Wiggling down amongst the blankets, something dug into my ass. Groping around in the dark, I yanked out a stick which had managed to find its way inside, and tossed it over the edge. I laid back and looked at the inky sky above my head. I wasn’t deliberately looking for a shooting star to hang my wishes on, but if by chance I saw one, I’d wish like my life depended on it. Yet nothing came. Dark storm clouds rolled in, and in the distance the thunder rumbled. I hoped it would hold off. If it started to rain, my options were restricted even further, and right now I was too exhausted to even ponder them.
Rolling over, I checked my phone. I have no idea how, but I managed to always park somewhere that had service. Having service out here was a rarity. There were spots, even in our house, that didn’t pick up a signal. In my own bedroom, if I was on the right-hand side of the bed, no troubles. If I was on the left, I had nada. Logging into my social media accounts, all I saw was the same bullshit. All the same girls posting fake selfies from the weekend. I don’t know why they bothered. Out here, in a town this size, in a school the size of ours, everyone knew everyone’s business, anyway. Most of us had known each other since birth or pretty close to it. There was no point faking anything. Around here, the truth always came out—something a lot of people seemed to forget these days.
Caitlyn and Amber, the two fakest, annoying wannabes in my class, had filled my newsfeed. One’s cat wore a tiara. The other ate a block of chocolate. There were selfies of them before and after makeup. To me, the after shots made them look like twenty-five-year-old drag queens. And not attractive drag queens, either. They’d tagged me in a bunch of shit, all of which I scrolled past.
Ten minutes later I had a headache and was so annoyed at all the crap, I set the alarm, silenced my phone, and tucked it under my pillow. It didn’t escape my notice that I’d been gone for over three hours now and there was not one phone call or text message from my parents wondering where I was. Guess I only mattered when they could use me as a weapon in the war against each other.
The alarm hadn’t sounded but I was already awake. When the fat drops of rain started splattering my face, it was possibly the quickest, rudest awakening I’d had in a while. Not even bothering to pull my jeans on, I rolled up the swag into a messy bundle and clicked the clasp together. Once I got out of this rain, I’d do things properly. As quick as I could, I stuffed it in the passenger seat before running around and sliding behind the wheel. At least Dad hadn’t been stingy when he’d bought the car. It was a brand new, top of the line, four by four. I hated everything it represented. The only reason I even drove it was it gave me my escape. My only option to get the hell out of there. There was no way I was giving that up without a fight. Not even if it made me look like a spoilt brat. People could say whatever the hell they liked, I didn’t give a shit. This was my compensation for putting up with the shit going on behind closed doors.
Pulling up to the house, it all seemed quiet—the complete opposite to what I’d walked out on last night. Last night, every light in the house was on, every window open, and the screeching followed me out the door. Now though, it was dark and silent and eerily still. For the first time since all this shit began, I found myself anxious about what I’d find when I walked through the door. Finding Dad passed out on the couch wouldn’t be anything new. Finding Mum standing in the kitchen scrubbing pots that were already clean in her pyjamas, again, nothing I hadn’t seen before. A broken plate or a shattered glass in the bin, sadly it wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe, if I hoped hard enough, I’d walk in and find suitcases by the door and one of them conceding defeat.
Climbing out of my ute, I left the keys hanging in the ignition. Seemed the smartest place to leave them. All I wanted to do was run in, grab a quick shower to try and work the kinks out of my aching muscles—it seemed no matter how much you spent upgrading your swag, sleeping in the back of the ute was never as comfortable as crashing in a proper bed. If I could just grab my shit for school, I could be in and out in fifteen minutes, hopefully sight unseen. Then I’d hit up the bakery and grab breakfast. My mouth watered at the thought. A couple of hot cinnamon scrolls washed down with a bucket of strong coffee and I had half a chance at surviving the day.
All in an ideal world.
Shame I didn’t fucking live in that world.
Instead I lived smack bang in the middle of this bullshit.
Straightening my aching back, I sucked in a deep breath and walked into a whole world of fake. Dad was sitting at the dining table, sipping coffee and reading the paper. Laid out before him were plates filled with tomatoes, bacon, eggs, sausages, and even hash browns. It would have been fine if Dad had cooked them himself. Except I knew better. Not once in seventeen years had I seen Dad so much as cook a piece of toast. Even when Mum was basically bedridden and sick, she’d always pulled herself together, crawled out to the kitchen, and cooked him something. Usually whatever he requested. So when I rounded the corner and stepped into the huge kitchen, I wasn’t surprised to see Mum standing there in her slippers and pink robe, her hands buried in the sink full of suds as she scrubbed the frying pan.
“Oh, there you are, sweetie. I was worried.”
I bit my tongue. The reply that was itching to come out was harsh and rude, and she didn’t deserve that. Okay, maybe she did, but it wouldn’t do me any good to attack her now. If she was that fucking worried, she might have, I don’t know, called.
Instead, I placed a quick kiss on her cheek, noticing the deep black bags under her eyes before turning and walking away.
“Did you want some breakfast, Jack?”
“No time,” I lied. I had plenty of time, just none I wanted to spend pretending to be something we weren’t. I was done playing the role of dutiful son in this fake happy family.
Taking the steps two at a time, I raced into my bedroom, grabbed my uniform, and headed for the bathroom. Staring at my reflection, I hated the guy staring back at me. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t fuck up. Believe me, I’d tried. At school, I was struggling. I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do when I finished at the end of the year, but the way I was going, it didn’t look like it was going to be an issue. I wasn’t going to finish. I was too dumb to pass the exams, so I’d get another chance next year. Rubbing my hand across my chin, I knew I was due for a shave. The bum fluff I had needed taking care of every couple of days, otherwise I looked homeless. Given my current sleeping arrangements, that wasn’t necessarily a stretch. Grabbing my toothbrush, I stepped into the shower under the scalding spray. It wasn’t even seven on Monday morning and already I was hating on myself. Looked like it was going to be a long week.
Even though I’d been up before dawn and out of the house as fast as I could, somehow I was still late. Mr Small, the asshole maths teacher who seemed to take some sick pleasure in watching me fail and enjoying my tardiness. I hadn’t meant to be late. After I’d left home, I’d driven straight to the bakery, grabbed breakfast, then parked my car. After inhaling my scrolls and coffee, I closed my eyes for a second, trying to mentally prepare myself for the week ahead. The issue was, when the bell rang an hour later, my heavy, sleepy eyes cracked open again. Even running across the oval and almost knocking down a couple of wide-eyed year seven girls, I still hadn’t made it to the classroom on time.
“Late again, I see, Mr. Reynolds.”
“Uh, yeah. Sorry, sir.”
“Sorry, sir? Is that all you’ve got? Do you think that’s going to cut it in the real world when you’re late for work? Sorry, sir?” This guy was a giant tool bag. Did he have any fucking clue how things worked in the real world? And by real world, I mean the real world around here. Not around whichever snotty city town he’d transferred from.
I didn’t want a detention today. I couldn’t be bothered. So instead of arguing and explaining how it really worked, I slumped into my seat and yanked my dog-eared book from my bag. This was going to be one long ass lesson.
Behind me I could hear Caitlyn and Amber sni
ckering. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like their grades were any better than mine. The way they were going, the only thing they’d end up doing after high school was spend the majority of the next ten years knocked up. Not necessarily with the same father, either. If you bothered to listen to the gossip that flew around this town faster than flies on a dead kangaroo they were already working on it. At one time or another they’d set their sights on me, or more likely my bank account, but it never lasted. Thank fuck. Maybe ’cause I never bothered to acknowledge it or give in to their bullshit. That’s all it was. Attention seeking. And if that’s what they wanted to do with their lives, then who was I to judge? As long as they understood that I had absolutely no intention of being a part of it. Ever.
Ignoring their comments and innuendos, I tried to concentrate on what Mr. Small was scribbling on the whiteboard. Maybe I’d be better at maths if he was better at hand writing. I could hardly read his chicken scratch. How was I supposed to balance the equation if I couldn’t even tell if he’d written x or z?
By lunchtime I’d had enough. Being in my last year, my timetable was pretty flexible. I’d already suffered through a period of maths then double English, where I’d spent two hours trying to understand what Shakespeare was babbling about. I was exhausted. I knew I couldn’t keep doing this, but I wasn’t sure what other options I had. Things at home sucked ass, and until they got better—either Mum and Dad sorted their shit out, or one of them finally grew a pair and moved out—this looked like it was going to be my life. At least for the foreseeable future.
Not even bothering to pretend to be sick, I dug my keys from the bottom of my backpack and headed towards the parking lot. After a quick stop over at the store on my way home where I replenished my snack supplies, I grabbed some hot chips and headed home. Even if Mum was there, I doubted she’d say anything. She never had before, so I had no reason to believe she’d start trying to mother me now.
I was almost home when I spotted someone sitting in the dirt, face in their hands. Out this far, I looked around, trying to spot her broken down car or runaway horse. As I got closer, I realised it wasn’t a woman, but a girl. A girl wearing the same school uniform as me. Slowing up, I came to a stop right in front of her. Peering out the window, she looked so damn sad it hurt.
Killing the ignition, I jumped out and stalked around the car. She was obviously startled. Her eyes were wide, her face pale, and her hair everywhere. It was filled with dead leaves and twigs, yet she seemed completely unaware. She couldn’t have been any older than I was. She was so small. I had to help her. There was no way I could walk away and leave her sitting on the side of the road. Not like this.
Leaning back against the dusty door, I folded my ankle over the other and dug my hands in my pockets, trying to look casual and non-threatening. “Hey.”
She shifted her weight and I noticed the angry red scrapes on her knees. When she looked up at me with her huge, sad, soulful eyes, I knew there was no way I was going anywhere anytime soon.
“Hi,” she squeaked meekly. She wrung her hands in her lap, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
“I’m Jack. I live a couple of k’s down the road.” I needed her to be okay with me. The last thing in this world I wanted was for her to be afraid. “What’s your name?”
“I’m…I’m Holly.”
“Nice to meet you, Holly.”
Squatting down to her eye level, I pulled a twig from her hair. “Everything okay?”
“Yep.”
She lied. Straight out lied. I wasn’t worried about it. She wasn’t lying to be malicious. It was all about self-perseveration. Something I understood all too well.
“Miss the bus?”
“No.”
“Car break down?”
“No.”
“Why you sitting in the dirt? Waiting for the spiders to jump in your hair or a snake to crawl up your leg?”
Her eyes went wild, her face paled as she sprung to her feet, her hand over her heart as she gasped.
“Snakes?”
“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.” That got me a reaction. She scrunched her face up and I noticed she had the most adorable little wrinkles between her brows. “You going to tell me why you’re sitting in the dirt in the middle of the afternoon?”
She rolled her eyes and huffed dramatically. “Do I have to?”
Wow! She could speak. And she was sassy. “Nah. Not if you don’t wanna.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
What the hell was I supposed to do? Leaving her out here on her own didn’t seem like a smart idea, but then again, taking her with me wasn’t either. It was one of those damned if I do, damned if I don’t situations. It sucked ass. Rising back to my full height, I wiped my clammy hands on my thighs and squinted in the sun. It was a bright, hot afternoon. After a few minutes of silently shuffling back and forth, kicking rocks around my feet, I was bored.
“I’m gonna head off.” She looked panicked. It physically hurt to see that terrified look consume her. I hated that I was responsible for it. “Did you wanna come for a drive?” I offered.
She looked up and down the road, then back down the driveway, which led to a house you could barely see. I guess she was weighing up her options. Not that she really had many. She either came with me, someone she didn’t know, someone she shouldn’t trust, or she stayed. Simple as that.
“Okay.”
I stumbled backwards, my ass colliding with the door. Even though I’d thrown the offer out there, I really didn’t expect her to agree. Without a word, I opened the door and gestured for her to climb in. Once she was seated, arms wrapped tightly around her red backpack, I headed around the other side and hopped in. A few minutes later we were bouncing down the road, the low music playing in the background.
I turned down the driveway and noticed both Mum and Dad’s cars were gone. Feeling the weight lift off my chest, I wanted to dance with relief. But there was no way I was about to expose this chick to my bullshit-filled life. Even though neither of them were inside, I didn’t want to be either. I don’t know why. I was tired as hell and a nap sounded perfect right about now, but I didn’t want to spend a second longer than I had to in that house. Maybe with all the crap that’d been going on, I’d just given up. Switching off the ignition, I jumped out and waited. Holly looked slightly scared, unbuckled her seatbelt after a moment and fell out of the ute, landing on her ass.
“Ouch!”
As quick as my feet could carry me, I darted to her side and helped her up. Dusting off her hands, I watched as she spun in a circle, checking to make sure everything was okay. From where I was standing, everything was more than okay. It was fucking delectable. She had this sexy as sin ass that was round and pert and covered in dirt. When she cleaned herself up, I found myself adjusting my ever-tightening pants.
“You okay?” I asked, my voice coming out three octaves lower than normal.
“Just embarrassed.”
“Don’t be.” Standing next to her, I realised how damn tiny she was. I stood just over six foot these days and she had to be lucky if she was five and a half feet. It wasn’t just her height though that made her small. It was the defeated way she carried herself. Even though she hunched her shoulders and her long brown hair hung halfway down her back and curtained some of her face, I could see how pretty she was. I wondered if she could see it. Something told me she was absolutely clueless. And those tits. Even though the shirt she wore was the same one as everyone else at school, a simple white polo, and hers was at least two sizes too big, I could see the outline to her tits, which appeared to be the perfect handful, a theory I wasn’t opposed to testing.
Shaking my thoughts about boobs and ass off, I had to at least appear to be a gentleman. I stuck out my hand and hoped she’d take it. “Want a drink?”
I watched as she freaked out. First she wrapped her arms around her chest and backed away from me. Giving her the space she obviously needed, I let her move aw
ay. When she tipped her head back and started gasping, I felt my own heart rate speed up.
“You okay?”
“I-I…I shouldn’t be here.”
Okay. What the hell? “You’re all right, Holly. I’m not going to hurt you.” I wanted to slap myself. Even though it was true—hell, I’d probably hurt myself before I deliberately hurt her, promising I wouldn’t was exactly something a serial killer would say. I’d seen enough dumb ass movies to know that.
“I don’t even know you.” She stated the obvious.
“What do you want to know?” Jumping up, I sat on the bonnet with my feet resting on the bumper bar.
She looked startled by my offer. Frankly, so was I. I was so not an open book, yet here I was offering to spread the pages of my life and let her read all my dirty secrets.
“Why am I here?”
“Because, Holly, I couldn’t leave you sitting on your pretty little ass in the dirt looking so damn sad.” She blushed a deep pink and it made her even more adorable. And I didn’t even use words like adorable. Ever.
“Oh.”
“My turn. Why are you here?”
“Who said you got to ask questions?” Shit! There was a feisty girl under all that. Now I was even more intrigued, if that was at all possible.
“Fair’s fair. You ask a question. Then it’s my turn.”
“Fine! But you have to only answer with the truth. No lies. No bullshit.”
Someone, some asshole, had lied to her before. It was as clear as day now. She didn’t have to tell me to figure it out. I might not be a genius, and my grades might suck, but even I couldn’t miss that.
“Always. And if you don’t want to answer, just say so and we move on. Deal?”
Fighting Back (Meet the McIntyres Book 3) Page 3
