I snorted at that. Because that was utter bullshit if ever I’d heard it.
Little Miss Goody Two-shoes belonged on the other side of the res, cloistered away in her ivory castle, better known as the Rowe-Delacorte’s huge, gated estate.
“It’s okay, Clo,” she said, glaring at me.
The air crackled between us as everyone waited to see what I’d do.
But fuck that.
I wasn’t here to get into it with Harleigh’s sister. I was here to forget the shitshow waiting for me when I got home.
Dropping into my chair, I grabbed another beer from the cooler and uncapped it. So Celeste was here, I didn’t have to acknowledge her presence.
Nix watched me out of the corner of his eye while Kye chatted to his sister and our unwelcome guest. Harleigh didn’t seem too impressed with Celeste’s presence either, watching her half-sister like a hawk. The feeling was mutual. She and Harleigh might have shared fifty percent of their DNA but that was where the similarities ended.
“You look like you want to murder her… or maybe fuck the life right out of her.” Kye smirked, his eyes crinkling with silent laughter.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
“And yet, you haven’t taken your eyes off her since you saw her.”
“That’s not…” I trapped the response behind gritted teeth.
He was right. But I wasn’t glaring at her because I wanted her. I just didn’t want her here. Pretending to be one of us. Pretending that she somehow fit in with the kids from The Row.
Because she didn’t.
Little Miss Money Bags probably hadn’t experienced a day of hardship in her life. And if she had, no doubt Mommy and Daddy had waved their magical wand and fixed it.
There were kids in The Row literally starving. Their families unable to put food on the table. Yettheywent on with their lives across the res like we didn’t exist.
They disgusted me, all of them.
“Mom wanted to know if you and Grams will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year?”
“It’s still four weeks away.”
“So, you know what she’s like. She likes to plan.”
“A lot can happen in four weeks,” I murmured, feeling the weight of the words lying heavy on my chest.
“Did something happen?” Kye shot me a concerned look.
“Nothing more than usual.”
“You need to ask for help, Z,” he said quietly.
“I can handle it.”
“You keep saying that. And it’s admirable, it is. But what happens when you break?”
“I won’t.” Because it wasn’t an option.
Grams needed me.
I was all she had left in this world. And after everything she’d done for me, I wasn’t about to force her into some mediocre care facility who cared more about their next paycheck than the people they were supposed to be caring for.
“Have you thought about college?” I changed the subject.