Chapter 18 Sloane
SLOANE
I’m sitting at the counter, looking at decoration ideas for tomorrow. I want to make the house look all cute since my family is coming over to celebrate the Fourth of July, just like every other year; a tradition of sorts that’s been happening for as long as I can remember.
I’m scrolling through Pinterest when there’s a knock at the front door. I look at Mocha, who looks at me just as confused, his lip getting caught above his tooth, making me giggle.
I pocket my phone, getting off the chair before taping the Ring camera screen to see who is here.
“Kaden, what are you doing here?” I ask, opening the door and pulling him into a hug. He hugs me back for a second before letting go and pointing at me. I’m super excited to see him after not having seen him in so long, despite my feelings of hurt over the draft.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” he says, as I shut the door behind him.
“Ok, and what would that be?” I question as Mocha runs up and jumps on him.
“Oh, who’s this little guy?” he asks, picking him up into his arms as Mocha nuzzles the shit out of him.
“Mocha. I found him on the side of the road the other day. We haven’t found his family yet, but I think that I’m just going to keep him.”
“He’s so cute,” he coos, picking him up and nuzzling his fur with his face as Mocha attacks Kaden with kisses. “Oh my God, I love you. If you go missing this week, it wasn’t me,” he whispers.
Kaden always had pets growing up; cats, dogs, rabbits, turtles, even a snake and a tarantula at one point.
Most of which he caught out in the wild, and somehow managed to tame.
He took care of them surprisingly well. To my knowledge, Monica even has Pickles, his cat, since he couldn’t take him to college.
It was a sad day in the house for both of them.
“Ok, I’m going to put you down… ok… yes, I know,” he coos as Mocha just loves on him some more. “We have to go in the other room, I can’t get mad at his mother with him sitting there watching me with those big eyes,” Kaden says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me upstairs into ‘my’ room.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you didn’t have money? I thought that you had everything figured out,” Kaden says, pointing a finger at me as he shuts the door.
“What the hell are you talking about? I have plenty of money.”
“Then why the hell were you not in California last weekend?”
“I wasn’t invited to California, Kaden.”
He stares at me like he’s the confused one. “Of course you were. Why would I not want my baby sister at the most important night of my career, possibly my life…”
“Beats me, but I’m pretty sure that I would have remembered receiving an invite for that kind of thing. What do you mean, I don’t have any money?”
“Dad said that you couldn’t afford it. I would have paid for it, you know,” he says. I stare at him in utter confusion, because what is he talking about right now?
“How would Dad know what I can and can’t afford? I haven’t talked to him since I moved here, Kaden. He didn’t even fucking tell me that I had a place to stay. Beckett had to call me himself and let me know that I had a place to go, and that I wouldn’t have to be staying in a cardboard box off I70.”
He scoffs as if I were lying to him. “He says he calls you every week to check in.”
My jaw actually unhinges at that statement. What the actual fuck? I pull my phone out of my pocket and toss it to him. He catches it easily. He stares at me like he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do with it.
“Look at my call history, read through my fucking text messages, I don’t care.
But I can promise you that I have not heard from that man in almost three months,” I say, my emotions starting to get the better of me.
I was trying to keep it under control so that I didn’t turn into a blubbering, emotional idiot.
He looks at me for a few moments before tapping on the screen of my phone. We stand in silence as he scrolls through my phone before he slowly hands it back to me. His eyebrows scrunch together in confusion as he stares at the floor.
“He lied to me, why the fuck would he do that?” he whispers like he’s talking to himself and not to me.
“I don’t fucking know, but I wasn’t invited to the draft, Kade. If I had been, I would have been there.”
He looks up at me, and his eyes are sad. “He lied to me.”
It’s like his whole world is coming down around him. I don’t know how to feel bad for him, because yeah, the man he idolizes is a dick and always has been.
“Yeah, welcome to my life,” I mutter as he sits on the bed.
“What else has he lied to me about?” he whispers.
“How am I supposed to know? As I said, he doesn’t talk to me. I’ve talked to Briar and Monica maybe ten times combined since I’ve moved out, almost all of which I’ve initiated. They don’t care about me.”
“Ten times? Sloane, you’ve been out of the house for three years,” he says, looking up at me.
“Yeah, I know, Kaden.”
“Ten times? How the hell is that even possible? I talk to Dad almost every day. And Mom calls at least once a week.”
“I don’t know, probably because they don’t give a fuck about me. They don’t care if I live or die, or anything. I don’t ask for money; they don’t pay for my schooling or any of my living expenses. I have no value to them, so they don’t care.”
“That’s not true, you do. They do care, Sloane. They ask about you, they do,” he says, but it sounds like he’s trying to convince himself more than me. He goes quiet again, as if he’s thinking about the conversations that he’s had with our parents.
“Why do you think I’m staying here?” I ask.
“Because you needed a place to stay, and Beckett had room for you,” he whispers.
“Well, yeah, but you left out the part about the fact that I went to Briar and Chanel first, and then he ghosted me.”
“That’s not true, it can’t be.”
“You saw the call logs, what do you mean? I know that it’s probably hard for you to grasp since he’d do anything for you, but he’s never cared about me. I’m just the child who should have never been born. I’m not worth anything, don’t you realize that?”
“No, don’t say that. You have your social media and stuff. You’re doing well. Yeah, maybe, they don’t take you as seriously as they should, but…they do love you. You’re their kid, they have to.”
I let out a sigh, sitting down next to him. “Maybe, but can I just be honest with you for a minute, Kade?”
He looks up at me, his eyes full of confusion and pain, as he nods softly.
“I have no relationship with those people. I honestly believe that they’ve never even liked me, let alone loved me.
Sure, I was clothed and had a roof over my head.
But that’s the bare fucking minimum for having a child.
You lived in the house, you saw how they treated me.
You defended me countless times over what they said.
You’re allowed to have any kind of relationship with them that you want, but for me, I just can’t do it anymore.
Then to find out that he’s been lying to you about me?
Playing some kind of fucking savior when he’s been the reason I am the way that I am? I can’t.”
He takes one of my hands in his and looks up at me. “I’m sorry,” he says, and I can tell that he means it. That he is sorry, even if he doesn’t know entirely what for.
“It’s ok, you didn’t know.”
“Not just for that, but for everything. I should have told you myself about the draft. I should have made sure you got the invite personally. I can’t believe he did that.” He stares down at our hands for quite awhile. We sit in silence before Mocha starts barking and scratching at the door.
“Oh, he might need to go potty. Do you want to take him out, and I’ll get dinner started?” I mumble. He nods after a few seconds, slowly standing up and letting go of my hand.
I’m not sure what’s going through his head right now, but I hope that maybe this conversation has opened his eyes a little, at least just enough to start paying attention.
Mocha and Kaden play outside on the grass, well, it’s mostly just Mocha running around and Kaden sitting there, staring off into space. I didn’t think that what I said would have affected him so much, but I guess it’s a lot harder for him to accept the truth.
“Hey, why’s Kaden’s truck outside?” Beckett asks, looking around for said person.
“He’s outside. I think that he’s going to be spending the rest of the week here,” I say as he gives my bum a small pat.
“Oh, what happened?” he asks, kissing my cheek and putting his lunchbox away.
“We had a much-needed heart-to-heart about Briar, and he’s taking it a lot harder than I thought that he would. Now he’s moping outside. I’m hoping that Mocha will cheer him up while I make taco mac.”
“You don’t like Taco Mac, though.”
“Yeah, well, he does, so…” I trail off.
He shakes his head, looking out the window before dipping his head and capturing my lips in his.
“How was work?” I ask, smiling up at him when he pulls away.
“It was good. Long, but I got everything done that I needed to in order to have the next few days off.”
“That’s good. Go shower, food’s almost done,” I say. He gives me one more kiss before turning and walking away.
I watch him until he disappears up the stairs before turning back to the hamburger on the stove, making sure that I don’t burn it.
A few minutes later, Mocha and Kaden make their way inside. Mocha runs over to me, and I pick him up, snuggling him in my arms.
“Hey, little buddy, how’s playing with Uncle Kaden?” I ask as Mocha gives me as many kisses as he possibly can, as fast as he can, making me giggle. “Are you almost ready for dinner?” I ask, looking at my brother, whose spirits seem to have lifted. He looks better than before they went outside.