Chapter 20 (1/2)

“Is my dad coming back?” a smooth voice says from somewhere, causing me to jerk in surprise.

Looking down, I see the green-eyed Smith has taken a seat in a plastic chair next to me. I didn’t even hear him approaching.

I shrug and take a seat next to him, staring intensely at the wall. “Yeah. I think so.” I should tell him just what a fucking great man his father . . . our father really is . . .

Holy shit.

This strange little specimen of a kid is my fucking brother. I absolutely can’t wrap my head around it. I look over at Smith, which he takes as a cue to continue his line of questioning.

“Kimberly said that he’s in trouble, but he can pay his way out of it. What does that mean?”

I can’t stop the scoff that comes from my mouth at his intrusive eavesdropping and thorough questioning. “I’m sure that’s the case,” I mumble. “She just means that he will be out of trouble soon. Why don’t you go sit with Kimberly and Tessa?” My chest burns at the sound of her name as it comes from my mouth.

He looks over in the direction of their voices, then assess me sagely. “They’re mad at you. Especially Kimberly, but she’s more mad at my dad, so you should be okay.”

“You’ll learn that women are always mad.”

He nods. “Unless they die. Like my mom did.”

My mouth falls open and I look at his face. “You shouldn’t say shit like that. People will find it . . . odd.”

He shrugs his shoulders as if to say that people already find him odd. Which is true, I suppose.

“My dad is nice. He’s not bad.”

“Okay?” I stare down at table to avoid looking into those green eyes.

“He takes me a lot of places and says nice things to me.” Smith places a piece of a toy train on the table. What is with this boy and trains?

“And . . .” I say, swallowing the feelings that come with his words. Why is he rambling about this now?

“He will take you places, too, and tell you nice things.”

I look over at him. “And why would I want that?” I ask, but his green eyes tell me that he knows much more than I assumed.

Smith tilts his head and swallows a little swallow, watching me. It’s both the most scientifically detached and the most vulnerably childlike I have ever seen the little oddball. “You don’t want me to be your brother, do you?”

Damn it. I desperately search for Tessa, hoping that she will come save me. She would know exactly what to say.

I look at him, trying to appear calm, but certain I’m failing. “I never said that.”

“You don’t like my dad.”

Right then, Tessa and Kimberly enter, saving me from having to answer him, thank God.