I push the door open and slip down until my feet hit the ground.
“You know where I am if you need me.”
I nod at him and slam his door shut.
As I walk to the house, his stare burns into my back but I refuse to turn around.
He should have no effect on me, and I need to work harder at stopping it from happening.
6
Zayn
My fingers grip the wheel, turning my knuckles white as I watch her walk into her house.
My need to follow her is all-consuming, but I know I can’t. I might not know all that much about her but I know that there’s a reason Harley hasn’t visited her house in a few months. Harley tried to pass it off with it being because Poppy’s mom had a baby, but I fear it’s more than that. The shadows within Poppy’s eyes point toward more than that.
There’s movement in one of the rooms before she appears with a baby in her arms.
My body tenses for a beat at the sight and my lips twitch into a smile as she runs her hand over the baby’s head.
As if she can feel me staring, she looks up and right at me.
Her eyes harden instantly. Our contact holds for a few beats before I throw the car into reverse and head out before she starts thinking things she shouldn’t about me.
I’m not interested. I don’t want her, I’m just… intrigued… concerned. Captivated, I push that final thought from my head as I speed back toward home and Mom’s punishment of gardening jobs now the rain has stopped once again.
By the time Mom calls me to say dinner is ready, I’m more than ready to give in. Coach is working us hard knowing that he’s going to be sending us all off to play college football soon and then spending hours on my hands and knees tending to Mom’s beloved flowerbeds means I’m exhausted.
“Feel like maybe taking a shower first?” Harley complains when I join the two of them in the kitchen.
My stomach growls as the smell of Mom’s lasagna and garlic bread hits my nose. The rest of the team headed to Aces after our session for burgers. I’d have more than happily gone with them, but I knew Mom would make my life not worth living if I bailed on my ‘time’.
Walking over, I rub my muddy fingers over her cheek while she squeals and slaps me.
“Where’s Letty? She left us again already?” I ask, noticing the absence of my older sister once again.
“Yep, she’s gone to a friend’s for a few days before the semester starts.”
“Anyone would think she doesn’t want to be here.”
“I wish you weren’t here,” Harley mutters, walking over to the sink so she can wash her face.
“What am I going to do with myself when all three of you are at college?” Mom muses.
“Guess you should have thought about that before popping us out one after the other.”
“Zayn,” she says on a sigh.
“What? The lack of time between the three of us is all the evidence we need to know that you and Dad did get along at one point.”
“Can we not talk about your father please and just enjoy a meal together?”
“Sure.” I pull out a chair and go to sit.
“Your sister has a point. Go clean up.”
Rolling my eyes at her, I walk back out of the room to do as she suggests.
Mom changed when we moved here. Hell, she changed before that but it seems even more intense here.
After living a life with nothing and having to fight through every day back in Harrow Creek, she suddenly wants to appear perfect all of a sudden. Although I have no idea who she’s trying to impress with all this.
Back in the day she wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if Dad or I turned up covered in dirt and oil for dinner, she was just glad she was able to put food on the table.
But now, it’s all about appearances.
She got herself some qualifications, a flashy well-paid job and everything changed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, we weren’t trailer park kids with two parents who argued just as much as everyone else in that place, but we were packing up our stuff and moving to a fancy town and leaving one of our units behind.
When I return with clean hands, the atmosphere in the room is heavy, my fault for bringing up Dad and our past. Mom seems to think we left all that behind, but while we might no longer live there, that place will always be a part of our past, our story. She needs to embrace it instead of just running away from it.
“So how was school?” Mom asks tensely as we eat.
Harley chats away about bullshit girl stuff and the cheer squad while I stuff my face.
“I hear you’re struggling with your math homework,” I blurt.
“Is that true, Harley? I told you that if you’re finding it challenging that I’ll get you a tutor.”
“No, no. Everything is fine,” she seethes, while giving me a death stare.
“Zayn is in charge of washing and cleaning up. Harley, I expect you to go and work on that math homework.” Mom stares between the two of us as she places her utensils on her plate and carries it over to the sink. “I’ll be in my office.”
Harley waits for her to leave before she starts.
“Was that necessary?”
I shrug. “Just deflecting her wrath away from me.”
“You deserve it.”
“I beg to differ.”
“How’d you know about my math homework anyway?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Poppy told me.”
“Poppy? When the hell did you see Poppy? She left a while ago to go—”
“Home. I know, I took her. Nice of you to let her walk in the rain, by the way. Finished?” I ask, taking her plate and getting started on the cleaning.
“She was adamant.”
“Well she let me take her.”
“That had better be all you did.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“You need to stay away from her.”
“I think that’s for me to decide, don’t you?”
“She hates you after what you did to her.”
“Pfft, that was years ago, Har. Anyway, she didn’t seem all that bothered on New Year’s Eve.”
“Wait… what?”
“Huh?” Keeping my head down, I smile to myself. There’s not much I love more than winding up my little sister.
“You just said something about New Year’s and Poppy. What did you mean?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The dish towel that was on the counter whips across my back. It stings but I’m not going to let her know that.
“You’re such a pain in the ass,” she mutters, walking to the door.
“But you love me anyway,” I call to her as she runs up the stairs.
Her returning growl makes me laugh.
I know I shouldn’t have said anything. I’d put everything I have on the fact she’s gone straight up to her room and called Poppy for the details. I have a feeling that might not be the last time I see Harley tonight.
And I’m right because not an hour later does my bedroom door fly open and she marches in with her hands on her hips.