Chapter Four
Helios
Aiming for the girl, Ares took off.
With the green duffel I’d gotten from the Army surplus store over my shoulder, I stood there and silently cursed.
That fucking cake.
I didn’t ask her to make me shit.
I hated birthdays.
It’s not like me and Ares’s mother-of-the-century ever fucking remembered them. Not that I gave a shit. I only cared about this birthday because now I was legal. Eighteen, and no one could fuck with me. Except the Army, but that was by choice, and the recruiter was waiting for me.
Fuck.
Dumping my bag, I headed up the back stairs to the shitty bedroom over the garage the kid had moved into about two seconds after I’d gotten my driver’s license. At first, I didn’t realize she’d swapped rooms so she could hear the garage door every time I drove the old truck her dad had left behind.
Took me a week to figure that shit out.
Then I’d stopped parking in the garage. But she never moved back to her old room.
I still remembered her small ass dragging all her shit, piece by piece, to that tiny fucking bedroom meant for a nanny.
Not that one had ever been hired because me and Ares were supposed to take care of her—all the fucking time.
Which was bullshit. I didn’t even have a driver’s license, let alone know how to drive, the first time our mom and Feralyn’s piece-of-shit sperm donor took off to Costa Rica for some property development scheme they’d invested in.
By the time I got my driver’s license, they were spending over half the fucking year there.
If it wouldn’t have fucked over me and Ares in the process, I would’ve called Child Protective Services on her shitty dad a long time ago.
Instead, I was grabbing the handle of her door that had a busted lock courtesy of yours truly. The first time she’d barricaded herself in her room, I’d lost my temper. Then I’d solved the fucking problem. Or so I’d thought. Now her door was only opening a fucking inch before it hit solid wood.
Christ.
“Your dresser again?” Seriously? “Open the fucking door, Feralyn.” Putting my shoulder into it, I shoved. The damn piece of furniture only moved half a foot. “Last warning before I break shit!”
The dresser scratched across the hardwood floors, and the door swung open.
With her window behind him wide open, Ares stood there, out of breath, looking mad as hell. “She’s in the closet. Again.”
“And that’s my fucking fault?” Shoving past him, I knew it was my goddamn fault. Fucking kid. Girl. Stepsister. What-the-fuck-ever. “Feralyn!” I stomped toward the closet.
Knees to her chest, huddled in a ball, hands over her face, she sat on the floor in the back. Crying. And shaking.
Fuck me.
“Stop crying and get up,” I ordered.
She didn’t move. Or stop crying.
Standing behind me, Ares breathed down my neck.
I wished like hell I was already gone. I wished for a lot of shit, or used to. Now I just wanted her to stop with the tears so I could leave without being a total fucking dick. But she wasn’t letting up, and I was on a timeline.
Christ, I was gonna regret this.
Walking into the closet, I squatted in front of her. “You gotta stop crying so you don’t trigger your asthma.” The last thing I wanted to deal with right now was a fucking trip to the ER. Been there, done that. Fuck asthma. But fuck this crying bullshit too.
She immediately retreated. “Y-you said no c-coming in-into the b-b-bedroom.”
“That’s the rule for my bedroom.” I had dirty fucking magazines, condoms, and other shit in my space that she didn’t need to see.
Half the time, if I was home, I had some chick hanging out in my bed.
So yeah, my room was off-limits to her. But her room was another story. “Come on.” I held out my hand.
She glanced behind me.
“Look at me, not Ares. He isn’t the one leaving.
” And he sure as shit wasn’t squatting in front of her, trying to stop her tears.
I didn’t give a fuck that he’d scaled the back of the garage and gotten into her room through the window to unblock the door.
I would’ve had the dresser moved with another shove.
“You want to see me off from the closet while you’re crying?
” It was a dick thing to say, but desperate times and all that shit.
Like I knew she would, she swiped at her face. “No.”
“Then come on.” I wiggled my fingers.
She took my hand, and I pulled her to her feet.
Ares backed up, and we walked out of the closet, but I didn’t let go of her.
I took her down the stairs, grabbed my bag without breaking stride, then led her through the house and to the front door. Letting go of her hand to grip her shoulder, I placed her next to Ares.
Then I took a mental snapshot as they both stared at me.
Christ, she looked small as fuck. Gold hair the same color as her eyes, half Ares’s height, she mimicked Ares’s pose—my fucking pose. Shoulders proud, jaw set. The only thing both of them were missing was a don’t-fuck-with-me expression.
Ares looked like he always did—shut down.
The kid looked like she always did—a deer in headlights. But one that’d been crying.
Before the fucking guilt could sink in for leaving them, I laid out the rules.
“Rule number one.” I stared Ares down. “Keep fucking track of her.” He knew what I meant.
Feed her, protect her, get her to school, pick her up, make sure her piece-of-shit father checked in once a week.
Good fucking luck to him on the last part, but he still knew to try.
Ares nodded.
I focused on the kid and gave her more than any of our shit parents ever had, which wasn’t saying a whole damn lot.
“Rules number two and three. Do your homework. Get good grades.” Someone in this house had to.
May as well be her. I glanced between them.
“Last rule. Contact me if you need to, but don’t expect an immediate reply.
” I had Basic Combat Training, AIT, and Airborne School to get through.
Then Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, and I’d been warned RASP was no joke.
It was why I’d been working out twice as hard for the past year. “Questions?”
Her lip trembled, but the kid spoke up. “When are you coming home?”
I didn’t say never, but fuck, I wanted to.
It was half the point of wanting to be an Army Ranger for as long as I could remember.
Never having to fucking come back here. The other part was fighting and protecting something worth a damn, which included my brother, the kid, and my country.
But fuck our parents. They weren’t worth shit.
Fuckers hadn’t even bothered to come check on two minors when they knew my ass was leaving today.
But since the girl was still a kid, I didn’t say any of that shit to her.
I also didn’t sugarcoat. “I won’t be back for a long time. ”
Her eyes welled.
I pretended it didn’t feel like a kick to the gut as I turned to Ares and held out my hand like I was some kind of fucking saint. “You got the truck keys and the bank card her dad left. See you when I see you.”
Ares reluctantly shook my hand. “I don’t even have my driver’s license yet.”
He had a learner’s permit. Close enough. It was more than I’d had when I was first left in charge of them. “You’ll figure it out.” I turned to Feralyn.
She burst into tears.
Like an asshole, I put my hand on top of her head to stop her from coming at me and clinging. “Don’t cry all the time for Ares. You know he hates that shit.”
“Helios,” Ares warned, low and quiet as he moved closer to her.
“Not saying anything you both don’t already know.” I could handle her fucking tears. Ares couldn’t. He caved. But this shit wasn’t my problem anymore.
At least, that’s what I told myself.
Hoisting my duffel, I spared them each one more glance. “No goodbyes.”
Then I was out the door.
I didn’t look back as I walked down the driveway and crossed the street.
I still didn’t look back when I hit the corner.
I fucking couldn’t.
I was crying like a goddamn pussy.