My car eased upto the curb outside my father’s new home where I’d stay this weekend.
The court forced me to come here two weekends each month. I followed their orders because I didn’t want my actions to blow back on my mom. She’d already been through enough.
This was the fourth month enduring the torture, counting the minutes until I could leave my complicated past behind. And because it was December, I would have to behere,in this house, the entire weekend. No escaping to a baseball game, which usually gave me a reprieve from the newly formed family I wanted nothing to do with.
I trudged up the driveway, duffle bag on one shoulder, baseball bag on the other. I let out a sigh of relief to see the dark and empty house. They reserved Friday nights for family dinner, and with me arriving later than usual, I thought maybe they’d gone out to eat. I turned my key in the lock and pushed open the door.
“Hello?” I called, praying no one answered.
When there was no response, I dropped my bags in the doorway and headed to the kitchen. My dad’s six-pack of beer stared at me when I opened the fridge.What the hell? He was too in the doghouse to say shit to me, and I wanted something to help me survive the weekend.
I climbed the steps to the guest room.This is your room, Nathan,my father told me my first weekend here. He’d given me a tour, as if I hadn’t been in this house thousands of times with Brenna. I knew exactly where the guest room was—right across the hall from her bedroom.
I would never consider it my room.
Brenna’s door flung open. Her hands rapidly smoothed her hair as she stepped into the hallway. No matter how many times I ordered my brain not to react to her, there was always a swooping in my gut at first glance. My eyes hungrily took her in, starting at her feet, covered in thick fluffy blue socks, then the leggings molded to her toned legs, to the Owls sweatshirt two sizes too large for her.
Myfucking sweatshirt.
Did she forget it was mine? Or had she kept it because she missed me?
The sound of a belt stole my attention, and my eyes fell to who stood behind her. My ribs squeezed tight. I wanted them to break, to give me something to focus on other than the walloping pain in my chest.
“Nathan,” Brenna breathed. She subtly tried to close the door behind her, to shield Derek, but she couldn’t hide what I’d already seen. “What are you doing here?”
I glowered at her. “Third Friday of the month,sis.”
Her eyes shot daggers at me. She hated the nickname. Our parents weren’t even married, but it seemed inevitable now that they lived together and had a kid. Maybe if she hadn’t moved on from me so quickly, we’d be navigating how to date while our parents married. People in this stupid small town would talk. It would’ve tested us, but maybe we could’ve found a way to deal with it.
We’d never know.
Derek stepped out beside Brenna, who remained frozen in the doorway. He looped his arms through hers.
“Mom and Dad know you have a boy in your room?” I smirked, slipping on a mask of indifference. I hoped the longer I wore it, the more natural it would feel.
“Lay off, man.” Derek’s bad impression of a guy with an ounce of toughness did nothing to deter me. He’d gone through a growth spurt since I last saw him, his body shooting up before the rest of him caught up.
I didn’t even deign to respond to him and directed my attention to Brenna. “I’ll take your silence as a no.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. The movement forced Derek’s arm to slip from hers. It shouldn’t have given me a feeling of victory, especially when I knew they’d been doing more behind her bedroom door, but I took the small win. “We’re babysitting Molly while they’re on a date.”
I glanced around, pretending to look for her. “You’re doing a bang-up job.”
“She’s napping.” Brenna took a small step toward me and lowered her voice. “And we need to wake her up or she won’t sleep tonight. You can do the honors.”
“Pass.”
“She doesn’t even know who you are. How are youokaywith that?”
I made a circular motion with my finger, gesturing around the house. “I have no interest in being part of this fucked-up family you’ve all created. Maybe you can overlook that your mom banged her married neighbor and got knocked up to trap him, but it’s too bitter a pill for me to swallow.”
Brenna scoffed. “You think she did all of this on purpose?”
“Well, she didn’t trip into my dad’s bed. And it wasn’t just one time. Shechoseto betray her best friend—andyou—over and over again. I’d say it was pretty purposeful.”
Her gaze fell to the floor. The truth fucking hurt.
By staying here and living in their little fantasy world, Brenna got to ignore the real consequences of what her mother had done. Some of us didn’t have the luxury.
