I GRABBED THE last of my belongings and went to the parking lot to go home. James was leaning against my jeep as he waited for me, earbuds in ears, paying no attention to the world around him. I learned my lesson from trying to sneak up on him so instead I activated my car alarm, making him jump at least five feet in the air. "I really hate you sometimes," he said grumpily.
"Hurry up and get in," I urged. "We've got my house to ourselves for a few hours." That was enough to make him bolt inside my car and fasten his seatbelt rapidly.
"How was English class?" The distaste was evident in his voice.
"Relax, Holden didn't show up again," I assured him.
Ever since the incident, Holden had been absent from English class. I found out from Brenton who found out from one of his teammates that Holden discovered a sudden burning passion for wood-shop, so he was altering his schedule around to get into that class. I was just waiting on his transfer so Mr. Ridgeway would let me work on our assignment solo. I turned into our street and noticed a car reversing from James' driveway and speeding off.
"Who do you live with?" I wondered aloud.
"None of your business," he said coldly.
I raised my eyebrows. "Let's try that again without the attitude."
He looked out the window to avoid making eye contact with me. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You can tell me anything," I said softly.
His grey eyes peered at me. "Really?"
I nodded, giving his hand a squeeze of reassurance. "Of course, James."
"Can I tell you inside?"
"Sure."
I parked my car and we went inside. James had only been here once, but he remembered the way to my bedroom so I let him go as I prepared a snack. I poured a bag of sour cream and onion chips in a bowl and grabbed two cans of coke before going upstairs. "Coke clogs arteries," he said nonchalantly. "One can will increase your risk of heart disease by twenty percent."
"At least I'll die happy." I popped open the tab and took a long sip, making sure to exhale in satisfaction.
We sat across each other on my bed and James began to speak. "What do you want to know?"
I extended my legs, letting my feet rest in his lap. "Tell me everything."
"I'm serious."
"Who do you live with?"
"My stepdad's brother."
"You have a stepdad?"
"I believe I just said that."
"What about your biological dad?"
"Don't know, don't care."
"And your mom?"
"I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"Come on, you know all about my weird family. Tell me about yours," I urged.
He pushed my feet off of him and looked down. "I wasn't honest with you about myself."
I arched an eyebrow. "I'm going to need you to be a bit more specific."
"You only know the version of me that I want you to see."
"Questionable selection," I teased.
His eyes were emotionless when they locked in on mine. "I'm not joking, Dani."
I sat up straight, suddenly intrigued by the mystery behind his words. "What are the other versions of James Hastings?"
"What I tell you stays between us." He sighed. "I don't want you to think of me differently."
"I won't, I promise," I assured him.
"For starters, I'm eighteen."
I raised my eyebrows in surprise, not expecting that to be his secret. He was older than me by a year, so what? "That's really not a big deal."
"I missed a year of school, hence I'm doing my senior year now," he continued. "My dad wasn't in the picture for long, so it was just my mom and me my whole life. Before she married my stepdad, we lived in a beat-up, shitty apartment. He had a stable career in a factory, so when they got married I thought our lives would finally get better." He laughed bitterly. "Knowing my luck it only got worse. The factory shut down and he lost his job. A few months after that my mom got into a car accident, and the only way to save her was to put her in a medically induced coma."
The entire time James spoke he fidgeted with his hands, his left leg bouncing up and down. It was obvious he wasn't much of a talker when it came to his personal life, but I felt really special that he chose to show me his most vulnerable side. Hearing about his upbringing made me feel like the most spoiled and entitled brat on the planet. It put things into perspective and made every dilemma I had seem so trivial compared to his.
"My stepdad wasted every damn cent that we had on booze, but even if we saved all that money it wouldn't have been nearly as much as we needed to keep my mom in the hospital. I knew that jackass wasn't going to do anything to help, so I had no choice but to make the money on my own." He bit down on his lower lip as he paused. I could tell he was trying not to cry, and it broke my heart to see him in such a fragile state. "She was going to die if I didn't do anything, so I dropped out of school to work full time to make the money. Unfortunately minimum wage jobs don't pay shit, and I needed some quick money because I was losing time."
"What did you do?" I was terrified of what his potential responses could be. Was he a hitman? Did he sell himself out to become a male prostitute? Did he donate an organ to the black market?
"I hit up an old friend and I made a few deliveries for him."
My eyes widened. "Like drugs?"
"No, I delivered pizzas," he said flatly. "Yes, drugs. It was the only way I could make enough money in time before the doctors would have to pull the plug." He glanced at me to see my reaction, but I tried to keep my expression stoic. The last thing I wanted was to make him feel scrutinized and then he'd ice me out and never open up to anyone again.
"Tell me what happened," I said after growing nervous under his watchful eye.
"I made a lot of money and was able to give my mom the help she needed. I'll spare you the medical details, but in the end she was okay. Only thing was, she wasn't conscious from the time of the accident until now, so she had no idea what had happened while she was in the coma." James clenched his jaw and his hand balled into a fist. "My stepdad must have pieced together how I made all that money and he told her. She was heartbroken. My mom taught me morals and shit my whole life to ensure I wouldn't spiral down a dark path like my dad. Drugs consumed him and in the end he decided he loved them more than his family. She wanted to make sure I didn't end up like him, so imagine how she must've felt when she discovered how her treatment was paid for." He paused. "She was upset and disappointed, and when my stepdad suggested sending me away, she actually agreed. So they shipped me off to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, but when we ran low on cash, they sent me to live with my stepdad's brother while I finished high school. And that's the end of my cheery tale."
"James," I said softly.
He shook his head. "Don't. I don't need your sympathy."
"It's not sympathy. It's called being compassionate and considerate for someone you care about."
"Call it what you want but I have no interest." He abruptly stood up. "I need to go."
"James, wait!" I wasn't going to let him get away. What he needed right now was some company, and I wasn't going to let him leave until I knew he was fine. I grabbed his arm, preventing him from moving any further and when James tried to pry me off, I ignored his attempts by wrapping my arms around his waist. He tried to fight it but eventually gave in. "I don't think any less of you," I muttered into his chest. "What you did was understandable. I would do anything to save any one of my brothers." He didn't say anything, but his silence was a response enough for me. I led him back to my bed and my reluctant companion begrudgingly agreed. "You don't do that anymore, right?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Do what?"
"You know..."
"Drug deliveries?" When I didn't respond he continued. "I promise you that life is behind me."
"Good." I snuggled into his chest. "Where does your mom live now?"
He shrugged. "My guess is as good as yours."
"We should search for her."
"I have absolutely no interest." He gave me a stern look. "And you better not either."
"Fine, I won't." We both had to know that was complete bullshit.
~*~
I had almost made it to my car when a hand clamped on my shoulder. Praying it wasn't who I thought it was, I turned around to see exactly the person I was avoiding. "When'd you turn on incognito mode? I've been looking for you."
"Hey, you," I was trying to keep my voice as nonsuspicious as possible, but thankfully he was too busy rambling to notice.
"Guess what I got on my calculus test?" James held the test up in front of my face. "A ninety-six! You have no idea how hard it was, and I got the highest mark in the class."
I gave him a peck. "I'm so proud of you."
He grinned at me. "Don't you think this calls for a celebration?"
"I'd love to, but I have to go to my mom's office to drop off some stuff," I lied right through my teeth.
It killed me to see him frown. "That's fine. Talk to you tonight?"
"Sure."
I gave him one last kiss before getting into my jeep and driving in the complete opposite direction of my mother's office. I drove down the vaguely familiar path for almost an hour until I entered the town of Penbrooke. I had only been here a handful of times, so I was heavily relying on my phone's GPS to bring me to my destination in one piece. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted the familiar building and parked my car in the lot. I then entered the building and took the elevator to the fourth floor, heading to the room I had only been to twice before. I knocked on the door and it opened within seconds to reveal a short and chubby guy with glasses. He looked disappointed to see me.
"You're not the pizza delivery person."
"And you're not my brother. Seen him around lately?"
He shut the door in my face and disappeared. A couple of moments later the door opened to reveal a very confused Niko dressed in pyjamas. "Is it Christmas already?"
"I brought donuts." I handed him the box and made my way inside.
"What are you doing here?" He rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn.
"More importantly, why are you sleeping at four in the afternoon?"
"I was up all night studying," he retorted. When I gave him a questioning look he held his hands up defeatedly. "Fine, so maybe there was a small party."
"Mom would love to hear that."
He rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I need your help."
"I don't like the sound of that." He suddenly became much more alert and awake. "You're not pregnant, are you?"
"No!" I cried. "I just needed somewhere to work where James couldn't find me."
Niko's lips turned up into a taunting smirk. "Trouble in paradise already?"
"I'm trying to find his mom."
"Not what I was expecting," he muttered.
"Me neither," his roommate, who I forgot was even here, said.
"Will you help me find her?" I begged. "Please, please, please?"
"We'll do it!" his roommate answered eagerly.
Niko smacked his palm against his face. "Martin, don't you have studying to do?"
"I'm bored," he answered offhandedly. "Besides, I love cracking cases. Let's do it!"
"Come on, Niko," I persisted, not at all acknowledging that his creepy roommate was more interested in finding James' mom than I was.
"Fine," he said in defeat. "But next time call before you come."
"You're the best, thank you!" I wrapped my arms around him, instantly retracting them when his body odour hit my nose. "Do us a favour and go shower first."
Once Niko was freshly showered, we were off to work. By luck, his weird roommate just so happened to be a bit of a computer genius. I gave him all of James' basic information, and using his stubby little fingers he typed away on his computer.
"How much longer?" my impatient brother groaned.
Martin glared at him, clearly irritated though I couldn't blame him. "Respect the process," he snapped. "I get it you're too stupid to understand what I'm doing, but let me work in peace."
Now Niko was arguably the most composed Parker child, but he didn't take jibes to his intelligence kindly. He stood up, his hands clenched into fists and his six-foot-three figure looming over poor little Martin. "Would you like to repeat that, Marty?"
The nerd's eyes widened and he gulped nervously. "I-I didn't mean that!" he testified. "I'm sorry!"
I stood up and placed my hand on Niko's chest before giving him a gentle push. "Let's go check out the cafeteria, I'm starving."
He gave Martin an annoyed look before quietly obliging. I've said it once and I still stood by it, this was why Niko was my favourite brother. We left Martin to do the dirty work in peace while we went to go appease my bottomless stomach. After browsing through the countless food options, we finally decided on a wings place. When it was our turn to order, Niko pushed me out of the way and placed the order for us.
"We'll get the two-pounds spicy barbecue wings with a coke and a water," he said.
The cashier nodded as he punched in our order on the computer. "That'll be sixteen seventy-five."
"Let me," I offered, but Niko tapped his credit card. "What the hell was that for?"
"I work at the campus library," he answered. "I can pay for myself. I don't need her money."
I smirked at him. "So I assume you're paying for your tuition and residence then?"
Niko flipped me off, which only made me laugh in return. Any residual anger he had disappeared when our food was ready. We grinned at each other before finding a table and oh-so-graciously pigging out.
"Tell me," I said as I licked barbecue sauce off my fingers. "How'd you get stuck with a guy like Martin?"
He shrugged his shoulders while unscrewing the cap on his bottle of water. "It was the only three-person room that had one person." He paused. "Though I can see why..."
"What about your bitch?" I smiled sheepishly when Niko scowled.
"Fortunately I've had no run-ins with her since the breakup."
"How'd that go?" I was hoping for a shit load of tears. I hated Monica more than I hated Cade, and that was saying something.
Niko's mouth formed into a grimace. "In the worst possible way. She broke Angelina's window."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Angelina was the name of Niko's beat-up old car. He loved that hunk of metal more than he loved Brenton and Alex combined. "You should press charges."
"Mom would love that," he scoffed. Noticing how tense I got at the mention of our mother, my godsend of a brother changed the topic. "You patch things up with Brent yet?"
"Can't you move back home? Things are so much easier when you're around," I whined.
Niko smiled at me and I found myself smiling back. "I missed my baby sister."
My lips turned into a frown. "I missed my big brother."
"No more being sad," he warned, snatching a wing from my container. "Save that shit for when you're back home." I rolled my eyes, but the chuckle I let out said otherwise.
Once we finished eating and dwelling on solely positive thoughts, we returned back to Niko's dorm where Martin was hard at work.
"I got you some food," Niko said, holding up the plastic takeout bag as a peace offering.
"Come look at what I found," Martin replied. I peered at both boys with confusion. Was that all it took for guys to make up?
We listened to Martin and went to his computer which displayed a small house. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to explain why there was a random suburban house on his desktop.
"See that house?" He pointed at his screen. "That's where your boyfriend's mommy lives."
I gawked at him in disbelief. "How the hell did you find that?"
He smiled in satisfaction as he cracked his knuckles. "I have my ways."
"That's pretty awesome," Niko admitted.
Martin showed me the address and I typed it into my phone to have it saved. Surprisingly, James' mom only lived about an hour away from Stone Creek. All I had to do was convince him and then I'd be able to reunite them.
"You're amazing!" I threw my arms around Martin's stubby little neck. "How can I thank you?"
He eyed me up and down, a dorky smile making its way to his face. "Perhaps you can g-go on a d—"
"Not happening," Niko interjected, earning a laugh from me and making Martin look ready to shit himself.
"How about a thank-you instead?" I offered.
He looked bummed but quietly nodded in response. Niko patted his head approvingly. "Wise choice. Now go eat your food before it gets cold."
As Martin scampered off, I beamed at Niko. "I can't wait to tell James."
"Right."
His reply instantly made my head snap up, my eyebrows raised. "And what's that supposed to mean, Nikolas?"
He rolled his eyes at me for using his full name. "I hate to rain on your parade, but you didn't even tell him about this plan. What if it pisses him off? I mean, you can't just intrude into someone's private life like that."
"You don't know him like I do," I dismissed but I couldn't shake the foreboding feeling forming in the pit of my stomach. What if Niko was right? Maybe I was overstepping.