Page 98 of Pretty Black

“Then you’re moving in with me.”

“What?” I asked, turning towards him this time. He was out of his mind.

“It’s the only solution. We have, like, four guest rooms. I’ll explain it to my parents. You have to. You can’t get put out on the street.”

“They already took in Alister…”

“We’ll figure it out.” He turned towards me at a light. “They will let you.”

“I can’t leave my brother.” I frowned at him.

“Maybe he can come too.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t know if I should spend all the money to my name, though. Even if his parents said yes, could I trust them? I didn’t think so. Not with my own mother’s track record.

They’d get sick of having me there. At best, it was a fix for a couple of weeks, and if I didn’t pay the rent on the apartment, we would lose it, and then I’d have no place to go when they kicked me out. Nothing was safe, but nothing had been safe. I was alone and had to figure out how to take care of myself. I’d known this was coming my whole life. I shouldn’t be surprised.

“Not maybe. I know them.”

How did I tell my best friend I didn’t trust adults because they lied? Every single time you trusted them, they lied.

“I can’t.”

“Then let me give your mom the money.”

“No. She’ll never stop looking for it if you do.”

“Then let me buy the guitar.” He was so firm in his conviction. “You can pay me back when we make millions.”

Five Years Ago

Before I opened my eyes, I reached across the bed to find him. Even if it was only a single touch, I wanted to know what it was like to wake up with him. My fingers came up empty. I pried my eyes open as my fingers stretched over the sheets. The bed was empty. I rubbed my eyes. The sun was streaming in the blinds. How late was it?

I never slept this late. My body wouldn’t let me when my stepfather was in the house. I never willingly gave him that type of advantage over me. I liked to be out of the house when I knew he would be home.

I sat up and looked for the clock, but my eyes landed on Cas instead. He was looking directly at me with an expression on his face I didn’t recognize. Was he upset? Had I done something in my sleep to force him out of bed? I thought back on all the things my brother did in his sleep, and it horrified me to think I could have done any of that in front of him.

Fuck.

“What?” I asked when he kept staring but didn’t say anything.Please don’t kick me out.

“Come over here.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Please.”

I pushed out of the bed and padded across the floor to sit next to him on the love seat. He pointed at the screen without a word. I turned to face his laptop but couldn’t decipher what he was trying to show me. It was some sort of spreadsheet, but I felt like I’d been left out of some key to the puzzle.

“What are these numbers?” I asked, searching his face.

“Our listens from last night.”

I turned back to the screen. My brain rejected it. I couldn’t process the numbers. “There has to be some mistake. That’s not...” It didn’t make sense.

“It’s not an error. I checked it three times.” He could barely speak. I’d never seen Caspian like this.

“That’s…” I counted the zeros. Once. Twice.

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