Page 23 of The Broken Note

She laughs in my face. Her dank breath wafts over me and makes me sick to my stomach.

“You came from me. You and I are in the same boat. And if you have even a hope of climbing out of this hell, you’re taking me with you.”

I release her shoulder and back away from the bed.

Her words are too cryptic for me to understand, but I know two things with distinct clarity.

Mom has no intentions of leaving this apartment.

And she has plans… plans that involve Dutch.

CHAPTERSIX

DUTCH

Zane yawns so wide I can look down his throat all the way to his lungs. He runs a hand through his dark hair and it flops back over his forehead.

A bunch of cheerleaders giggle. Each of them look at Zane as if his mere existence is enough reason to get on their knees and worship him. Even when he’s not trying, my twin can plow through half the female population.

The cheerleaders are sending smiles my way too, but I’m not looking back. My eyes are intent on the horizon, waiting for a pair of long, pale legs to clamor down the sidewalk.

I check my phone again.

Cadey’s late.

“You can still smell the sulfur,” Finn mumbles.

I glance behind me and notice my brother lounging on the stairs. One leg is propped on the railing and the other is so long that it touches three steps below us. An e-reader is in his hands.

“From the fire.” His sharp brown eyes slide toward me. “You can still smell it.”

I firm my lips and look away.

“They rebuilt as much as they could, but it’s not like they could hide everything. Some damages are there for life.” Zane stretches, long arms reaching over his head. “What the hell are we even doing at school today? We should have taken a page out of Sol’s book and slept in, but nooo.Someoneinsisted on coming.”

“Dutch has his reasons,” Finn says knowingly.

I pull out my phone and call Cadence again.

Nothing.

Damn it.

Why the hell does this girl not answer? Did she think I was joking when I told her to pick up my calls?

I have important things to ask her. Like… is she okay? Did she and Vi smooth things over after I left last night?

And what the hell was that talk about a corpse?

“Maybe she doesn’t want to see you,” Finn says, not lifting his eyes from his tablet.

“Why wouldn’t she want to see him?” Zane scoffs. “He went to that dumpster of a neighborhood to look for her sister and convinced us to join him.” He gestures between himself and Finn. “She should be kissing his feet in gratitude.”

“I’m sure Dutch has other ideas on where she can kiss him.” Finn clicks a button to turn his ‘page’.

“Totally.” Zane smirks.

I whirl around and send my brothers a frigid glare. “Can it.”

---