Like he ownsme.
“I knew you were smarter than your brother,” he says with a sly grin. “Hey, guess that’s why you’re the one with the scholarship, right?” He winks at me as he sits, propping his dirty boots up on my coffee table and tossing my Happiness pillow to the ground.
Something cold and heavy settles in my bones. A realization that feels a lot like defeat.
And I swallow it down painfully whole.
Silently.
Because I have absolutely no other choice.
Track 17
“What’ll I Do” Nat King Cole, 1947
ALANA
“Thanks for picking me up, P.” I climb into the passenger seat while Parker moves his gym bag to the back.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighs as I close the door. He gives me a once-over before his eyes move to the windshield. “I really wish you wouldn’t hang out there.”
“Youhang out there.” I place my backpack at my feet. He looks at me pointedly before he puts the car in drive and hits the gas.
“I don’t like you there without me.”
“Why not?” I pull my seat belt over me and click it in place. “They’re your friends.”
“They’re not good guys. And you’re sixteen, Lana. You shouldn’t be hanging around twenty-one-year-olds, okay?”
I roll my eyes and set my gaze out my window.
Parker’s head turns toward me. “Do you hear me?” he asks again. “Lana—”
“Okay, okay, don’t go all commander on me.”
“It’s officer to you, young lady,” he says with a side smirk.
Excitement pricks around the edges of my heart, shaking my belly with nerves. “You got in?!” P keeps his eyes on the road, but his smirk grows. I gasp. “You got in!”
“Yeah,” he laughs.
“P! This is amazing! Oh my god, I knew you could do it!”
“Yeah. Not bad for a street kid.”
“Oh, please. You were always more than a street kid.”
My cheeks burn from smiling so hard. “Officer Parker John Dimerez,” I beam, turning my face to my hero. “Dad is gonna be proud.”
“I don’t care if Dad’s proud. Just want to makeyouproud, little sister.”
“I’m very proud, big brother. It took a lot of work to get to where you are, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”
“I’m proud of you, too,” he says. “I’m proud of you for getting that scholarship to UT. That’s huge. And you did that all on your own, Lana. It’s amazing.”
“I wasn’t on my own. I had you.”
“Nah,” he breathes. “You would’ve done it no matter what.”
