Then it all falls apart.
The glass door to the mansion opens, and my worst nightmare trails out of the house, shadowed by Theodore Cox, a black-haired basketball player I know from school.
Finn spots my brother’s car instantly and stops. He stares for a bit, and then pads to the red car parked out front. They both lean against the hood as Theo lifts a blunt to his lips to drag a hit.
My brother’s face decomposes in slow motion.
It’s not Jesse’s first rodeo with the Richardses.
He spent most of college tight with Finn’s older brother, Brody, and while they stopped speaking years ago—he refused to tell us why—he could never wash down the sour taste that family left in his mouth.
“Mind telling me what the fuck he’s doing here? I thought he was supposed to be gone all summer?” Jesse asks.
Join the club.
Coming to terms with my fate, I manage a weak “Plans changed.”
“Plans changed?” Jess blurts. “That’s it?That’s all you have to say to me? I’m going to need a bit more than that, sis.”
I exhale a deep sigh.
“He got kicked out of basketball camp and showed up out of the blue a week ago. What was I supposed to do?”
“Well, you sure as fuck weren’t supposed to lie to everyone about it. What the hell, Dia?”
I cringe. “Put yourself in my shoes. I knew if I told our dads, they’d tell me to quit.”
“As they should! Do you have any fucking idea what kind of people these guys are?”
“I don’t need to know,” I snap. “It’s two months, Jess. Two months and I’m gone. I might even leave earlier if I’m able to afford a car before then.”
“Hell no. I have this family down to a fucking science at this point, and Brody’s brother—” Jesse glares at Finn, who’s still eyeing us from afar. “—he’s fucked-up.”
Tell me something I don’t know.
“What kind of brother would I be if I left my sister alone with some masochist all summer?”
I open my mouth to speak but find myself clinging to the noun he chose.
“Masochist?” I repeat.
“This is for the best. I promise you’ll thank me one day.”
“What do you mean masochist?” I badger. “Like… he wants to hurt people?”
I know he wishes he hadn’t said that by the way he clenches his teeth and blows out a low “Doesn’t matter. Drop it.”
I cock an eyebrow at him.
Do we know each other?
“Jess, is he a danger to others, yes or no?”
“No,” my brother reluctantly admits.
A wave of questions submerges me.
“So, he’s a danger to himself, then?”