Page 13 of Broken

She released my hair with so much force, if I hadn't already braced myself on the edge of the counter, my face would have smashed right into the large kitchen faucet. I guess I wouldn't be getting any "dinner" tonight.

Whatever barely edible food I was able to find in the cupboards wouldn't be missed. My parents only bought food when they wanted to look like they cared about their only child.

I put my headphones back in place over my ears, the round ear speakers brushed against the spot where my mother hit me. God, I hoped her slap wouldn't leave a mark. School started in a couple of days, and the last thing I wanted was a bruise across my face on the first day.

A few hours later, the kitchen was cleaned, by me, mom and dad locked themselves in their room doing God only know what. If shut my bedroom door, they wouldn't even notice me for however long their highs lasted.

Usually, a few days would go by before mom would yell at me about how it's my fault dad doesn't love her. Dad would get too close and handsy, and if I pushed him away, or tried to avoid him, he would beat me, and force me to do things I didn't want to do.

I tried to tell mom once, hoping she would make him stop. She slapped me

across the face and called me a liar. She said I better not tell anyone either because everyone would think I was a liar, and no one would want to be my friend.

Shutting my bedroom door, I grabbed the skateboard Mia, and her parents gave me for Christmas last year and climbed out my window. I didn't care for skateboarding, but it was easy to hide from mom and dad. They didn't like when Mia's parents got me gifts.

I rode my skateboard down the street to Kais's house. He always left the window open for me, so I didn't bother to go to the front door.

I was almost around the corner of the house when I heard Kais's mother call my name.

"Sinclair Grant. Have you had dinner yet?"

"No ma'am I haven't," I answered her. Shit, I didn't know if she knew I spent most nights here when I wasn't at Mia's house.

"Well, come inside and eat. I made extra in case you tried to sneak in. No more doing that okay? You come to the door from now on." She wrapped her petite, warm arms around me. "It'll be good to have a girl around these unruly boys more."

I left my skateboard on the front porch and went inside with her.

I hadn't expected Kai to show up at all. The way we had ended our friendship, the way I cut him off, he would be more than justified if he chose to leave town on vacation. I sobbed into his chest. I couldn't hold it in anymore, and Kai was the force that broke the dam.

I didn't need or want words of support, or empathy. He and Mia knew everything that went on, every demon and ghost who haunted those darkest corners, the blood and tears that no amount of paint or

Pinesol could hide.

"Why? Why did she wait to get sober? It's not fucking fair. Why didn't I deserve this?" I sobbed into his chest. Kais’s scent enveloped me, fresh and clean. He smelled the same as he did back then, the last time he held me like this while I sobbed into his chest.

Prom night, the night everything changed between us. In this exact place, I gave Kai my heart. I gave him everything. The night I realized Kai was my first love, not Adam.

"Look at me, Sinclair." His firm tone contradicted the gentle hand that lifted my chin.

I felt a punch in my chest. Those big blue eyes had never changed. The defined, yet soft lines of his jaw are naturally perfect. The little dimple in his chin was hidden by the shadows of his missed shave this morning. My heart raced, and my words stuck in my throat.

"You deserved so much more than this shit hole. You deserved better than what she gave you, better than either one of them gave you."

He didn't take his eyes off mine. He watched and waited for me to relax. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and he let my chin go.

"Are you sure the house can't accidentally catch fire and burn down tonight?" I laughed into his shirt.

Kai laughed with me as a voice chimed in from behind us "Can we please have a reunion without committing a crime?" Mia laughed behind us.

With the two people who had been by my side through the worst parts of my past, it didn't take long at all for my tears to stop and I started to laugh with them.

seven

Sinclair

Mostofmymother'sthings were in decent condition, and I decided to donate everything to the town's thrift store. Mia and Noah quickly volunteered to go pick up boxes and bring them back and left. There was definitely something going on between the two.

I lifted an eyebrow at Kai, wondering what he thought about them. Or if he would even tell me, the interloper. I left them behind to start over somewhere else. I'm the one coming in after being gone for over ten years. No one owed me any explanations; they owed me nothing.

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