Page 100 of Cash

As soon as he sees your legs, he’ll know.

I scratched harder.

My fingers dipped under the frayed edge of the tear in my jeans. The holes were big enough to show off my tattoos, but you had to get close to see the scars. No one ever got close enough. No one that mattered anyway.

We followed Dr. Jefferson to one of the rooms. It was Thorne’s. The emptiness of it tore at my heart. There was a bed and a dresser. But nothing on the walls. No personal effects anywhere.

Was he as lonely as I was?

I scratched harder.

“Have a seat, you two.” Thorne and I sat on the bed, and Sam stood by the door, one hand on her belly, the other on her back.

“You should sit down, Sam.”

“I’m good, Kytten. I sit a lot so I like to stand as much as I can. But thank you for thinking about me.”

I smiled and hung my head. I don’t know why her words made me feel shy. Maybe because she was important to my brother. Did he really need me with all these people in his life? Had he replaced me too?

I scratched harder. Both hands digging in the denim covering my legs.

“I’m pretty new here. So why don’t you two share your story with me?” Dr. Jefferson asked. Her eyes kept darting to my hand, and I had to pull it back.

“There’s not much to tell. Our mother left us when we were ten. She walked out the door and never came back,” Thorne said.

“Did she say anything when she left?” Dr. Jefferson asked.

“Yea, she lied.” His eyes cut to Sam and then back, when Sam smiled warmly at him.

“She didn’t lie, Thorne.” Why did he keep saying that? She was protecting us.

“What did she lie about?” Dr. Jefferson asked him.

“She said she had to go out. That we couldn’t go because it wasn’t safe. She lied. She didn’t want us anymore.”

I jumped from the bed. “That’s not true!” I cried. My hand went to my leg, but when I saw Dr. Jefferson looking at it, I put it in my back pocket.

“It is true. I saw her leave with that guy. She walked out the front door and never looked back.”

“What guy, Mimic?” Dr. Jefferson asked.

“I don’t know. I think he was her boyfriend. Every time he came around, she made us hide. She didn’t want him to know she had kids.”

Sam was quiet by the door. Dr. Jefferson didn’t speak either. I stared at my brother with my mouth open.

“She didn’t have a boyfriend,” I argued.

“She did. I saw them.”

I glared at my brother. He was wrong. She was protecting us.

“Is it possible you misunderstood, Mimic?” she asked him

“No. She kissed him.”

“NO, SHE DIDN’T!” I screamed. My hands scratched at my legs.

Sam slipped out of the room, and Dr. Jefferson walked over to me. “Kytten, are you ok?” She looked at my hands.