"He's worrying retroactively," JJ supplied, her voice soothing. "Come on, sit with me. Hey, Nicky, do you have any more of that key lime pie? I think we could all use a slice."
"I do," he said, hustling to the kitchen to plate it up.
Jayden glanced at all of them, feeling a little ill at ease. Having people pay attention to him in nice ways was very strange. Sure his father had never outright hit him, but Jayden had still spent years and years in an abusive and neglectful home and it was going to take a long time to overcome that.
"I know," he finally admitted to Jesse quietly. "It matters to me too. But...but I had to pretend it didn't for a lon- No. Not just a long time, for my whole life."