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I let my head dip back and blew out a frustrated breath. Why? Why did he have to be like this? But then…at least he was home half the time.
I twisted the cap on the bottle and took a huge gulp of the water, grimacing at how warm it was but grateful for something rather than nothing. It was a good job that we didn’t keep normal things in our refrigerator, like cheese and meat.
“I’ll take a look tomorrow before class.”
Emerson pushed off the doorframe and stalked toward me. “I don’t know why you bother going to college.” A muscle in his jaw ticked, probably fed up with having the same conversation over and over again. “I told you I’d take care of you.”
I backed up a couple of steps and stopped when my ass hit the counter. The L-shaped units covere
d half of the space, leaving just enough room for an apparently broken refrigerator and a small table complete with three chairs.
“I know,” I ventured, clearly seeing his pupils that were twice the size they should be now that he was closer. “But I want to go to college.” I kept my voice even, not wanting to set him off, but trying to keep a part of myself in the process.
“You don’t need to go.” His voice was deeper now, the frustration becoming more evident. All he wanted was for me to stay home and become one of his crew. That way, he could control what I did and who I saw.
He hadn’t always been like this, not that first couple of years when Dad and I first moved in. I’d been twelve that year, and having a protective older stepbrother who was four years older than me was something I relished. But it hadn’t lasted long. I’d quickly realized that he didn’t want to protect me—he wanted to control me.
I may have lived in a place that never felt like home, surrounded by people who were strangers, but that didn’t mean I had to stay here. I had a goal, a promise I’d made myself the first time my dad and his mom had gotten high and left us for three weeks. Those three weeks when I was fourteen had been the wake-up call I’d needed. Five years later and I was closer to that goal than ever. I could nearly touch it if I stretched far enough.
“I want to, though,” I told him, for what had to have been the thousandth time. “I enjoy it.”
“You—”
“Hut?”
We both froze at the intruder’s voice, my eyes widening as Emerson’s narrowed. Everyone knew not to disturb him when he was talking to me. It was a rule I hated more than anything else in this world. It didn’t matter what was happening, or what he was doing, they all turned a blind eye. Every single one of them.
Control.
He controlled them all.
I flicked my gaze over to the doorway and frowned at the newcomer. His dark-blue jeans fit him perfectly and trailed up to a pristine white T-shirt. I didn’t think anything could be that white if it weren’t brand new. Tattoos trailed from his wrist and up his arm. I followed their path and continued to his face. Full lips were encased in day-old scruff that he ran his palm over as he met my gaze. The chocolate brown of his irises rendered me speechless, and I forgot for a moment who I was and where I was standing.
“What do you want, Brody?”
Brody?
“Just wanted to let you know that Griff called.”
Emerson’s hand gripped on to my arm, his head coming closer as he growled, “This conversation isn’t over.”
I stayed silent and raised a brow, wanting to tell him that it was never over and that he’d never stop me from reaching my end goal.
* * *
BRODY
I shouldn’t have gotten up and stalked into the kitchen. I should have ignored the girl who’d walked into the house five minutes ago, but I couldn’t stop myself. The moment she stepped inside, I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off her. There was a strength hidden behind her eyes that hadn’t been there in the photos.
They said a picture could tell a thousand words, but in this case, it hadn’t told more than ten. She may have been his stepsister, and a possible in for me, but the photo hadn’t told me what her face was saying right now as I stared at her leaning against the counter.
Emerson “Hut” wasn’t moving, and if the grip he had on her arm was anything to go by, he didn’t want to move away. She was his weakness. We all had one. It was just about finding it and exploiting it.
“What did he say?” Hut asked, still staring at the girl.
“Wants to know when you want to meet.”
It was all an illusion, every second of it, but I didn’t know why I’d chosen that exact moment to tell him something I could have said an hour ago when I first got here. Maybe I was biding my time?
