“Skylar,” she breathed, and I could sense the smile in her tone. “I was wondering how long it would take you.”
“How long what would take me?” I asked, bringing my legs up on the sofa and curling them underneath me.
“To call and ask why I sent Carter there.” I grinned. We may not have spent all the time together normal siblings did, but she knew me better than anyone else in this world. “That’s why you called, right? He’s not in trouble, is he?”
“No, no. He’s fine. You were right.” I paused and waited for her to say something, but when she didn’t, I added, “So? Why did you send him here?”
She huffed out a breath, and I could imagine her shoulders slumping as she did. “Damn, Sky. I’m not even sure where to start.” She was quiet for a couple of seconds and then she said, “He’s been running for some guys in the neighborhood for a while. He thought I didn’t know, but of course I did.” I nodded as if she was right in front of me. “Anyway, that moved into boosting cars, and let’s just say he boosted the wrong person’s car.”
“The wrong person’s car?”
“Yeah.” She groaned and I heard a bang over the line. “He boosted his dad’s car.”
My eyes widened. “What? No. I thought he wasn’t in your lives—”
“He isn’t. He hasn’t seen Carter since he was a baby. But now he knows about him and...fuck, Sky. Carter doesn’t know who his dad is and I want to keep it that way, which was why I sent him to you. He’s goddamn clever, just like Dad was, and I knew he’d put two and two together if I didn’t get him away from here. Not to mention if his dad gets his claws in him, Carter will never be able to find a way out. He’ll be stuck here, just like I am.” I heard the sadness in her voice, and it broke my heart. She may have settled for herself, but she wanted more for her son, and him being here could provide that.
“I’ll keep him safe,” I told her.
“I have no doubt ’bout that, baby sis.” A creak sounded over the line. “Maybe he can teach you to not be such a scaredy cat on the roads too.”
“What?” I gasped. “I am not—”
“How many times has he driven your car since you’ve been there?”
“I…” She had a point. “Fine. I hate it, you know that.”
“I do. But maybe he can help you while he’s there, just like you’re helping him.” She paused and gasped. “Fuck, they’re back again looking for him. I gotta go, Sky. Keep my boy safe.” The line clicked off and I stared down at my cell again. All calls with Jenifer ended like that, so I wasn’t surprised by it anymore.
She kept me distracted for thirty minutes, but I still had another four hours until Carter’s curfew was here and he’d be home. So instead of watching the door or waiting for my cell to ring, I clicked on the TV, grabbed my nearly melted ice-cream, and watched trash TV.
Chapter 4
I wasn’t sure what had my eyes flinging open, maybe a noise, or maybe my skin buzzing with a feeling of being watched, but as soon as my gaze hit the clock next to the TV on the wall, I saw the hands at two and six. It was 2:30 a.m., and—
“Did you know you talked in your sleep?” I darted up into a sitting position, my half-mast lids still trying to open fully and take stock of everything. I was on the sofa, the TV having been paused, and two empty ice-cream tubs were strewn over the floor like beer bottles.
“When did you get home?” I asked, my voice groggy. The last time I’d looked at the clock, it had been not long after 11 p.m.
“By curfew, but you were asleep with your door unlocked.” His eyes flashed, and I finally took stock of the situation. Carter sat in the only chair in my small living room, his legs outstretched in front of him, and hands clasped on both of the chair arms.
“I tried to stay up until you got home,” I said, darting my attention away from him and pulling my blanket over my chest. I was hyperaware of the bra I’d taken off after the first hour of trash TV.
“I’m not a child, Skylar,” he ground out, and I shivered from his tone. It was dark and menacing, but somehow, I knew he wouldn’t do me any harm. I’d gotten to know him a little over the last week, and I knew he was more like his mom than his dad.
His dad.
I’d only met his dad a handful of times, but back then, I’d only been a teenager myself. I’d not liked him then, and I detested him now for what he put my sister through. The daily beatings, the threats of hurting her family. He’d made her cut all contact, and as he was getting more clout in the neighborhood they had lived in back then, he had more control over her.
Carter didn’t know that though. He had no idea what his mom had been through, because if he did, then he would have been more careful about whose car he had boosted. The irrational side of me wanted to tell him that. I wanted to be open and honest with him, which was something I didn’t think his mom was.
“I know you’re not,” I whispered and swallowed against the lump building in my throat. “I...I spoke to your mom tonight.”
His eyes flashed and he leaned forward on the chair. His arms leaned against his thighs and he clasped his hands together. “What did she have to say?”
“She said...erm…” I glanced away, already regretting it. I wasn’t a good liar. I never had been. It wasn’t a skill I’d needed growing up. “She said you started to boost cars.”
He was silent for so long I wondered if he was still in the room with me, but one look his way told me he hadn’t stopped staring at me. “Did she tell you whose car I boosted?” My eyes widened. He