CHAPTER ONE
Dalton
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I blow out my breath as the final bell rings, then lean down to gather up my belongings.
Mom is supposed to be meeting us outside today to walk us home, but I doubt she’ll come. She hasn’t in the past month and a half.
She’s pining over him again, I think as I grind my teeth, then stand up and slip the straps of my backpack over my shoulders.
I don’t know why she holds on to the hope that he’ll come back for her one day.
He left her when she was pregnant with me and Kalen, and to him, that was the end of the bargain. He no longer had any responsibilities here.
I follow the stream of my classmates as we file into the hallway, then lean myself up on the tips of my toes, craning my neck to try and find my brother.
He’s younger than me by a minute and a half, and a hell of a lot more serious by at least thirty years.
Thank God we at least have each other.
I grimace when I finally see him as he’s practically shoved out of his classroom by the rush of kids around him. He stumbles a few times, but manages to catch himself on a locker across the way.
“Kalen!” I call out, waving a hand over my head.
He looks for the source of his name with a stoic demeanor, then nods when he finally sees me.
Pushing through the crowded hallway, I reach my younger brother, pick up some of the books that have fallen out of his arms, then ruffle his hair affectionately.
“Ready to go home?”
He cuts his eyes toward me as he attempts to regain his bearings, and draws in a forlorn breath.
“Think she’ll be here today?” he asks me in his quiet, studious tone.
My entire mood darkens as I do my best to force a smile onto my face, shrugging before I drape an arm around his shoulders.
“Only one way to find out, right?” I ask in the faux cheerful tone we’ve both become numb to.
The one that’s full of hope.
Hope that maybe one day, she’ll remember that he isn’t the only man in her life. She has two boys who need their mother’s love and guidance.
We need something, anything other than the lonely darkness we’ve been plunged into.
“Come on, little guy,” I tease with a grin on my face.“Let’s get out of this hellhole.”