But the closer Alyssa got to the door she knew.
She knew.
Her mother had broken her promise. Hell, the woman had broken every other one she'd ever given Alyssa, why not this one too?
Skidding to a stop, she stared through her storm door at the girl on her porch.
Jesus, Jack was right. She did look like Alyssa. And Alyssa looked like her mother.
Theirmother if what she was thinking was correct.
There was no denying the young girl at her door could be her sister. The question was why was she here? How did she get here?
She scanned the area around the teenager.
And where the fucking hell was their mother?
"Hey." Christ. She didn't even know the girl's name. Stepping forward she pushed the door open. "Come in."
It took the girl a few seconds to accept Alyssa's invitation with a small nod and when she glanced behind herself, Alyssa worked out why.
"Are those yours?" she asked trying to keep the dismay out of her voice, the shock and anger from her face. Stacked at the bottom of the three steps to her porch were a small suitcase, duffle bag, and backpack. None of them looked new. "You should bring those inside."
"I'll grab them." Jack put his hands on Alyssa's shoulders and gave them a squeeze. He lowered his head until his mouth brushed her ear and whispered, "Do you want me to go?"
Alyssa opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Why would he stay? They weren't in a relationship. They hooked up when it suited them, and they'd only been doing that a few months. And if this girl's appearance at her door meant what Alyssa thought it did, then they wouldn't be hooking up anymore.
"I'm sure you've got stuff to do," she murmured.
Jack leaned around to look her in the eye and frowned. "Nothing important."
"I need to deal with this." She didn't say on her own, but the tone of her voice implied it, and what fuckbuddy wanted to get involved in family drama anyway? And this was definitely going to be drama. There wasn't anything else when it came to Gina Drummond.
"Sure. Okay. I'll get out of your way," he said, although he didn't sound happy about it. "I'll bring those bags in before I leave."
She could tell Jack's unhappiness came from her dismissal, but Alyssa didn't—couldn't—care about him right now. There was a young girl on her doorstep who showed every sign of being abandoned.
Alyssa's chest ached. She knew how that felt. She'd been four the first time Gina had dumped her into the system. There had been many times between then and her eighteenth birthday when Gina had dropped her off only to clean up enough to pull her back out.
She had hated thosecleantimes the most.
Her mother was not a stable influence by any stretch of the imagination. As far as she knew, Gina had never hit hard drugs, which was a miracle considering she'd definitely sold herself on more than one occasion for money.
No, Gina Drummond's addiction of choice was alcohol.
At least it had been.
From her spot on the porch, the girl—her sister—watched Jack carry her bags into the house with suspicious eyes. Eyes the same shape and color as the ones Alyssa saw every time she looked in a mirror. In spite of her earlier agreement, her sister—Jesus, she had a sister!—seemed reluctant to come inside.
"Are you hungry?" Alyssa asked, hoping to entice her across the threshold.
Shaking her head, she kept her narrowed eyes glued to Jack as he disappeared down the hall toward the bedrooms.
Was she afraid of him? How many men had she had to watch walk through their mother's door? "That's Jack. He's a friend."
Her gaze snapped to Alyssa's, disbelief and accusation blazing bright in hazel eyes identical to her own as she scanned Alyssa's robe covered body. "Right. Afriend."
The way her lip curled over the last word told Alyssa everything she'd been thinking—assuming—was correct.
