My phone vibrates in my hoodie pocket with a new text.
Chris:
Where are you?
I close the chat without responding. Things back home have been worse than usual.
Chris didn’t return for two nights, and when he finally showed up, we had a huge argument and said things neither of us meant. We haven’t spoken much since.
He’s checking up on me, though, to make sure I don’t stay over at Kane’s. I almost feel like I’m under house arrest in the evenings when his friends pull up in their beat-up cars in our driveway. I’m sure there’s an agreement I’m unaware of.
Operation ‘don’t let Jessica leave the house.’
Urgh.
“Is everything okay?” Kane asks.
I shove my phone into my pocket. “Yeah, it was just my brother checking in on me.”
“Is he still giving you a hard time?” His strained voice makes me glance at him before I refocus on the warehouse to our left.
“He’s worried about me, is all.”
I’m not sure how much I believe that. He’s worried, yes. Mostly, he’s angry with the world and himself, and he’s taking it out on me.
Kane’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel. He’s focusing on his fingers like he has laser vision. “He doesn’t want us together.”
It’s not a question, so I stay quiet, watching him tighten his grip on the expensive leather.
“He’s not a bad guy,” I say quietly. “He’s just trying to protect me.”
Kane huffs a bitter chuckle and lets go of the wheel to rub his lips while gazing at the stretch of blacktop.
For some reason, my brother’s opinion matters to me. Chris can be an asshole, but he’s my family.
If life has taught me anything lately, it’s that it can rip away the people we love the most in a heartbeat. We don’t have forever.
“He’s scared,” I tell Kane, gazing down at my lap so I don’t have to look him in the eye. “I mean, it makes sense. Our mom is dying. Dad is a deadbeat who never lifts a finger to help. The responsibility for providing for us now falls on Chris. Overnight, he had to step up despite his own grief and give up his dreams and ambitions.”
I shrug like it’s no big deal, but it is.
It’s so unfair that he had to sacrifice so much of himself to keep us afloat.
“We’re not exactly strapped for cash.”
“I can get him a job?—”
“I don’t want your money, Kane.”
My eyes fall shut.
Dammit.
I didn’t mean for it to come out so harshly, but I already owe him too much. He pays for my Mom’s medical treatment, which I haven’t thanked him for yet.
I’m still in the dark, as far as he’s aware. I don’t know how to bring it up. I don’t know anything anymore.
Except for one thing: I can’t ask him for any more favors. I can’t get my family indebted to a Ravencourt. We have survived all these years on our own, like everyone on the north side of Bleakmoor.
