head quiet. All the what-ifs and the exhaustion and everything just… stops when you’re like this.”He hugged me tighter. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”I don’t know what made me say it. Maybe the high from coming, maybe the way he looked at me like I hung the moon even with milk stains on my shirt. I blurted it out while my fingers played with the waistband of his pants again. “You can fuck me if you want. I’m serious. I took the extra stitch anyway. The husband stitch thing. I know you asked the doctor not to, but I told them to do it. For you. So if you want to, we can try. I want to feel you.”Kacy went still under me. Like, completely froze. Then he sat up a little, shifting me off his lap so he could look at my face straight on. “Liv. What the hell?”I blinked. “What? I’m offering. I thought you’d be into it.”He ran a hand through his hair, the one that had just been on my ass five minutes ag
Liv The door slammed behind Zoe and Mia so hard the whole house shook a little, or maybe that was just my brain rattling from another night of zero sleep. “Operation Give Liv Boobs a Break is a go,” Zoe had announced like she was leading a military raid, already buckling Sara into the double stroller while Mia wrestled Saphira’s tiny fists into the carrier. “We’re taking these gremlins to the park for at least two hours. Maybe three if they don’t scream the whole way. You two, do whatever adults do when they’re not covered in spit-up. Nap. Eat. Bang. We don’t judge.”Mia had shot her a look but grinned anyway. “Just don’t break anything. And Liv, if your boobs start leaking through the floor, text us. We’ll come back faster than you can say ‘cluster feeding hell.’”I flipped them off from the couch, but I was laughing because what else could I do? My arms felt like wet noodles after hours of tandem feeding, and Sara had been attached to me like a limpet since four a.m. The girls disa
Liv Kacy didn’t look convinced, but he let it go when Saphira started stirring against my chest. “I’ll take her for a bit if you want. You look like you could use ten minutes where nobody’s attached to you.”“Ten minutes? Dream big, soldier boy.” I handed Saphira over anyway because my back was killing me. “Just don’t drop her. Or if you do, make it look like an accident so I can sue the hospital for bad instructions.”He rolled his eyes but smiled, that soft one he saves for the girls. “Noted. No dropping.” Zoe and Mia took turns walking Sara around the living room in the carrier while I pretended to nap on the couch. Kacy handled laundry like it was a military operation, folding onesies into perfect little squares. Every time someone handed me a baby I fed, burped, changed, repeat. My nipples felt like they’d been through a cheese grater. My brain felt worse.Around eleven I snuck my phone into the bathroom under the excuse of a long shower. I locked the door, sat on the closed to
~Liv~ I dragged myself out of Mia’s apartment at six-thirty the next morning because if I stayed on that couch one more second I was gonna start screaming and never stop. My head still felt like someone had used it for puck practice, but I needed air, needed movement, needed something that wasn’t
~Liv~I barely got the words out “Let's see how many can fit, my dear friend with benefits” before his whole body went rigid against me. Like someone had flipped a switch and every ounce of heat just drained right out of him.He pulled back so fast my head spun, staring down at me with this look th
~Liv~I got home, slammed my own door hard enough the walls shook, and threw my keys so they skittered across the kitchen counter and almost went down the sink. My phone was already in my hand before I even kicked off my shoes, thumb hovering over the screen like it was burning me.Then it buzzed f
~Liv~Three shots in and I was loose enough to text Rowan. Zoe watched me type and delete like five times."Just send it, coward.""What do I even say?""Something honest. Like 'Caleb was a dick, you were right, come over and yell at me in person so we can have makeup sex.'""I'm not saying that."







