It was an argument we’d had a thousand times, and not once did she give Riley the benefit of the doubt. When it came to my heartache, she blamed him. For everything.
Anger finally bubbled over when she looked away, resigned. I’d called my sister because I thought she’d be happy for me for once in her life, but all she was doing was trying to crush my dreams like a bug. I should have known better.
“You didn’t know him the way I did because you weren’t around, and even when you were, you didn’t bother to get to know him because he was just another mouth to feed in your eyes. You hated having him over! Just because he was afoster kid!”
“That’s enough, Beckett!” Ben scolded.
I knew it was a low blow. Tosh had her own rounds in foster care before I came around, when Mom was too messed up to be the parent we needed her to be. It was why she ran away at sixteen when she saw signs our Mom was going downhill again. She decided a life on the streets would be better than one more foster home and didn’t even consider what it meant for me. I knew she hated the system way more than I did which is why she worked her ass off to get sober once Mom lost her rights to me.
I turned on my heel and walked away, knowing anything else I’d say would fall on deaf ears.
“He’ll hurt you,” she said, just as I reached the door.
I paused, turning to speak over my shoulder. “Give Harper my love. I’ll see you around, Tosh.”
