Page 38 of Overkill

This was not a date.

“I am,” Greg confirmed.

“I think maybe you shouldn’t.” I couldn’t keep the reluctance out of my voice. “I should…”

I let out a long sigh, expelling the delusion of romance and moving on to the task at hand.

“I have to tell them about their dad.”

“Hmm.” He smoothed the hair on his chin with the back of his thumb. Did he realize I’d called him their dad, and not my dad?

Would he suspect me? Was that why his green eyes scanned my face so intently?

“Alright,” he finally said. “Call me. Anytime. Whenever you need something.”

He bit his lip, and I thought he would kiss me. Instead, he stepped out of my way, walking around me to close the truck’s door.

“Thanks again,” I whispered, wanting him to stay a little longer.

He nodded.

“Get on in there, now,” he drawled. “Before that young man grabs a shot gun and comes out to defend your honor.”

I looked back at Marcus scowling with his arms crossed, face red with rage. What the hell was his problem?

“I’ll drive off when you’re inside,” Greg explained. “Just for my own sanity, alright? Today was…rough. I’ll feel better seeing you close and lock the door on me. Lock all the windows and maybe set up a go bag for everyone in case you have to evacuate.”

I huffed a laugh. “We have nowhere to go if we—”

“You let me worry about that.” He turned, returning to the driver side and stepping onto the floor of the cab, hoisting himself up to watch me from above the roof of the black SUV. “Survive long enough to call me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

I waved at him with a little smile.

But I felt it in my body—in the way my stomach dropped—that he was right. I needed to be ready to bolt with Miriam and Marcus at any time. He was nice, but the only person I could really rely on was me.

Greg didn’t know me; he knew I was the girl next door who was the guardian of her little brother and sister. In his eyes, I could have fit as the heroine of a Hallmark movie who met the gruff out-of-towner and fell in love under green and brown leaves as we waited for the beauty of snow…

But what would Greg think if he knew why I was so fucked up? The way he had affected me. Had ruined all of my firsts, poisoning every memory. Even at my happiest, his filthy fingerprints were my skin, in my subconscious, and ready to spoil anything beautiful on the vine. Starting anything with Greg would be like planting anything in soil full of fungus. A waste of time.

“You’re thinking too hard, darling. Head on in, now.” He nodded at the house behind me, and I did as he said, pulling his jacket close and surrounding myself in the comfort of his sandalwood scent

I turned around. My shoulders slumped.

It was time to face the music. To tell them the consequences of what I had done a year ago.

I walked up the creaky steps and over the noisy floorboards, almost stumbling on the one barely nailed to anything anymore, past my brother who fumed as he watched.

I closed the door, I heard the SUV start and drive away.

“Miriam?” I called. “Where are you?”

“What was that?” Marcus demanded. I ignored him.

I did not have the bandwidth to deal with him. It was better if I simply didn’t react to whatever teenage bullshit would spew from his mouth.

“You worked overtime just to go on a date with the out-of-towner?” Marcus went on.

“I’m here,” Miriam said, her light footsteps coming down the stairs. “Everything okay?”