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“Huh? Oh, my bad. I’m working, you know how it is. Friday will probably work.”
Fighting to keep my voice neutral, I ground my teeth. “Friday is okay, as long as you don’t mind me being there after lunch. I have something to do in the morning.”
“Sounds good. Just text me when you’re on your way. Hey, I gotta go.”
He didn’t even give me a chance to reply before he shouted something on the other end and hung up. I was probably more annoyed than I needed to be, but when he called, I got my hopes up. I was being stupid, and I took out my frustrations on my burrito, inhaling the thing while putting something gorey on the tv. The boredom was starting to get to me.
It was still early when I got ready for bed. Nothing was keeping my attention on the tv, so I figured I’d go read or something until I fell asleep. I was just brushing my teeth when my phone rang. I saw the name on the screen and a frustrated groan escaped me before I answered it.
“What?”
“Samantha. I’m so glad you picked up.”
I rolled my eyes, spitting toothpaste into the sink. “What do you want, Jess?”
My older sister’s voice sounded plastic and fake as she wheedled me. “Oh, come on, Samantha. Don’t be like that. We haven’t spoken in a long while.”
“That was by design. I’m a little busy right now, so…”
“Busy doing what?”
The suspicion in her voice pissed me off. I didn’t speak to my family, not after what they did, and her pretending like she cared only served to remind me of the events that lead up to me cutting them off.
“None of your business. Are you going to tell me what you want, or can I go?”
Her voice lost some of the fakeness and she finally spit out her purpose for calling. “I’m only trying to help, Samantha. Your… history caused a lot of pain and embarrassment for our family. I’m trying to move past that and extend an olive branch. Even though you should be the one doing this.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Are you serious right now?”
She ground her teeth so loudly I could hear it over the phone. “Yes, I–”
“Save it. Who put you up to this?”
She hesitated long enough to confirm my suspicions. She wasn’t calling to reconnect like she said. Someone wanted her to make this phone call and the list of people who would give a shit was miniscule.
“Any day now,” I growled when she was quiet for too long.
She made an irritated noise. “Fine. There’s a new pastor at church. He is big on helping those who can’t help themselves and has been pushing us to reach out to the black sheep and calling them home. You need to come back to church so we can move past your sins and fix our reputation. You owe us.”
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Out of everyone in my family, Jessica was the worst. She was the first person to blame me when our parents were killed. She said since they were coming to pick me up, it was my fault. And when the pastor tried to coerce me into sleeping with him to ‘atone for my sins’, she refused to believe me and told everyone I came on to him. She turned my family against me, the church against me, demanding that they not give me the time of day. In one of the most difficult times in my life, she tossed me to the curb.
“I’m serious, Samantha. No matter what I do at church, I’m constantly being bugged about what happened to you. I’m tired of hearing about it. Just show up and be freaking normal for once so I can–”
“Go fuck yourself,” I snarled. It silenced her. Jessica was a very religious person, especially after our parents died, and cursing was a big no-no in her world. Before she could start again on what I owed her, I continued.
“I don’t owe you shit. Maybe the reason you can’t get any headway at church is because they all know what a complete piece of shit you are. I was homeless because of you. I had no support, no one to turn to, not even a freaking roof over my head or food in my belly. I’ve got no interest in helping you or going to your stupid church. Tell your pastor to mind his fucking business and don’t call me again.”
I hung up, glaring at the screen of my phone before losing my temper and throwing it at the wall. It hit with a loud thud and dropped to the ground. The fact that I would probably need to buy a new one only pissed me off more. This was why I avoided her phone calls. I spiraled every damn time and lost my temper. I couldn’t afford to be breaking my things just because my sister was a raging bitch.
A wave of heartache swept through me, and I clenched my jaw against the urge to cry. No. I was not going to let Jessica and her big fat mouth knock me down. I stared at the wall for a while, an internal war in my head as the monsters that I constantly battled tried again to sway me. I hated that after this long, I still couldn’t control my thoughts after speaking to her. When I couldn’t shut it down with the normal tactics, I turned and went back to my phone, grimacing at the shattered screen. At least I could still use it tonight. I tapped carefully around the cracks, putting it on speaker so I wouldn’t have to put the shattered glass against my face.
“Hello?”
“I need you.”
CHAPTER 7
