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Chapter 1
ELLISON
“I really don’t understand why we’re moving so far away.” I’d repeated the same statement every hour of the last eight during our drive cross country. One day my dad came home and announced he’d gotten a huge promotion and we would be moving. Police Chief. South Vale: AKA, Ellison, somewhere you’ve never heard of. No one asked if moving was what I wanted, no one cared I’d be leaving the only home I’d ever known, not to mention, every single memory of my older brother. Those I couldn’t get back once they were gone.
Starting at a new high school in a new city with absolutely no friends ranked high on the list of the worst things that could happen to a sixteen-year-old girl. That, topped with moving away from the only community I’d ever known, made me feel like my life was over.
My parents didn’t even acknowledge my question, for them, the bottom line was that my father would be making more money. “Fresh start,” was all they kept saying. It really didn’t matter what I thought. It seemed to me like they were running from the pain.
We pulled up to our new house, a quaint Cape Cod that would be very picturesque if I wasn’t in such a shitty mood. The medium-sized grey house with a white picket fence, a giant yard, and cute blue shutters framing all the windows might have lifted my spirits if it hadn’t already felt like a dungeon. It was much nicer than our old house—presumably, this was the kind of house any girl would want to grow up in, but I wanted all of my old and familiar stuff back, including my brother. My life in Hartford was like a pair of worn-in shoes, comfortable, reliable, you knew exactly what to expect and how they’d make you feel. Now I was in uncharted territory and I was alone. Ever since Adler died, half of my heart had been missing. He’d always protected me and made me feel safe. Now I was walking into a new life I didn’t even want to be a part of.
Calvin
“I’m going over to the new neighbors’ place. They have a boy around your age, maybe you want to come with me?” My mother suggested while standing beside me holding a warm casserole.
I’d been in the house all weekend and my reclusiveness was driving her crazy. She was used to my older brother, Fox, who set her bar for normal. Normal to my mother being a boy who stayed out all night getting into trouble. The fact that I preferred to read and would rather play my guitar at home than go out on a Friday night, seemed to disturb her.
That was a normal expectation for being the offspring of the president of a motorcycle club and his old lady. My mother had always been attracted to danger, she liked the fast life and found her niche with my father and his crew. My dad’s whole persona screamed criminal. He looked like an ex-con and the only reason he wasn’t in the slammer was that his club always took the fall for him—the perks of being president.
They probably couldn’t figure out how they ended up with a kid like me. I was quiet and contemplative, smart without trying. I got good grades and adults usually liked me. I’d heard my dad accuse me of being gay when he talked to my mother and thought I wasn’t listening. But he used a slur and threw a beer bottle at the wall that shattered right next to my mom when she tried to defend me. I was definitely not gay, far from it in fact, but it was just as well he thought that so he’d stay the fuck out of my life.
“Aren’t the new neighbors South Vale’s finest?” I asked my mother sarcastically, shocked that she would want to go over there. Shouldn’t she and my delinquent father stay as far away from them as possible? In fact, it would be smart to start packing and up and move to another neighborhood.
“Yes, and being neighborly is normal.”
“Mom, everyone in this town knows who dad is. Believe me, that cop over there knows too. You’re not going to pull the wool over his eyes with a casserole.”
“Your father is a respectable businessman, Calvin. He gives back to the community just like anyone else.”
I cringed inwardly at my mother’s blind faith and easy lies. I guess you made yourself believe whatever you wanted when the truth didn’t suit you. Then again, my mother had been head-over-heels in love with my dad for twenty years, even when he didn’t deserve it.
Just last year, I caught him in his office getting his dick sucked by some club whore. It angered me that my mother was so loyal to him when he wasn’t to her. But that was the way of the club, the president was king and everyone bowed to his authority. All he wanted out of me and my brother Fox was carbon copies of himself, moldable pawns he could lord his king moves over. I’d never been that for him, my goal in life was to be the exact opposite of everything he was.
