We stood there in my kitchen, the silence stretching out between us. I should have offered him something to drink.Should have said thank you. Should have done anything other than stare at the way his shoulders filled the space, the way his presence made the room feel smaller and safer all at once. I was really losing it.
Caleb looked up. “He’s on his way now.”
A few minutes later, the front door slammed open and Lucas stormed in. He stopped when he saw Caleb. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Lucas—" I started.
"Are you spying on us?" Lucas's voice got louder. "You're a cop, aren't you? This is?—"
"I'm not a cop," Caleb said, his voice calm and steady.
Then what are you?"
"Someone trying to keep your sister safe."
Lucas's face twisted. "Safe from what?"
"From the people you've been working for."
The color drained from my brother’s face. For a split second, he looked exactly like the scared kid I'd found sitting in the social worker's office last year, the one who'd just lost his parents and didn't know how he was going to get through the day. Then the anger came roaring back.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know enough."
"Leave us alone."
"Lucas!" I stepped between them, my heart racing. "Stop."
"He's ruining everything!"
"What is he ruining?" I demanded. "What have you been doing?"
Lucas's hands clenched into fists. Then he spun and stormed down the hall. His bedroom door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls.
I stood there, shaking.
"I'm sorry," Caleb said.
"Don't." My voice came out sharper than I meant it to. "Just—don't."
He nodded and moved toward the door. Before he left, he turned back. "I'll be across the street tonight. You'll see my truck. If anything feels off, call me. Any hour."
"You don't have to?—"
"Yes, I do."
He pulled the door closed behind him, and I sank into a chair at the kitchen table. I didn't know what my brother had been doing. Didn't know who he'd been talking to, what he'd seen, what kind of danger he'd dragged into our lives. And that terrified me.
Hours later, after a dinner Lucas refused to eat and homework I couldn't focus on, I wandered to the window. Cracking the curtains, I stared at Caleb's truck parked across the street. He was sitting there, just like he said he would be.
I grabbed two bottles of soda and crossed the road before I could talk myself out of it.
He saw me coming and climbed out of the truck.
“I thought you might want something to drink,” I said, handing him one of the bottles.
"Thanks."
