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I was about to reply when I heard my name. My real name.
“Mikayla?”
I whirled around. There was no way.
I had to be imagining this.
But I wasn’t. He was older, dressed in faded jeans and a worn blue tee shirt. His dirty blond hair looked in need of a cut, but it was definitely him.
“Nate.” I swallowed hard as the room began to spin. I thought about denying it, pretending he was mistaken, but there was no point. The way his dark eyes were searching mine, he knew it was me.
“Wow, you two know each other?” Sax asked, surprise resonating in his voice.
I nodded. What the hell was I supposed to say here?
“Yeah. I haven’t seen her for years,” mumbled Nate. He glanced around the room, his hands shoved into his pockets. He looked nervous. Did seeing me bring back the same bad memories for him?
Of course it did. How could it not?
“I have to go,” I blurted out. Before either he or Sax could respond, I was out of there. I rounded the corner of the old building and fell to my knees, breathing heavily.
Holy shit. Bringing my arms up to my head, I held my face in my hands, trying to block out the memories that were flashing through my mind.
“M, are you okay?”
Sax knelt in front of me. His hands rested on my knees, waiting for an answer. Was I okay? No. But I couldn’t tell him that. I couldn’t tell him any of this.
“Come on.” He helped me to my feet and walked me over to his car. “Get in.”
I did, falling into the seat as he strapped the seatbelt around my waist. I closed my eyes and thought back to the last time I’d seen my brother.
“Just leave me alone, Pete,” I muttered, pulling the covers over my head.
“But you promised you’d take me to get some new shoes.” He flipped the covers back and shoved his foot in my face. “See?” he pointed to the huge, gaping hole over his big toe in his only pair of shoes.
“Later,” I mumbled.
He stormed off, swearing at me under his breath. “At least mom gave a shit,” he spat out, slamming my bedroom door with a bang.
“Yeah, well, she obviously doesn’t give enough of a shit to keep us out of foster care,” I replied, not caring that he’d already left.
Four hours later I learned my brother had been beaten to death on his way home from the mall. He was attacked by a gang—some of them younger than he was—for his new shoes.
Nate had been a part of that gang.
“What’s going on, M?” Sax’s gentle voice cut through my thoughts.
Wiping my eyes, I turned to him and shook my head. “I can’t…just give me a few minutes,” I mumbled.
“Sure.” He leaned over and squeezed my leg. “Take all the time you need.”
The rest of the drive back to his place was silent, with me lost in memories of my brother, and Sax doing his best to give me space.
He pulled into his driveway and shut off the car. “Will you come inside?” he asked, reaching for my hand.
“I can’t. I need to do some things. I’ll call you later,” I mumbled. I couldn’t even look at him as I was getting out of the car.
He watched me as I walked to my car and got in. No sooner had I shut the door than the tears really began to flow. Holy crap, of all the people in the world for me to run into, it had to be him?
