Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
Dhara
“Why are you being so weird?” Gavin demanded as I drove us across the city. “Did he do something to you?”
“No. The locker room was completely my fault,” I admitted. “There’s usually no one in there this time of night, and I didn’t realize he was in the shower. My headphones were already in because I was in the zone. He said the coach had new guys and they were kept later or something.”
“He’s right,” my brother warned. “They transferred over four players this year. He’s not the only one. If Coach is trying to get them caught up to the pace, I bet he has all kinds of late practices planned.”
“I’ll talk to Coach and make sure he doesn’t want me to work later or something,” I said with a frown. It was already late enough getting us home at nearly ten.
Gavin stifled a yawn and looked up at me, finally looking his age for once. I wished there was more opportunity for him to be a kid and not have to worry about adult problems.
“I hope not,” Gavin muttered.
“Did you get your homework done before you got on the ice?” I raised an eyebrow, making sure he knew I was serious.
“Yes,” he huffed. “Of course, I did. I do listen to you.”
“Oh, sure… most of the time,” I countered.
“Well, I have to give you crap once in a while.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I only said ‘crap,’” my brother said, rolling his eyes again. “If saying ‘crap’ is the worst thing I do, then I think you’re lucky.”
“Isn't that the truth,” I muttered.
We both knew our mom was useless and hadn’t exactly set a good standard for our lives. Her or her numerous shitty boyfriends she liked to bring around.
We pulled up to the small house we’d both grown up in, the one I wished like hell I could’ve saved Gavin from.
He climbed out and gathered his things, and I did the same, dragging my feet a little. I didn’t want him to have to face her alone.
It was always a gamble this time of night with what version of our mother we would get.
If I had to guess, my mother suffered from some sort of personality disorder. Her mood swings were numerous and could turn violent. She was far too smart to let anyone in the outside world know, which was exactly why I stayed here.
Only for Gavin. Always for him.
I could have left years ago. She shouldn’t still have control of me, but I’d raised Gavin myself. Made sure he was fed and appropriately dressed, changed his diapers, dealt with everything from colic to diaper rash to talking about puberty, even though both of us had been embarrassed as hell.
I tried to get him out of there more than once, but my mother would never let him go.
Not when he was the perfect tool to use against me. A way to gain money and make us do what she wanted with no consequences.
I would suffer through six more years of this to make sure he was protected rather than letting him face her alone.
I knew what being alone with a woman like our mother meant.
She could break just about anyone. I’d stood against her more times than I could count, but she always held that one threat over my head.
As much as I’d raised him, he was only my brother. I had no real custody rights to him, and she knew it.
She’d threaten to kick me out and make sure I never saw him again.
Gavin wasn’t stupid. He knew what our mother was like and hated her almost as much as I did. If not more for having to watch her put me through everything she did.
She’d been reported to the authorities more times than I could count, and every time she’d convinced them she was doing her best, that she was trying hard and we were just ungrateful kids who had it out for her.
We supposedly didn’t understand how hard it was to be a parent. Despite her never really being a parent for us.
The system had failed us. All the programs they had in place to support her, she’d use for herself.
She was a narcissist, and one that somehow convinced the world she was the victim.
I’d documented things for years, but with how many times the state had found her to be ‘trying hard’ and promised they would follow up but didn’t. Every lawyer I found said there was no point in fighting back.
It was always ‘their hands were tied,’ which was the phrase I heard from every single person I tried to get help from.
So, I stopped trying. I gave up on any plans for leaving.
At the end of the day, Gavin was safe, and that was all that truly mattered.
She had never laid a hand on him like she had me.
And hell, one day maybe Gavin would be a broad alpha or a strong delta, someone she couldn’t use as a tool or weapon against his sister.
That wasn’t even a strong enough word for the loathing I had for this woman and everything she’d taken from both of us.
Gavin pushed open the door, and I quickly pulled him behind me, going in first as I always did.
He wanted to protect me, but I wouldn’t let him.
That wasn’t his job.
“Oh, look. It’s my ungrateful kids.” My mother’s voice echoed through the small house, raspy from far too many years of cigarettes.
Despite what a terrible person she was, she always looked put together well. Her clothes were always nice. Face perfectly done up with makeup.
She was pretty, and she knew it. After all, the types of alphas with money didn’t want an omega who didn’t care about her appearance.
“I was working, Mom,” I said. “You know Gavin has practice.”
Her lip curled, as it always did when one of us had something outside of her.
“I still don’t understand why you’re indulging him with that. He’s old enough to get a job.”
“He’s twelve,” I deadpanned once I saw him safely slip into his room. “Literally no one in the world would hire him.”
She narrowed her eyes at my tone. My exhaustion had taken away my filter. That was never good.
“Excuse me?” she growled, standing up and drawing her hand back.
The slap cracked across my face and I didn’t bother to stop it.
This was why I couldn’t let a pack in. Why I wouldn’t just run off into the sunset and leave Gavin to face this alone.
But I swore to myself, the moment Gavin was free from this place, I was beating this woman’s ass like she deserved.
Like I wish I could right now.
My hands curled into fists at my side as I bit down on my tongue and waited her out. Her smirk was firmly in place, knowing damn well I wouldn’t do a thing no matter how much I wanted to.
“Don’t touch me,” I said carefully.
“Or what?” she sneered, her hand raising again.
“Someday, you’re going to regret all the shit you’ve put us through. Especially when you’re too old for these alphas and all alone.”
“Bold of you to talk back when I could kick you out at any moment,” she snapped.
The fire was back in her expression, her anger flaring and stealing away some of her beauty. It was one of the few times she couldn’t hide her true nature.
Nadia Livingston was pissed.
But so was I.
I was so angry that she was here stealing another thing from me. I’d found a scent-match but I couldn’t form a pack while I was stuck here.
Yet another thing she’d taken ruthlessly from my life with no remorse, as if I owed her something for being born.
“Well, did you earn me anything at that little job of yours?” Her hand lowered and she went to her purse, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
“Of course, I earned something, but they’re not just going to hand me a check each night.
I get paid every Friday. We still have days to go.
” It’s not like this wasn’t a conversation we’d had multiple times since I started.
It wasn’t like the diner where she could steal my tips.
If I didn’t leave some in my locker at work I’d have nothing left.
“You better not hide a fucking cent from me, you little leech,” she bit out.
“I’m not handing over my entire paycheck to you, Nadia,” I warned, refusing to budge on this. She was already furious, and I was testing my luck, but I couldn’t stand the thought of doing this anymore.
“Well, then maybe I’ll just have to put a stop to this little hockey charade.”
I let my eyes fall closed, knowing I couldn’t risk her doing that to Gavin.
He was good. Even Conrad had seen his potential. He knew there was more to Gavin than determination.
He had raw talent, and I wasn’t going to let her steal that from him.
“I’ll pay the bills I usually pay. You’ll even get your cut.” The words tasted like ash on my tongue.
“You better put an extra cut in there for your smart fucking mouth,” she growled. “Oh, and make sure you guys are not home tomorrow.”
“It’s my one morning off,” I said. “I’ll be here in the morning.”
“No, you won’t,” she said, sharper this time. “And I suggest you get your ass out of here early. I don’t need an alpha-snatching unmated omega bitch in my house.”
I swear my mother always thought we were in competition. If only she knew the alpha that was truly my scent-match. Unlike the alphas she found to warm her bed and line her pockets, rich alphas who thought they were sweeping the omega off her feet, he was genuine.
The ones she found weren’t here for a family, just a good time. I’d seen the relief in their eyes when they realized Gavin and I were old enough to be self-sufficient.
The hunger in their eyes when they looked at me and realized I was an omega, too, was what set her off.
If my mom hadn’t kept such a tight grip on them out of her own jealousy, there would’ve been a whole lot more reason for me to run away from this hellhole.
“I’ll be gone after he goes to school,” I said, finally pushing past her, done with this fucking conversation.
I pushed open the door to the tiny bedroom I had to myself and almost cried when I saw that it had been tossed.
I kept my things clean, but anytime my mother thought I might be hiding something, she tore through it.
Half the time I didn’t even think she was looking for money.
She just wanted to ruin my day. This was her way of proving her point that I was helpless here and she had all the control.
Even though my body was bone-achingly tired and my mind was foggy from lack of sleep, I cleaned it back up as I always did, biting my tongue yet again and counting down the days until I could escape.
I just prayed that some alpha came along, swept her off her feet, and she signed over her parental rights to me.
A girl could dream.