Chapter 3
THREE
CRANE
Sierra Carson.
My best friend's little sister.
She pouts at me from across the counter, clearly wanting a reaction from me.
Despite the tightening in my stomach, it's pointless doing this with her.
Sierra annoys the fuck out of me with her recklessness, not once stopping to consider the consequences of her actions. She throws herself at danger like she's invincible, and it terrifies me because I can't protect her.
Still, she’s the hottest girl I've ever seen.
Especially now, with that teasing look in her eyes, her hair cascading down her back like a fucking dirty-blonde waterfall that’s begging for me to run my hands through it.
And why does she have to wear such tiny fucking dresses?
Christ.
She's staring at me, clearly waiting for an answer.
I decide to go for the full attack, knowing she will probably lose her shit.
Sierra is beautiful, but even more so when she’s angry.
“Is there anyone you haven’t fucked?” I ask, glowering at her.
Her full lips pinch together, her eyes narrowing as she glares back at me.
“How dare you speak to me like that!” Sierra screeches, launching an apple at me from the fruit bowl.
I catch it effortlessly, a smug smile on my lips as her face colors with anger. I take a bite from the apple, moaning with delight as the juice explodes in my mouth.
“Listen, you do you, yeah? I don’t care.” I shrug, dragging out my phone to see a text from Liza.
Perfect timing.
“Well, for someone who doesn’t care, you seem pissed to hear about Jaden and me.” Sierra throws her hair over her shoulder, leaning forward to suck on the straw suggestively.
To my annoyance, I find myself staring at her, but especially the dress that’s now showing half of her ass to me. Her lips wrap around the straw, and an ache throbs in my dick, making me roll my eyes at her.
“Just get yourself checked out,” I say, pulling my gaze back to my phone. “You know Jaden.”
“You too,” Sierra snaps, pushing past me. The feel of her body against mine does its usual trick of making me inhale sharply, her coconut-scented shampoo filling my nostrils as it does every fucking time. “Seeing as you’re fucking his ex.”
She stomps off, her shapely legs teasing me as she takes the stairs two at a time, her curls bouncing against her waist as she does.
Fucking Jaden.
He better not have touched Sierra.
I pause, staring at the stairs before shaking my head, leaving the house I feel is more of a home than mine.
The drive home is short and does nothing to alleviate my annoyance from my run-in with Sierra.
It has always been this way between us, her snapping at me, both of us getting pissed when the other is with someone else.
It isn’t simple jealousy, though; I know if it pisses Kai off, that means it pisses me off too.
It also fucks me off that Sierra seems to always end up with the notorious bad boys, and I worry sick that something will happen to her.
I mean, they’re hardly mafia members, but some of them I wouldn’t trust holding my hot dog at a barbecue.
Parking on the street, I lean my head back on the headrest, gazing at our house.
It looks just like all the other houses around here: two up, two down, a small garden, and a porch. Dad’s on the porch, his head thrown back as he snores.
I hesitate, knowing that if Dad’s been on a bender, Mom won’t be in.
If she is, she won’t be in a good state.
Guilt gnaws at me when I imagine what she’s gone through, what she allows herself to go through.
It’s not my responsibility.
My dad is an alcoholic, and Mom likes to pretend we’re one big happy family.
Which we aren’t.
Dad lost his job due to an industrial accident at work, meaning he has back problems that prevent him from working.
And boy, do we know about it.
I slam the car door, hoping to jolt him from his stupor, my keys digging into my palm.
His hairy belly hangs over his jeans, his dirty, once-white tank top covered in stains from fuck knows what. Drool hangs from his mouth, an empty bottle of beer still clutched in his fingers.
It’s barely noon.
The sun beats down on my back, sweat dripping from my neck. I scratch at it, pissed that this is my fucking life.
You come from somewhere normal like the Carson’s, where the only worry is whether Sierra did her fucking homework, to this.
Shitsville.
The door opens, and Mom appears, sporting a dark-red gash on her cheek.
I stiffen, my eyes bulging as she glances anxiously at my dad—the fucking pig.
“What the fuck did he do now?” I growl, my fists clenching at my sides. “When will you learn, Mom? He’s a fucking monster.”
Mom forces a smile, waving my words away like they’ve never been said, her watery blue eyes locking onto mine.
“I fell; it wasn’t your father.”
I close my eyes, knowing if she is lying to me, it’s worse than before.
I follow her into the house, the smell of bleach and disinfectant filling my nose.
She always does this when he hurts her. She cleans.
“You fell?” I repeat, turning her chin in my hand. “Down what, an iceberg?”
Her face looks like it’s been burned or scratched. I can’t make it out, but she’s refusing to let me look.
“Crane. Stop this; I’ve missed you. How’s Kai?”
I swallow my anger, knowing if Dad and I go at it again, Mom will end up getting hurt in the crossfire.
She rubs a hand through her hair, once long and dark, now cropped short for “easier management.”
More like Dad didn’t like the attention she got, so he made her stop wearing makeup and cut her hair short.
She’s still beautiful, though, so fuck him.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
I grimace at the sneer that comes from behind me, my mom's eyes widening with panic as she darts a look around the kitchen.
“Hey, baby, let me get you a coffee,” she mumbles, turning to fuss over the dickhead that is my father.
“I don’t want coffee. I’m drinking beer,” Dad snaps, tugging open the fridge door. “I asked you a question, Crane. Fucking answer me.”
Mom pleads with me with her eyes, but my jaw gives away my reaction. Jabbing a finger into my chest, Dad sneers at me.
“Think you’re the big guy, huh?”
I lock eyes with Mom, her tongue wetting her lips as he follows my gaze with glossy eyes.
“Why the fuck did I get stuck with such fucking losers?” Dad shoves past me, the stench of stale beer making me gag.
“Coffee?” Mom whispers, her teeth sinking into her lip.
“You’re too good for this. Let’s leave him, go somewhere—”
“Crane!” Mom hisses, slamming her hands on the counter. “He’s suffering. This isn’t him!”
My nostrils flare as I stare at her cheek, her thin frame, and her puffy eyes.
Mom had me at seventeen, so she’s still young, despite what she thinks.
“You know that’s bullshit.”
“Crane, please. Are you staying home tonight?” Mom looks at me with such hope, I know it’s going to crush her when I tell her no, that I’m going to dinner at the Carson’s.
“You know I’m not, Mom. I can’t be here with him like this.”
Mom drops her gaze, nodding shakily.
“I understand.”
My heart aches in my chest, and when I reach out for her and pull her close, she winces with pain.
Anger flares through my body, and it takes everything in me to not go and rip my cunt of a father's head off.
“Come with me; you know the Carsons love you,” I say gently, kissing the top of her head as she grips me.
I want to punch my dad's fucking lights out, but Mom always ends up paying for it when I’m not here.
“I need to stay with your dad.”
“I’ll kill him, bury him in the garden, and we can live happily ever after.”
“Crane!” Mom scolds, pushing me away with a smile. “You always did have a vivid imagination.”
I turn away, not wanting her to see how much it kills me seeing her like this.
Before his accident, they were happy, and he adored the two of us.
But now…
Urgh.
I head down the hall to my room, kicking the beer bottles away that line the doorway.
My room is a fucking mess, as it always is, but it smells of piss and vomit.
I clench my jaw, gritting my teeth together when I see the urine-stained bedding and dried up sick beside my bed.
“I’ll fucking kill him.”
I don’t even bother changing; I just turn around and head straight back out the door, past my mom, who wrings her hands anxiously.
Storming out, I find him asleep on the porch, the bottle of beer still full.
I tug it out of his hands, tipping it over his fucking head.
He jolts to, wiping his face with his dirty hands, blinking at me slowly.
“The fuck?”
“You spilled your beer.”
My words are like daggers, hard and sharp. I wish I had a dagger because I’d plunge it into his cold, dead heart.
“You cunt,” Dad rasps, struggling to his feet, his lip curling up in the corner. “I’ll fucking have you.”
“Yeah? Maybe you should. Hit a man instead of a woman who loves you,” I hiss bitterly, angry tears stinging my eyes. “If you touch her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Dad throws his head back, his yellow-stained teeth making me step back, his chest racking with a cough that has him doubled over and vomiting again.
Mom rushes out, trying to help him back to his chair as I stare at her.
“Mom, come with me.”
“She’s going nowhere, so fuck off,” Dad snarls, patting Mom on the ass.
My stomach turns when he winks at me, his lips brushing her cheek.
“Bye, son. Don’t hurry back.”
“Mom?” I try again, knowing if I go, she’s at his mercy.
“Send my love to the Carsons,” Mom replies, brushing my dad's hair back. “Let’s get you in the shower, Ben.”
“Only if you come in with me,” he leers, tugging at her top as she smiles faintly.
“Love you, Crane,” Mom calls with a reassuring smile, disappearing into the house with the monster.
I fucking hate him.
I dial Liza’s number, wishing I’d never left the Carson’s. Maybe if Sierra wasn’t so irritating, I wouldn’t have.
Urgh.