His eyes ran over me, then he looked at his watch. “What were you doing out this late?”
I took a deep breath. “I was at a party with my friends. Today was the last day of school for the summer.” I looked over the table at the bills that I had sorted earlier today. Now they were scattered here and there. The house checkbook was open in front of him.
“Where’s your sister?” he demanded.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Probably at a party.”
He looked up at me. “It’s almost midnight; your curfew is at eleven.”
I put my hands in the pockets of my shorts. “I took a friend home. And Jessica doesn’t really listen to me.”
“Sit down,” he told me. I sighed and sat down. He looked over the checkbook again. “Why are you spending so much on car insurance?”
Was he serious? “I left you a message in February telling you that Jess had been getting speeding tickets and not telling me.”
He grumbled. “That shouldn’t have brought the rates up.”
“Then you talk to the insurance company,” I countered.
His eyes shot to me. “There are a lot of questions I want answered. And I’m only here for a short time.”
Well, surprise, surprise. He was running off again. This must be a new record.
His gaze ran over me. “I left you in charge, Asher. Can you explain why Jessica barely passed this semester?”
My temper broke. “I’m not her father,” I snapped. “If you want to know why Jess is having problems, then why don’t you stick around and find out?” I got to my feet and headed for the door.
“Asher! Get back here,” he shouted.
I turned around. “Why? So you can lecture me on the way things should be? When you can’t even be bothered to come home for Christmas? No.”
“You are still living under my roof,” he bit out. I stopped. Fuck. “Now, get your ass back in that chair.”
I took a deep breath, walked back into the kitchen, and sat down.
“Answer my questions,” he told me.
I answered his questions and ignored his lectures. The entire time my mind was on the emancipation forms in my desk upstairs that Miles’ lawyer had put together for me. It was a long night.
Chapter 5
Friday
Something wet touched my face. I groaned and rolled away. Right into the wall. Ow! I opened my eyes and glared at Hades. The dog was happily panting away and hogging my pillow. I was going to have to get him his own.
“Why did you wake me up?” I grumbled. He whined at me and wagged his tail. “You have to go out, don’t you?” He barked. “Ugh. We need doggy doors.” I shoved my covers off and worked to get to the side of the futon. He jumped down and went to wait at the door. I rubbed my eyes and tried to wake up. It seemed like I had just closed my eyes a minute ago. Grumbling to myself, I went to let him out.
When I reached the first floor, I smelled coffee. Oh, thank God. I zombie-walked to the back door and opened it for Hades. He ran out. I left the door open to go to the coffee pot that Rory probably brewed this morning and poured myself a mug. I was adding cream and sugar when Hades came back in. I closed the door and refilled his food and water bowels, then sat down with my cup of coffee.
A door shut upstairs before Tara came downstairs in her pajamas. She ignored me as she walked into the kitchen and made her own cup of coffee.
“Are you dating Zeke?” she asked casually.
I cringed internally as I finished my sip. “No, I’m not dating him.” I set my coffee down.
“Then you’re screwing him,” she announced as she turned and leaned her hip against the counter. “It’s the only explanation for last night.”
“What happened last night?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.
“Zeke told me to fuck off,” she replied with a confused look on her face. “He said he didn’t like me and told me to leave him alone.”
My eyebrows went up. “And from that, you’ve decided I’m sleeping with him?” Wow. I shook my head. “Tara…” I looked up and met her eyes again. “Zeke doesn’t play games. If he says he doesn’t like you, he doesn’t like you.”
She looked down her nose at me. “First Asher, and now Zeke?”
I sighed deeply. “Oh my God. Tara…” I didn’t know how to make it clear to her. I was just… too tired for this shit. “If they liked you, I’d be the one telling them to go for it because they’re my friends and I want them happy.” I got to my feet with my mug in my hand. “If they don’t like you that way it’s not my fault, so stop fucking blaming me.” I started for the stairs and went up them without another word. I needed to pack up my research books and hit the cemetery. I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. I was just... done. I didn't have enough time to deal with her bullshit anymore.
I folded up my futon and sat down, taking the time to wake up and drink my coffee. My alarm hadn’t gone off yet, so I had the time. Hades climbed up and flopped down happily.
As I woke up, I started going through my drawers to decide what I wanted to take to Miles’ house.
When I opened my top drawer, I paused. Several pamphlets were on top of my supplies. Rory must have put them in here.
I reached in and pulled them out. A pamphlet about having brain surgery. I flipped to the next one. Support Groups for the Terminally Ill. My lungs grew tight. Next. What is a DNR? My eyes burned. Next. In Home Care or Nursing Home? There were still more, each worse than the one before. I slammed them onto the desk face down and took a deep breath.
It hit me.
This was really happening…
Being tired all the time, crossing the dead and dropping… I was already down the path I’d been dreading my entire life.
After a long shower, I started packing up my research materials. I was almost done when I called Miles.
“Hi.” His voice was cheerful and wide awake.
“Hey, did you get any sleep?” I asked as I continued packing the bag.
“I did, actually,” he said.
I stopped. “You did?” It worked?
“Yeah, I actually fell asleep quickly last night. I was surprised.” His voice was more awake than I’d heard in a while. I smiled.
“I’m glad it worked,” I told him. “Let me guess, you’re working on something?”
“Um, yes.” He hesitated. “I’m working on my RPG game.”
“When you finish I get to play it, right?” I asked as I wrapped a glass vial in a sock before adding it to the bag.
“You will,” he assured me.
“Good. ’Cause you’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t.” I closed the bag. “Miles, do you mind if I stash some of my research stuff over at your house?”
“Of course I don’t mind.” He didn’t even hesitate. “Rory didn’t give permission for a better lock?”
I sighed. “No, he told Tara to knock it off and wants to see if she listens. I’d rather not lose my best supplies in the meantime.”
“Yes, bring over whatever you like.” His voice was warm. “You have a bedroom here, after all.”
I smiled again. “Thanks, Miles. I’ll see you after my climbing lesson then.”
“I’ll be here,” he promised before hanging up. He really was in a good mood today. I quickly changed into my climbing workout clothes; black capri leggings and a black Y-back tank. I grabbed my bag and headed out. Thankfully, Tara wasn’t downstairs when I left.
I hit the top of the intermediate wall, my arms already shaking. Looking over my shoulder down at the floor, I spotted Asher.
“Coming down!” I shouted. Asher nodded and then I let go. I dropped only two feet. I lay back, out of breath, as my arms and legs burned. Asher lowered me to the mats slowly. I dropped to the mat on my back and didn’t bother to move.
Asher bent down and smiled at me. “You made it.”
“At what cost?” I grumbled. “I don’t think I’ll be able to move for the rest of the day.”