“Stay the fuck away from my sister,” I snap, shoving him again.
“Are you serious right now?” Gage sneers at me. “While you were off sucking your boyfriend’s dick, your ex-best friend’s been fucking your sister.”
His words stun me. I’m too busy trying to understand what the hell he’s talking about to even argue about his barb about Alis and me.
“What?” I growl, taking a menacing step forward.
“Damon. Remember him? That’s right, you dropped him along with everyone else the moment you decided to turn gay and fuck that loser—”
I shove him again. “Get the fuck out of my face.”
Gage laughs and shrugs. “Ask ’em.”
Like heat-seeking missiles, my eyes cut through the crowd to Damon. His entire body is tense, guilt written all over his face.
I’m going to kill him.
I start forward, but a big ass fucker grabs my arm. Snarling, I glower at Leon over my shoulder. Beside him, Nae shakes her head at me.
“Stop, Canyon. You’re going to get in trouble,” she says with a disapproving frown. “Come on. Go to class before a teacher sees.”
Alis appears next to Carrie, whose face is bright red with embarrassment. She shoots me a scathing glare that I ignore. I’m not going to feel guilty about wanting to protect her from those assholes.
Even Damon.
Fucking traitor.
Alis’s dark stare penetrates me. In one simple look, I read him so easily. He’ll talk to her and calm her down. Make sure she’s safe. Get to the bottom of this.
Nae drags me off toward our next class and away from the fuckfaces Gage and Damon. It isn’t until we’re in another hallway, she stops me.
“What’s going on?” she demands. “You’re upset. Talk to me.”
I pull her to me for a hug and then mutter out every horrible thing that happened this weekend. By the end of it, she’s hugging me, and promising things will get better.
She’s wrong.
So far, they only seem to be getting worse.
I mean, what more can fucking happen at this point?
Alister
He’s losing it.
I’d seen it happening all day, little by little. Bit by bit. He finally blew the lid off his anger, going off on Gage in the hallway at school.
I wanted to go to him.
Fuck, how I did.
Luckily, Leon and Naomi were there to pull him back. Besides, I was needed to deal with Carrie. She was pissed and humiliated at what went down. Her brother nearly fought his friends, defending her honor like he was some sort of medieval prince.
When I finally got her alone, she burst into tears and sobbed against my shirt. What Gage said was true. She slept with Damon. They’d kissed and flirted for weeks in secret, but after seeing her mom this weekend, she stayed the night with Damon and had sex with him. Ryan thought she was spending the night with Paige to avoid the police and chaos at our house.
Now that we’re back home, she refuses to speak to her brother and has been hiding in the guest room. Ryan and Dad couldn’t even coax her out for dinner. They’d ended up letting her eat in her room, thinking she was still upset over her mother. Neither of them knows it’s because her sexual encounter was blabbed to the entire school and nearly caused a fight between her brother and his friends.
Canyon is still a wreck.
Broody and edgy and exhausted.
His lips have been perpetually downturned in a vicious pout since the encounter this afternoon. If we didn’t have our dads for an audience, I would’ve kissed away his unhappiness hours ago.
“It’s a great facility. They’re going to move her there tomorrow,” Ryan says, dragging my attention from Canyon, who’s sprawled out on the recliner, to the love seat Ryan’s sitting on with Dad.
“How long will she have to stay there?” I ask, my eyes once again drifting to Canyon.
If I didn’t think it’d get me disowned and kicked out, I’d crawl into his lap, chasing away all the tension in his body with kisses along the side of his neck.
“However long it takes,” Ryan says. “The heroin was something she’d only tried twice, according to her. But she did admit to abusing her prescription medication. The facility she’s going to focuses heavily on the counseling aspect.” He has the sense to look guilty since, technically, he sent her down this path. “She wants to get better for Canyon and Carrie.”
Canyon’s nostrils flare, and his jaw clenches. “I’m going to bed.”
I wish I could follow after him, but that’d be super fucking obvious. Instead, I bring my attention back to Dad and Ryan.
“Did she ever apologize for…” Kicking Canyon out? Treating him like shit? Breaking his heart?
Ryan nods, and he purses his lips. “She did, but Canyon isn’t easily swayed. It’ll take some time. Right now, the focus is on getting her well. Then, she can go back to being the mother they know and love. I’m confident they’ll work it out.”
They both get up, retiring to their room as well, and Ginger and Nutmeg scamper off behind them. My phone buzzes in my pocket, making me wonder if Canyon is texting me.
Unknown Number: Step out back. Alone.
My blood runs cold at the text. The guy who admitted to texting me is dead.
Me: Who the fuck is this?
Unknown Number: You know who it is. I think you’ve always known, Son.
No.
Numbing fear rolls over me like a fog, engulfing me. I gasp for breath as I try to make sense of the text. It can’t be. It’s not him. Not Colin. Not my…real father. My throat aches to yell out for Dad or Ryan or Canyon to help me. All I can do is stare at my phone as the dots begin moving again.
Unknown Number: I’m at the back door. Let me in.
At the back door.
Oh, God.
I’m once again a small boy, overwhelmed by the scent of my mother’s booze and the lingering stink of her cigarettes. The memories are so real I can hear the muted squeaks of the mice within the walls. I can feel the wetness of my piss-soaked pajama pants.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It’s soft enough Ginger and Nutmeg don’t hear from Dad’s bedroom.
He’s here. He’s really here.
Absently, I tug at the silver chain hanging from my neck. Before Mom left me for good with “Uncle Quinn,” she’d unhooked the chain, slipped it on me, and ruffled my hair in one of the rare displays of affection from her I can remember. That was it. The only thing I had to remember her by.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Unknown Number: Let me in, or I’ll force my way in. The choice is yours. Either cause a scene or don’t.
Me: Why? Are you going to hurt me?
Unknown Number: I’ll never forgive her for making you fear me. Open the door, Alister.
“Get me my money, Tammy,” Colin says, staring at me with an angry scowl, “or I’ll take it out on the boy.” He flips out a sharp knife with his other hand, bringing it to my chest. “I could take payment by carving out his fucking heart.”
I rise on shaky legs, trying desperately to shake the memories off, shocked at the fact I’m really going to do this. I’m really going to open the door and face Colin—the man with the same eyes as me but who always scared the shit out of me. He makes it sound as though Mom always filled my head with the fear of him, but that’s not true. The man was terrifying anytime I had to encounter him. Indecision wars through me, my hand frozen on the door handle.