by Ally Vance
“Oh man, I would not have liked to have been him growing up.” Carter shook his head and pulled his cell out when it buzzed for the tenth time. “Ah shit, I gotta go.” He stood, and I couldn’t help watch him as he stretched his arms over his head, revealing some ink on the bottom of his stomach. The temptation to look closer and see what it was was overwhelming, but I managed to keep my hands to myself.
“Okay. Don’t forget your curfew.”
“Sure, Mom,” he replied, not looking back at me as he moved toward the front door. It closed behind him only seconds later, and once he was gone, I frowned.
The house was empty without him in it, and even though over the last week it had taken some adjusting to having him in my space, I’d gotten used to having him here. I let out a deep breath and turned on the sofa to stare at the TV. I was in the mood for something fun, anything to take my mind off wondering what Carter was doing.
Was this what it was like to have kids? Constant worrying and stopping yourself from contacting them to make sure they were okay? He’d only been gone a few minutes, and my mind was already a whirl of thoughts.
I bit down on my bottom lip and stared at my cell. Maybe I should call Jenifer. She never did tell me why he needed to get away from where they lived, and if I was harboring a fugitive, I had a right to know, right? I unlocked my cell and scrolled my contacts to find her name then clicked call. It rang and rang, and just as I was sure it would go to voicemail, the call clicked on.
“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 couldn’t know, he couldn't— “You think in a neighborhood like mine that people don’t talk?” He stood from the chair and stepped toward me, causing me to lean my back against the cushions on my sofa. He had a darkness about him in the dead of the night, and I was afraid. Not because he was dangerous, but because I was drawn to it. I was drawn to his darkness and helpless in the hope to keep away from him.
“I...don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but my gaze veered from him, a telltale sign I was lying.
He crouched down in front of me and placed his hands on either side of my thighs. He was so close all it would take was one move and we would be touching. I remembered what it felt like when his hand was on my skin only days ago, and the memory caused me to squirm.
“You’re a fuckin' shitty liar, Sky,” he gritted out. “I knew whose car it was. I knew what he’d do when he found out who had stolen it. You think I didn’t want him to find out? I’ve boosted hundreds of cars and not one of them have been caugh
t.” He paused, his honey eyes swirling with something I couldn’t place. “I wanted him to find me. I wanted him to know I was there, watching him.”
“But...you shouldn’t have done that, Carter. He’ll hurt you—”
“Ain’t no one gonna hurt me.” He moved closer, his breath fanning across my face. “I can promise you that. Just like I can promise you this…” His hand connected with my arm, his palm whispering over the skin and up to the side of my neck. “Ain’t no one gonna stop me from doing this either.”
I opened my mouth, about to ask what he meant, but I didn’t get the chance because his lips were pressing against mine. There was half a second where I wasn’t sure what was happening, where I knew I had to stop, but...I couldn’t.
His hands grasped my waist and I was helpless but to drift closer to him and kiss him back. His tongue swiped over the seam of my lips, and I allowed him access. I let him touch me, I let him pull the strap to my tank down, and I let him press his tongue against mine.
It was wrong. More wrong than anything, but I couldn’t help remembering his words in my classroom. He’d been talking about the novel I’d assigned to read in class, but it made me wonder if he thought the same. Who was anyone to say what was right or wrong? Who decided what was acceptable or not? Because right then, with my lips pressed against his and his rough palm tracing the skin of my shoulder and the side of my neck, I didn’t think it was wrong.
I was his aunt. He was my nephew, and—
I pushed him away, my eyes widening. “No!” I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, so I darted up and over the back of the sofa, needing to put more space between us. “We shouldn’t have done that.” I wiped my arm over my lips and stared at him. “That won’t happen again.”
“Why?” Carter asked, standing up slowly. “You know you wanted it as much as I did.”
“I don’t care.” I shook my head and backed away, my back colliding with the wall. “I’m your aunt, it’s...it’s not right.”
He stared at me, his eyes narrowing, but he didn’t say a word, not that I gave him a chance because I twirled around and ran into my room, scared if I stayed any longer of what I’d do.
The kiss had branded my lips and still burned days later. I couldn’t get the feel of Carter’s lips off mine, no matter how much I scrubbed at them. Maybe it was my body’s way of making sure I didn’t forget how wrong it was, or maybe it was something else. Some higher power warning me against—
“Skylar?”
I squealed at the voice and spun around, nearly knocking myself off-kilter with how fast I’d turned. I’d been pacing the front of my classroom, knowing I’d have to teach Carter again today. I’d managed to avoid him for four days, only having to sit in the car with him to and from school. I’d not acknowledged him when he’d turned up to my Monday class and paid more attention than anyone else.
But today...there was something different about today. I wanted to see his face. I craved to know if he was looking at me. I wondered if he still thought about the illicit kiss, or whether he was unfazed by it, because I knew I wasn’t. It was all I could think about, which was the only excuse I had for agreeing to go to dinner with my mom tonight. At least it would get me out of the house and away from Carter for a few hours.
“Hey, Guy.” My lips twitched when I thought about Carter laughing at his name, but I managed to keep my features schooled. “Sorry, my mind was a million miles away.”
He chuckled easily, but there was something about the casual way he leaned against my open door that didn’t seem so casual. “I was just coming by to apologize for my behavior last week.” He cleared his throat and darted his eyes around the room. “It was wrong of me to judge Carter so harshly, and I’d...I’d like to make it up to you. How does Saturday night sound?”
I’d blown him off last weekend, but this was the perfect excuse to be out of the house and to also get my mind off Carter. Guy and I were dating, which meant it was him I should have been kissing, not my nephew. Damn, I couldn’t believe that thought was an actual thought.
“I’d like that,” I told him, smiling gently and skirting my eyes away from him as the bell rang out in the halls. “Pick me up at seven?”
Students started to trickle into the classroom and Guy moved farther into the room, his shoulders relaxed and his lips were pulled up into a smile, but it dropped the second Carter entered the room. Gone was his relaxed demeanor, and in its place one I’d never seen from him before.
I frowned, wondering whether I was seeing things, but it was gone after a couple of seconds as Guy said, “See you then.” He shot a wink my way, but it didn’t have the same effect Carter’s had. It didn’t make my stomach drop and my hands shake. It made me feel...nothing.
My gaze flicked to Carter as Guy walked out of the classroom, and his stare was directly on mine. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking from this far away, but the tilt of his head and the smirk he gave me told me I was doing the right thing. Butterflies took flight in my stomach, and I knew I couldn’t be alone with Carter, not unless I wanted to cross a line I’d never be able to come back from.
Chapter 5
One rule I always had was to never set an alarm for Saturday. It was the day I allowed myself to sleep in, to have a few more hours of the thing I loved most in this world: sleep. Every day of the week, I woke early, but this one day was my reward for all of those mornings.
I rolled over and groaned at the sunlight streaming into the room. It was harsh and brought the promise of a beautiful day, but it was not what I wanted to see when I first opened my eyes.
Instead of lying in bed for another hour and thinking and doing nothing, I pushed myself up and shuffled out of my bedroom door and into the kitchen. I needed coffee, a strong one at that. I blinked several times and rubbed at my eyes, needing to actually see to make the coffee, but I’d left my glasses on my bedside table and I couldn’t be bothered to take the twenty steps back to my bedroom.
“Mornin’,” a gruff voice said.
“Coffee,” I managed to groan out. It was too early to think about the man standing in my kitchen, and definitely too early to stop myself staring at his exposed chest. What kind of eighteen-year-old was ripped like that anyway? Did he take steroids to look like that? Or was it natural?
“It’s natural, baby,” Carter said, and I reared my head back. Did I just— “Say that out loud?” He leaned against the counter, a bowl of cereal balanced on one palm of his hand, and his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Yep, you did.”
“Ugh, it’s too early to even think about this conversation right now.” I shuffled over to the coffee machine my mother had bought me for my birthday and squinted my eyes at it. Maybe I should have gone back for my glasses after all. Several huffs and puffs later, and I still couldn’t make out the words.
“Need some help there?” Carter asked, only now he was much, much closer. His cologne drifted around me, wrapping me up in a cozy blanket, just like the one on the sofa did. His front pressed against my back and I shivered at the contact. I was blaming my lack of coffee for not pulling away. That was the only reason I leaned slightly into him.
“I left my glasses on the bedside table,” I whispered, afraid to talk too loud with him so close by.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice also lower. His hand cupped my exposed shoulder and then he trailed it down my arm and to my hand where he gripped it and held it up to the touchscreen of the machine.
“Flat white.” His long pointer finger stretched over mine, and together, we pressed several buttons. The grinding of the coffee rang out, and I said, “Thank you.”
He was silent for a beat, his hand still attached to mine, and then he whispered, “You’re welcome.” His hand lifted off mine, and I hated how I missed the feel of his skin against me. He leaned closer to me, his breath on the side of my neck causing goose bumps to break out. “Enjoy your date tonight, Skylar.”
I closed my eyes as he backed away, too scared to look at h
im, and stared at my coffee. As soon as it was done, I grabbed the cup and went right back to my bedroom where I’d be safe from any Carter mishaps, at least for today anyway.
The date with Guy had gone like all the others. We went out to eat, we chatted mostly about what side projects we were working on. The only difference this time was the amount of alcohol he’d consumed. It was normal for him to have a glass of wine or two, but as we exited the restaurant in town, he stumbled to the side.
“I don’t think you should drive,” I said, frowning at him as he held his hand up in a wave to the hostess.
“I think you’re right,” Guy slurred, his glasses drifting down to the edge of his nose. He wasn’t as put together as he usually was, and I wondered what had happened. He’d acted weird in school this week, and now this. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if everything was okay, but I somehow didn’t think it was a good idea while he was half drunk. “You drive.” He threw his keys at me and they landed right in the middle of my chest. I huffed out a breath at the impact, and rubbed the spot.
“I...I’ve never driven your car before.” I hated how I sounded—like a scared little girl—but, his car was so much bigger than mine.
“Come on, Skylar. Live a little, what’s the worst that could happen?” I could name all the bad things that could happen while in a moving vehicle, but now wasn’t the best time to do that.
