“Talk later,” he calls out behind me, but I’m in too much of a hurry to reply. Fuck me. Another reason to hate Wren Delaney. If anything goes wrong because she distracted me from what I needed to do, she’s going to regret ever being born.
I have to curse myself as I slide behind the wheel of my truck and pull out of the parking lot with the tires squealing. A horn blares behind me when I cut off another car as I turn onto the road. Any other time I might flip them off or at leastshow my face so they’d know who they made the mistake of honking at, but I don’t have the time. Some things are more important.
Please, let me get there in time.She can’t go home alone today. I won’t let her. There’s a reason I scheduled my classes around the time my little sister gets off the school bus. There is no way to predict what kind of mood Dad’s going to be in from one day to the next. Hell, from one hour to the next.
The past couple of days, he’s been worse than usual. Sort of like a volcano before it erupts. There’s an unsettled time beforehand. Little earthquakes, warnings. He’s been having those, and I think I know why. I’ve heard him talking with a couple of his guys about a meeting that’s supposed to be happening soon with the other four families that rule Wicked Falls. He’s stressed, hoping this is when he’ll get a bigger cut of the town instead of running the smallest, least important section. While the rest of the five families not only have bigger territory they also have important positions in the community. My dad simply has properties he is in charge of. It's plenty lucrative to have us live in a huge house and never want for anything, but that was never enough for my dad.
Slamming the heel of my hand against the horn, I swerve to get around an asshole who decided all of a sudden they want to turn in front of me. “Fuck off!” the dude shouts, but I can’t worry about that right now. The bus is supposed to show up any minute. I’m racing the clock.
By the time I pull in, a few spots down from the corner, her bus is sliding into view up ahead. I fall back against the seat and release a deep breath, a little sweaty around the collar of my T-shirt. Kids start pouring off the bus, but I take these few seconds to get myself under control. I don’t want Tia seeing me like this.
As always, the sight of her bouncing down the steps and talking a mile a minute to her friends makes my heart swell. She’s getting so damn big. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to protect her from life. I only know I want to. She deserves to be innocent as long as possible.
When she doesn’t notice me, I tap the horn to get her attention. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t swell up anymore. She breaks out a big, toothy smile, and I have to smile back. The kid has no idea how she saves my life sometimes.
“Hey, nugget,” I call out as she comes my way. “Did you have a good day?”
“How come you always call me that?” She rolls her eyes all dramatically before climbing in. I wait until she buckles her seatbelt before pulling out. “Try eating something besides chicken nuggets all the time, and I’ll call you something else.”
“Like what? Spaghetti?” She rolls her eyes again, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.
“How was your day?” I ask. If she thinks there’s anything weird about me picking her up from the bus stop, she doesn’t show it. She never has. It could be she’s just glad to have somebody looking out for her. God knows our father can’t be bothered.
“Fine, I guess.” She stares out the window next to her without saying anything else.
“You think you’re going to like your teacher?” When she looks at me in therearview mirror, I shrug. “That’s what I was always worried about when I started a new year at school. If I was gonna like the teacher or not.”
“She’s okay. I think it’ll be fine. I have lots of forms that have to be signed.” She looks out the window again, biting her lip, and it’s not fair. A kid her age shouldn’t have to worry about shit like that. Not wanting to approach her own father to have him sign her forms at the beginning of the year. That was the kind of thing Mom would do back in the day.
“I’ll get it figured out. Don’t worry.” Even if it means forging his signature. The less I have to talk to him, the happier we all are.
At least she seems happier by the time we get home. It’s the biggest house on this side of town, for sure, but it’s nothing compared to what the other families live in. Our mansion is more the size of a captain’s or close advisor’s. Another little insult Dad deals with every day.
Some people get welcomed at the door when they come home from school. Not us. Instead, the sound of shattering glass greets us when we step into the tiled hall, followed by a scream that could come from a rabid animal. “Motherfucker! Who the fuck do they think they’re dealing with? Who the fuck do they think they are?”
Dammit. Why does he have to be this way when she gets home from school? Who the hell would want to come home to this? It was bad enough when Mom was alive—and now I understand how much she went through, hiding everything she could from me when I was Tia’s age. How sometimes, when she would be breathless and laugh a little too loud or get a little overexcited over going swimming out back, she was really trying to cover up for him by distracting me. Because that’s exactly what I want to do now, for my sister’s sake.
Her little hand finds mine and squeezes tight. The lava bubbling in my chest cools and hardens a little, but not by much. I can’t be angry in front of her. The kid needs to have at least one person in her life who doesn’t lose his shit in a drunken rage.
“Who the fuck do they think I am? Have they forgotten?” Something else crashes in the living room. I’m torn between wanting to see what he’s doing and wanting to keep Tia safe. Really, there isn’t much of a decision to be made. He’s on the phone, shouting and snarling and most likely drunk by now. The way he slurs confirms this for me, and it makes me sick. Of all the times for him to get his shit together, if only for Tia’s sake, but he couldn’t be bothered.
“They had a meeting without me? They fucking made sure I knew it was happening, then they didn’t invite me?” I cringe when he lets out a roar. “I’m sick of this shit, I’m telling you! How much longer do they think I’m going to put up with this? How much more am I supposed to take?”
“Briggs?” It’s Tia’s worried whisper that pulls me back into myself and tells me what I need to do.
“Come with me.” I put her on my left-hand side with an arm around her shoulders, keeping her close to me. The vaulted archway leading into the living room is on my right. He doesn’t even notice us, just continues storming around the room,his shoes crunching broken glass. Whatever he was drinking is now splashed across one wall, dripping down the silk wallpaper Mom used to love.
I get Tia to the bottom of the stairs before letting her go, giving her a gentle push. “Go straight up to your room,” I tell her, “and lock the door. Don’t come out until I tell you to. Got it?” She gives me a wide-eyed nod before taking off at a run, her feet pounding the stairs while Dad screams out his frustration and his rage.
All I can do is sink onto the stairs, settling in with my arms folded over my knees while the storm rages on.
Chapter 3
Wren
My eyelids areheavy on the morning of my second day as an Elite University student. I can barely pry them open—when I do, the mess around me is a reminder of the long night I had.
After all the noise last night, I’m surprised I was able to get any sleep at all. Not that Buck means to be a loud, drunken pain in the ass. That’s just how he is. It’s like the quieter he tries to be, the louder he is. All the drinking doesn’t help, but his heart’s in the right place.
