“Got it!” Lily called.
Danny hopped to his feet with a carefree laugh. “One more, one more!” He stood on one foot and started dancing, but somewhere in the movement his balance tipped beyond recovery.
Terror shredded Kieran’s veins, and he sprang forward.
Danny’s body hit the ground, too close to the bluff’s edge.
His heart was in his throat, choking him. Danny was still on the overlook. He was safe.
But all Kieran could see was what could have happened. His brother falling, falling, falling. What he would have found over the ledge. A broken body staring up with sightless eyes.
“What is wrong with you!?” His pulse beat like a drum through his body as he hauled his brother away from the overlook.
“I was just messing around. I—”
“You could’ve died, dumbass!” Kieran shoved Danny back toward the main path. He followed after him, pointing an accusing finger at his brother. “What part of dancing on the edge of a fucking cliff sounded intelligent to you?”
Danny puffed up. “I wasn’t thinking, okay?”
“Of course, you weren’t thinking!” Kieran seethed and threw his hat to the ground. “You’re never thinking. I give you a home, and you sneak girls into it. I give you stability, and you sneer at it. I give upeverythingfor you, and you act like I single-handedly ruined your life.”
A familiar fury emblazoned Danny’s blue eyes. It was the same hate he’d seen flash across their father’s eyes the few times the man had been lucid enough to remember why he was so damn miserable. “Youdidruin my life.You’rethe reason Dad never came back. If you’d just left me in the group home, he would’ve come back for me. He would’ve been forced to. The State woulda made him.”
“The State wouldn’t have done shit. Do you not get it? Brennan was never going to come back. He didn’twantus.” Kieran clenched his hands at his sides. “When are you going to get it through your thick skull?”
Lily stepped between them, her back to Danny. She stared up at Kieran with arctic-blue eyes. She didn’t say anything, but her gaze dropped first to his clenched hands and then lifted to his chest. Her palm, now trembling, settled over his sternum—soft, but firm.Stop.
Awareness crowded his senses. His chest heaved on short breaths. His jaw ached. To an onlooker, he probably looked like he was about to beat the shit out of his kid brother. But he’d never go that far. He wasn’t like Brennan.
But Brennan had called Kieran a dumbass. Had insulted his intelligence more than enough times to gaslight him into thinking it was his fault Brennan was the way he was.
Self-loathing burned the back of Kieran’s throat as he turned away. “We should head back.”
ChapterEleven
Danny tore up the path, blazing ahead of Lily faster than she could keep up. He’d be taller than Kieran one day. Less broad and more angular, but taller. Good. Maybe with a little height, he wouldn’t feel so small.
She jogged to catch up with the boy, leaving Kieran behind with his hands thrust in his pockets and his face twisted in a scowl.
“You okay?” Lily fell into step beside Danny and gripped the straps of her bag, praying she’d secured her ring light properly in her rush to follow the teen.
“I’ll be a lot better in a year.” Moisture glistened in the corners of his eyes, but Danny swiped it away and cast his gaze to the dirt.
“What happens next year?”
“I’ll be sixteen. I’ll get emancipated, and Kieran won’t be able to say shit to me.” His voice was thick with emotion but determined. He didn’t stutter or second-guess. He’d probably had this idea long before their fight today.
Lily hummed and kept her focus ahead, watching for ruts in the path as well as providing an illusion of privacy forDanny’s emotions. “Not a bad idea, especially if you don’t like his rules. What’s your plan for a job? Where will you live?”
“Anywhere’s better than with him.”
Not likely. They were both nursing wounds that drove a rift between the brothers, but Kieran kept a clean home. He cooked. He worked normal hours and attended Danny’s practices and games. It was, unfortunately, more than some kids got.
“Being homeless isn’t better, Danny. And if you’re going to prove to a judge you deserve your independence, then you’ll have to show you’ve thought this through and have systems in place to provide for yourself.”
The teen double-stepped forward and slammed his boot against a stone, sending it flying into the woods. “I’ll fucking run away if I have to.”
Lily swallowed and rolled her shoulders back, opening up her chest for more air. “It’s not as good as it sounds.”
