“Do you always call your mother by first name?”
“Do you always answer a question with a question?” My gaze zeroed in on the slight tic in his jaw. “Is there something wrong with wanting to see my mother?”
“Of course not.” He gave me another empty smile. “But as I said, she’s resting.”
I crossed my arms. “So?”
“Why don’t we get you settled before we bother your mother?” He spun around and walked towards the house, waving at me to follow. “Come. I’ll introduce you to my sons.”
He had sons? Great.
Teenage boys were one of two things. Dweebs or dicks. If their father was anything to go by, then I was guessing I wouldn’t be finding any pocket protectors tucked into their shirts.
Angus pushed open the front door and gestured for me to enter.
“Welcome home, Sydney.”
Ominous much?
Brushing the thought away, I huffed out a breath. It was just my imagination. Wouldn’t be the first time I looked for problems where there were none. I was convinced my second foster home was run by vampires. In my defense, the adults in that house didn’t get out of bed until the sunset.
I sighed and bent down to scoop a box off the ground.
“Don’t worry about those.” Angus stopped me. “I’ll have someone bring them in.”
My eyes tipped down to my tiny pile at my feet. It wasn’t much, but every single possession I owned was in those boxes. I didn’t like leaving them unattended.
Stop being paranoid, Syd.
I suppose I should give him a chance before I condemned him. Angus hadn’t been rude or unwelcoming at all. Maybe this time, when I walked through those doors, I’d find an actual family. How terrifying was that?
Those first few steps were some of the hardest I’d ever taken. Every time I lifted my foot, I felt the heaviness of doubt weighing me down. I paused before crossing that barrier and looked up at Angus.
He smiled and nodded for me to go inside.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad?
With one last steadying breath, I stepped over the threshold. For a few seconds, I thought I was back in a group home, minus the marble flooring and fancy furniture, of course.
In the corner, next to a large staircase, were the tangled limbs of two teenage boys. One had the other in a headlock, though it was kind of hard to tell if they were two people or one wrestling some weird bendable mirror. They were literal carbon copies of each other. Well, at least their blonde hair was. I couldn’t really see their faces.
“Stop it,” one yelled while swatting at the other as he stuck a finger in his ear.
“You gonna do it?”
I’d seen ‘the make him do it’ game before. It was a favorite amongst the boys at the group homes. Guess boys were idiots no matter where you went.
“Fine,” one growled and gave the other a shove. “I’ll show the bitch around.”
Did I say idiots? I meant dicks.
Angus cleared his throat. They froze and turned their heads in our direction.
The first thing I noticed was how the sparkling blue color of their eyes matched Angus’s. The second was how quickly they snapped to attention.
“Sydney, these are my sons.” Angus sighed and waved at them. “Wyatt and Magnus.”
I could spot differences now. One had a couple of tattoos on his left arm and a grumpy expression.
