She's Broken

Chapter 33

                “Eli said your next court case was soon,” he started and I winced. Out of all the conversation topics out there, it had to be that one. I forced a neutral expression to my face as he spoke.

                “Yeah, it’s in a few weeks,” I replied. Dean rolled his lip into his mouth, the same nervous gesture that both Carter and Eli always did.

                “Look,” he said, taking a breath before glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. I couldn’t help but notice a faint similarity between Dean and Eli. Their bluntness when talking and the silvery fragments to their eyes. Although Dean looked more like Spencer than he did Eli, up close, you could tell that they were related.

                “I am sorry for how I treated you when we first moved over. It was a new school, new kids and new rumours,” he paused, looking pained. “And I guess that when everyone told me what a great guy Finn was and how your parents didn’t like you as much as they did your brother.” He stopped talking for a moment again, seemingly mulling over his words.

                “Back in Australia, Eli was literally Mum’s career. He did everything for her, doted after her, even. I used be her favourite, I don’t know why but she loved me. I made everything so difficult for that woman and she still treated me better than she did him.” I nodded to let him know that I was listening when he stopped for the traffic queue out of the village.

                “So one day Eli told Mum that I’d beaten him up. To this day I don’t know what happened, but the kid came home cut up like hell. He looked like shit. Mum believed him and I went down for six months in juvie for assault,” Dean said with gritted teeth, shaking his head. I watched carefully as he unclenched his knuckles from the wheel and sighed, leaning back in the seat.

                “What I’m trying to say is... I could kinda relate to the story that Finn was giving off. All in all, I didn’t mean to judge ahead, I get now that you went through something... well, something...” he trailed off, obviously feeling awkward. I offered a small smile in return.

                “It’s fine. It’s not as if you were the only one doing it,” I said, shrugging. A pitiful attempt at carelessness.

                “Nah, it was kind of the whole school vs Kat Price and various others,” he said with a small smirk. I rolled my eyes and smiled, relaxing back against the seat a little bit.

                The trip from the village to the outskirts of town wasn’t an awkward silence, just a silence that was only evident because the radio in his car wasn’t working. When Dean had something to say, he would say it and vice versa.

                When Dean pulled up outside a large white building that resembled a hospital, my heart jumped into my mouth. He took one look at me and chuckled.

                “You don’t have to go in. Just go and get a coffee or something. I need to see her, anyway.” Although I appreciated his attempt, I shook my head, pushing the car door open.