Page 105 of Skin Deep

The front door banged as it swung closed and I frowned at the sight of Xander trudging by, glued to his phone. His eyes were sunken and dark, and his hoodie hung loose from his thin frame. Every time I saw Xander, he looked more and more strung out. War was worried about him, especially when he started losing weight. We both suspected he was getting into heavier drugs, though Xander insisted he wasn’t. War had been urging Tatty and Annie to force him into a drug test and then rehab, but every time they tried, he’d leave, sometimes disappearing for a week at a time. Nobody knew where he went or what he did, but I knew it was driving War crazy with anxiety. He wanted to help Xander, but what help was there for someone who wouldn’t even admit there was a problem?

Xavier wasn’t much better. He rarely left his room, engrossed in video games and his online search for Xion. The few times I’d seen him recently, all he wanted to talk about was some big government conspiracy he was convinced Xion was involved in. War said it was his paranoia getting the best of him and urged him to see a psychiatrist to get on some meds. They’d had a big fight about it a few weeks ago, and Xavier hadn’t spoken to either of us since.

“Xander,” War called out.

Xander paused briefly and looked up at us, blinking like he was surprised to see us. “Oh, hey.”

“There’s cake and ice cream if you want some,” I volunteered.

Xander looked around before shaking his head. “Nah. I already ate,” he muttered and hurried up the stairs.

War sighed.

I took his hand and squeezed it, a look passing between us. I’d told him a thousand times he wasn’t responsible for the bad decisions his brothers made. All we could do was be there to pick up the pieces when everything came crashing down, which we all knew was going to happen eventually. They could only keep going like this for so long.

War’s phone rang and I let him go so he could fish it out of his pocket.

He stared at the screen with a familiar frown.

“Work?” I asked.

He gave me an apologetic glance.

I knew what he was about to say. He had to go. As much as I didn’t want him to, I understood. The price of getting to have War was that I had to share him with others, sometimes at odd and inconvenient hours. He loved his work, both the surgical work he did and what he did with his brothers. I’d never dream of taking it away from him, not as long as he kept coming back to me.

I pulled him close and kissed the top of his head. “Go.”

“But Charlie’s birthday party…”

“It’s half over,” I informed him. “I’ll get a video. Go do your thing.”

“I’ll be back in time to help put the girls to bed.” He stepped away.

I grabbed him before he could make it to the door, circling my arm around his waist to pull him against me. I planted a kiss on his forehead before letting him go. “Good boy.”

Even after all this time, his cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink, but he didn’t try to hide it. He smiled and called, “Love you,” on his way out the door.

“Love you too,” I shouted after him. God, I’d never get tired of that.

THE END

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Drycornstalksscrapedat my exposed arms and legs as I ran. A spotlight swept across the cornfield, searching for me as I scrambled through the dark, and hounds brayed not far behind. I didn’t dare look behind me to seehowclose. I’d almost made it.

Just a little further, and I’d be at the highway. After that, all I had to do was get someone to stop. Then I was home free.

A dog barked right behind me. I flinched and threw myself into the corn. My foot caught on one of the broken stalks, scraping the skin raw. I bit my tongue and squeezed my eyes closed tight to keep from screaming out in pain.

And I kept running.

Warm blood trickled from the scrape on my ankle, cuts on my arms and legs, another on my cheek. Running half naked through a corn field at night probably wasn’t one of my smartest ideas, but I’d already tried every other direction. The soybean field to the east was too low and gave my captors a clear shot at my back while I was running. When I’d tried that way, Boone and his dogs had run me down faster than ever.

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