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“I’m on a new medication,” she slurs as soon as she opens the door. “It makes me sleepy.”
She hugs me as I walk in, practically falling asleep on my shoulder. I love my dad for paying for treatment for her, but the truth is, doctors put her on meds and never look further than that.
“Aw, Mom,” I say as I help her to the couch. I drop my bag next to it as she lies down.
“I left you the room,” she yawns.
“You didn’t have to. I can take the couch.”
She waves a hand dismissively. "How’s your dad?”
“I don’t want to talk about Dad tonight.” I grab the bottle of pills from the small coffee table in front of her and read the label. “Are you sure you didn’t take too many of these?”
“Just one as indicated,” she tells me as her eyelids start to drop.
'“Okay,” I nod. “Get some rest.” I draw the covers over her frail body and caress her hair until she’s fully asleep. I turn the TV off and tidy the living room.
There are dirty dishes everywhere and piles of clothes on the floor next to the sofa. I wash them up, and that doesn’t wake her up. These meds are strong. It upsets me that instead of giving her proper help, she’s just given something that will make her sleepy and forget how she feels when awake.
I make sure I’ve cleared the floor around the sofa so she doesn’t trip if she wants to use the bathroom during the night. I fill a glass of water and leave it on the coffee table before heading to her room.
It’s not really her room. She says she only sleeps on the sofa when I’m here, but the space is pristine. It’s exactly how I left it last week and the week before. There’s no bed, only a mattress on the floor. The sheets are clean, the shelves empty, and the closet only has two dresses she never wears. Everything else is piled up in the living room. All her stuff is close to her on that sofa so she doesn’t have to move to grab anything.
I turn on the small lamp on the floor by the mattress and throw on a hoodie and clean panties before getting into bed. It’s only a thin sheet since my mom uses the thicker cover. I regret not having grabbed proper pajamas.
I look at my phone and realize I never answered Caden’s text earlier. I was too mad at him for attacking Xi. Now I don’t know how I’m feeling anymore. Should I warn him that danger is coming? But then that would be betraying my family, my crew.
I find his contact in my phone and my thumb hovers over his name.
A small voice at the back of my head tells me he would do something if the roles were reversed.
No.
I can’t do this. Not for him.
I go to Instagram and click on his account. The telltale colored circle around his profile picture tells me he’s posted a story recently and I’m dying to know what he’s up to. Just to make sure he’s safe.
I click, not giving a fuck that he’ll see I spied on him. He’s at an illegal car race in Silver Falls. He’s filming Jade in a tuned-up car. She’s doing some sort of hand signs I don’t get and then points her tongue at the camera. In the next story, her car is speeding down a long road, followed by another. It was posted ten minutes ago.
He’s fine. There’s no need to worry because he’s not even on the North Shore right now.
I sigh in relief and put my phone beside the lamp before turning it off. It’s late, and I just want today to be over. I close my eyes but can’t find sleep for a while. Eventually, my body gives up on worrying about Caden, my family, and the feud that will forever separate the Kings from NSC.
16
BILLIE
Crazy - Jake Daniels
The sound of the mobile home’s window being opened is what wakes me. It’s not glass, and the plexiglass is old, so it always makes a loud squeaky sound when it slides open.
I sit up in bed as my heart drops, but I recognize all too well the man who’s now slipping through.
Once he’s fully inside, Caden faces me. The light of the moon is behind him and I can’t make out his features.
“What the hell are you doing?” I say quietly. “My mom is sleeping. How did you even know where I was?”
He takes a step forward in complete silence and doesn’t reply. I don’t need him to, though. Fury and violence emanate from him, and my heart accelerates as I plaster myself against the wall behind me. The sheet drops to my waist, and I think I notice his eyes taking me in. I’m not sure, since it’s too dark.
