Valerie Medina was my best friend from college.

Honest, well-spoken, and logical to a fault, Val was simply... badass. She sported almost as many tats as she did piercings, and I adored her like a sister.

Geographically, Val and I parted ways after graduation. I went back to Phoenix. She now resided in San Francisco with her wife, Hee-Young.

At the moment, I craved Val's company on a cellular level. In many ways, I trusted her more than my own flesh and blood sister. Unfortunately, I couldn't very well hop on a plane within such short notice, so I was forced to settle for a FaceTime date.

My best friend and I didn't talk very often, but—whenever shit hit the fan in our lives—we always called each other first.

Val had never met Gray in the flesh before, but she knew a thing or two about my messy history with him.

She was also well acquainted with Lydia.

If there was anyone in my circle who might be able to help me sort through the chaos of my current predicament: It was Val.

On the phone, I told her all about the shitshow that had recently taken over my life.

When I finally finished, still sniffling and choking on my own tears, my best friend didn't mince words. In typical Val fashion, she straight up told me that I had a problem with setting boundaries.

"Gracie, you gotta stop letting people walk all over you. The best way to weed out toxic assholes in your life is to start by saying 'no' to them!"

Her words hit me like a slap in the face. Did she just indirectly call my sister a toxic asshole?

Honestly, I didn't know how to respond to Val.

Deep down, my gut told me that maybe she was onto something. For as long as I could remember, I simply didn't know how to say 'no' to my sister. In fact, no one in our family ever said 'no' to Lydia. Not my mom. Not my dad. Certainly not me.

I mean, I knew how to argue with Lydia. I knew how to plead with her. But, in the end, I never had the heart to turn Lydia away when she really, really wanted something...

Lydia was family. Family was everything.

I sighed into the phone. "Easier said than done, Val. You know how Lydia can be when her mind is made up."

"Forget Lydia. She's just acting like an overbearing bitch as usual—"

"Val!"

"What? It's true!"

"Be nice, she's my sister..."

"Okay, fine," Val grumbled. "Let's look at this from a different angle. What do you want, Gracie? What would be the ideal outcome for you in this situation? What would give you peace of mind?"

I grew quite still. Those were some damn good questions.

What did I want?