“He’ll behave.”

“Like the way he behaved last night, busting Vaughn’s face at the snake pit? Nah, I think I’m good. Vic gave me the rundown.”

Vicious is Vaughn’s dad and the deadliest mofo in the neighborhood. I crushed on him when I was five. Baron “Vicious” Spencer is still a hottie, so #SorryNotSorry.

I have no idea what they’re talking about. Penn? Living here? Why?

“Jackie Chan Jr. was hardly the victim here. Besides, you fought at his age, too,” Mom points out.

“Exactly, Mel. I wouldn’t want teenage me anywhere near my daughters. Not in the same house, and frankly, not even on the same continent. This kid ought to have a family somewhere. Where’s his sister? We’ll buy him a plane ticket. Business class. I’ll throw in private school tuition if you just get that idea out of your pretty head.”

“We’ve been anonymously covering his football costs for years, Jaime. I’ve even gone as far as talking to his stepdad once and trying to open a line of communication. He doesn’t need money. He needs love and people who care about him. If such people existed, he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. I got off the phone with his stepdad a few minutes ago.”

“Christ,” Daddy mumbles.

“Guess what? The man is not even coherent, and Penn’s things are already packed.”

What in the name of the Holy Spirit and Kylie Jenner’s Botox fairy is happening? I thought Penn was rich? Why would he need my parents to pay for his football? And why does it sound like Melody wants him to move in with us? I clutch my glass of water harder.

“If he touches Daria…” He doesn’t need to complete the sentence. There’s a baseball bat in the basement that he named The Kissing Boot. He said he’d use it to beat the asses of guys who tried to kiss Bailey and me.

“There’s too much at stake. Besides, just because they’re the same age doesn’t mean they are going to sleep with each other. I’ve never met two people more different.”

Silence. I know Mel won, but I’m not sure what it means. I think I just got myself into deep shit without even realizing what I was doing. Penn Scully can’t move here because we’ll kill each other before he walks through the door.

Who am I kidding? He’ll be the one doing the killing.

“Nothing will happen,” Mel repeats. “But we need to contact a family lawyer first thing tomorrow morning. I just got his file from Jim Levin, his counselor. He’s no longer a minor, but there’s still paperwork.”

Bitch is not wasting any time pulling strings and making things happen. I bet she bought us all matching Christmas sweaters and is already planning to take the annual photo with her adopted hot child hugging his new sisters and a Labrador puppy on the family couch.

“I’ll text Vic right now. Fucker probably has half a dozen on retainer with the number of enemies he’s made in his extended family alone.” Daddy sighs.

The glass slips from my hand, almost in slow motion, and I watch it crash right atop of my foot. I fight the scream wrestling out of my mouth as it crushes my bones, my foot softening the loud thud, and watch the water splash onto the carpet and the glass rolling off my toes.

I bite my lip so hard, the metallic taste of blood fills every corner of my mouth. Tears block my vision, and they help with keeping the scream at bay.

“Did you hear something?” Dad asks behind their door.

“It’s probably nothing,” Mel retorts.

Yup, I think. That would be me.

 

 

While you were worried about me

I fucked your friend from cheer

She gave me a BJ and a beer

I still hate you, make no mistake

And would love nothing more than to see your pretty neck break

 

 

I kick the small pile of cigarette butts aside and light a new one.

Technically, I was supposed to quit smoking by the beginning of senior year. Coach Higgins threatened to kill me if he found out I broke that promise. But technically, I will no longer be playing football or get to lead my team as captain, seeing as I have nowhere to live—not even a car—so school is definitely not a top priority right now. Getting a full-time job, on the other hand, is. Now it’s just a matter of finding out which bridge I can crash under until I scrape together enough to pay for a motel.

Happy fucking birthday to me.

The thing about living on the wrong side of the tracks is that your friends live there, too, and they all have a good excuse why they can’t take you in. They’re too poor, their places are too small, or their stepdads are also dicks. Boo-fucking-hoo. Still beats my current situation as I sit on a stair leading to Rhett’s front porch with my duffel bag, in which he packed all my worldly possessions.

I shove my bag to the side. Light as a feather.

I let the lit cigarette dangle between my lips as I scroll through the contacts on my phone. Glass half full: I’m so worried about where I’ll sleep tonight, I don’t even feel my swollen face, cut lip, most likely fractured rib, and growling stomach.

It’s the little things in life and so forth.

Crashing at the Ortiz girl’s place again tonight is a big, fat no. For one thing, her parents are coming back from their Caribbean vacation. For another, sleeping my way to a roof over my head is bullshit. Not the actual fucking part, obviously. Just the feeling like a whore portion.

I’m just about to hit the call button on Kannon’s name—his parents have a backyard shed—when a brand-new Range Rover rolls to the curb and stops in front of me. I don’t lift my head. It’s probably Rhett’s boss collecting drug money. I hear the driver’s door open, and five seconds later, a woman in a floral sundress and mud-colored hair is standing above me, staring at me through huge sunglasses. The kind that makes chicks look like flies.

“Can I help you?” I squint up, billowing a cloud of smoke directly in her face just to be a little fuck. It’s high time I justify the pet name Rhett gave me.

“Unlikely, but I can help you. Grab your things. You’re coming with me.” She takes her sunglasses off and looks at me as if she’s been waiting for this moment her entire life or something.

I slant my head, gliding my eyes along her body. What the fuck is her deal? I probably ask it out loud because she actually answers.

“We met once. My name is Melody Followhill. I was your sister’s ballet teacher. My daughter told me your mother passed away yesterday.”

She then tells me that she is sorry for my loss. That she understands it seems out of left field, but she always loved my twin like she was her own kid, blah, blah, blah. Bottom line: she lost Via, and she doesn’t want another Scully kid to fall through the cracks.

What a fucking saint. Mother Teresa—right behind you.

A lot of things are going through my head. The first one being I don’t need her pity. The second one is that, technically, I do. The third one is I hate her daughter and taking anything from her family would feel a lot like selling my soul to the devil. The fourth is living under no roof is going to suck even more ass than sharing a house with Satan. Fighting shit is my MO right now. It’s in my system. I trust adults just a little less than I trust a drunken, crystal meth-using gambler. When given an offer or opportunity, I always look for the minefields. This woman can’t blaze into my life with her expensive ride and save my ass without expecting something.