They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 03

They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 03

On the bus ride back, I scrolled past Ashley’s latest Instagram story.

[Finally got rid of the buzzkill. Time to actually enjoy my birthday.]

The photo showed Ethan, Liam, and Derek gathered around the dinner table, surrounded by buffalo wings, jalapeño poppers, and a giant bowl of spicy chili.

Everything I’d been banned from eating since chemo.

For a second, I was almost glad I hadn’t stayed.

If I had, I’d have been stuck with a bowl of white rice while they feasted.

Back at the apartment, I boiled myself a plain bowl of noodles with chicken broth.

For the first time, I ate my birthday meal without the three rag dolls watching.

Sweat and tears ran down my face, and I let them.

The next day, I went to my shift at the coffee shop.

Before I could make it to Lake Serenity, I needed to stock up on painkillers for the road.

I was still a few hundred dollars short.

A few more shifts, and I’d have enough.

The shop was running a promotion outside the mall that day.

My job was to wear a mascot costume and hand out flyers.

The midday sun blazed down.

The heavy polyester suit felt like a furnace.

I finally had to take off the mascot head and squat in a corner to drink some water.

“Hey, Mia?”

That voice.

I turned around.

Ethan, Liam, Derek, and Ashley stood a few yards away.

All three men were loaded down with shopping bags.

Ashley’s shopping bags, obviously.

Ethan looked at me, drenched in sweat.

There was no concern in his eyes.

Only embarrassment and anger.

“Mia, did I not give you enough money? Dressing like this in public—are you trying to make people think we’re neglecting a sick person?”

“If this gets back to my business partners, I’m the one who looks bad.”

I squeezed my water bottle.

“Two thousand a month. Eight hundred goes to rent. The rest barely covers my medication. If I don’t work, how exactly am I supposed to survive?”

Liam shoved me hard.

“How dare you talk to Ethan that way?”

Derek stood beside Ashley, his expression complicated.

Finally, he spoke in that same lecturing tone.

“Mia, you’ve always been bad with money. Ashley doesn’t even get an allowance, and she never complains.”

Liam snorted.

“Derek’s right. If you need more money for medicine, just ask Ethan. But my guess is you’re wasting it on junk and too embarrassed to admit it.”

I opened my mouth, but the words died in my throat.

Ashley didn’t need an allowance.

She had an Amex Platinum card linked to Ethan’s account, with a five-figure monthly limit.

When I needed two thousand dollars, I had to beg and remind him, and it still showed up at the end of the month like a charitable donation.

If I asked for more, would I actually get it?

I already knew the answer.

So I just shoved the mascot head back on.

“Just go. You’re keeping me from work.”

The heavy headpiece clamped down, plunging me into darkness.

Then something slammed into my back.

“Don’t talk to my brothers like that!”

She had shoved me.

With the headpiece on, even a light bump hurt.

This sent me stumbling forward, and my forehead cracked against the hard inner shell.

My vision went black at the edges.

I leaned against the wall, dizzy.

Nobody asked if I was okay.

Ethan grabbed Ashley’s hand first.

“Ash, are you hurt?”

Liam frowned.

“She’s wearing all that padding. Why did you push her? You could’ve hurt yourself.”

Derek soothed her.

“Trying to defend the family, huh, little warrior?”

While they clustered around her, I limped away.

My face was wet.

Sweat, tears—who knew?

By the time my shift ended, my forehead had swollen into a huge purple knot.

But at least I’d gotten paid.

That evening, I tucked three thousand dollars in cash into three layers of wrapping.

The next morning, I took it to the hospital.

I slid it across the counter.

The nurse’s expression changed.

She looked up at me, her eyes cold.

“Where did this come from?”

I blinked.

She slapped the bills back onto the counter.

“You look clean-cut enough. Where did you learn to pass fake bills?”