Page 10 of Covenant

“Nothing.” I click off the tab, but it’s too late. He saw.

“Are those apartment listings?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me, bro. You’re not good at it.” He reaches over and throws a bit of bread roll at me that I’d been nibbling at. I want to pick it up and force him to eat it. We can’t waste any food.

But he’s already glaring at me, so I leave it where it’s fallen.

“I thought we could barely afford this shithole.”

“Don’t swear,” I say automatically. I’m supposed to be parenting Jackson, right? To be fair, I haven’t done much of that really. Not that our parents did either, but alas.

Trying to keep us alive has taken up all my energy. Besides, Jackson is technically an adult. He probably doesn’t need me on his back all the time.

He proves that thought correct with the next words out of his mouth. “Oh, fuck off, Wyatt. I’ve lost a leg, surely that means I can curse? I mean, I’ve earned it, right?”

I wince at his casualness, making him flick more bread at me. “Dude. You gotta laugh. Crying isn’t gonna bring my leg back. Now, tell me what the fuck is going on.”

I shift in my seat. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Bullshit.” He’s speaking around the roll now, but at least that means it’s in his mouth rather than on the floor. And he’s taken a seat which is making me feel a lot better about the state of the world. “I lost my leg, not my eyes or brain. Do you think I haven’t noticed that we suddenly have actual food? Or the new pajamas you gave me yesterday? Or how about those two appointments that have appeared on the calendar for next week? Appointments I know we sure as shit can’t afford.”

“We can,” I sigh. I don’t know how I hoped to hide this from Jackson. He’s always been an astute fucker. Even as a kid, he saw right to the heart of the matter. Still, I can’t tell him the truth.

If Jackson finds out I went to The Firm…no. He won’t like that.

Not one little bit.

“I found a job,” I say finally. “They paid me the first month in advance.”

“Fuck off,” Jackson murmurs. I sigh internally, deciding right then and there to ignore the cursing. Not that I can blame him, he probably learned half of them from me. “Jobs don’t do that.”

“No, jobs like your stint at the fast-food joint and working at the restaurant as a busboy don’t.” I hide the lies in heavy layers of sarcasm. “But real, grown-up ones do.”

The conviction in Jackson’s eyes fade, the insecurity of youth taking over. “What, so you’re going back to Lawson and Smith?”

I try to hide my flinch. “No. They won’t take me back. Not in a million years. And it’s Lawson and Buckingham now.”

Not that I blame them for letting me go. I’d been in the middle of the biggest case of my career, picked over several partners to be the representation.

But when the call about Jackson’s accident came in, I’d walked out of the courtroom without saying a single word to anyone. I didn’t hear them calling me back, didn’t hear the judge bang his gavel. I just left.

When I’d finally returned to the office, bruised and battered from a lost night of sleep, I found my desk cleared.

Thankfully, Matthias hadn’t been around to gloat. He’d been out of the country on business. And thank fuck for that. I didn’t give two shits about him or his smug face.

If the empty desk hadn’t been enough of a context clue, the letter left on top of my meager belongings cleared up any misunderstanding.

I’d been fired. Of course I had. I’d left the most important case of my life without giving a reason. I was in contempt of court.

“So, some other place then?” Jackson asks, his eyebrow raised.

“Yeah,” I clear my throat, unable to look my brother in the eyes. “Some other place.”

“That’s awesome,” Jackson says. “Hey, I was thinking?—”

I don’t get to hear what he’s thinking about. My attention is caught by a flicker of movement by the door to our apartment.

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