Page 107 of Pretty Broken Wings

“Why Rich didn’t pick you. Because you’d tell Mom.”

“What are you talking about?”

“About the…” Axel’s voice lowers like he’s telling a secret. “You know. Hiding the pickle. Gloving the popsicle.” He giggles like he’s telling a joke.

Oh my god, he’s drunk as fuck. He’s definitely going to choke on his vomit tonight. “Let’s get you to bed.” I lean down, trying to get my arm around his. “Don’t puke on me.”

“You know what, I’m glad it wasn’t you, though.”

I try to pull Axel up, but he’s a dead weight.

“I’m glad because you were always the good one.” Axel’s voice tightens. “You wouldn’t have been good if it happened. You would have been like me.”

No.No, no, no.

The reality of what Axel’s saying slams into me like a brick wall. And for a moment, all I can do is hang there, not breathing.

No. This can’t be true. Because I don’twantit to be true.

“You know, I thought about killing him for what he did.” Axel hiccups, then giggles. “I know he touched her. He’s just like Rich.”

I can’t say anything. I can’t even breathe.

“I don’t know if Max likes kids like Rich, but I know he touchedher.”

The words rip through me like a blast of cold air.

Axel laughs. “Something about them… you jussst know.”

Breathe. I have to breathe. I force a ragged breath in, then another and another. I feel like I can’t exhale… like I’m the one who’s going to get sick.

Axel settles himself against me, and I stagger to keep him upright. Even as the anger fills me, the things Axel says are rushing through my head.

Axel is just drunk, right? He’s just talking nonsense like all drunk people?

Like I’m being controlled by a remote, I walk Axel to his room. Mom kept them for us if we ever wanted to visit. Axelfollows without a fight. When I drop him to his bed, I pull the glasses from his face so he doesn’t crush them. He doesn’t even argue when I switch them out. I grab a trash can and make sure the pillows are piled up behind him so he isn’t lying on his back.

“Do you think it’s true?”

“What?” I can barely breathe enough to get the word out.

“That it doesn’t mean anything.”

I stare at my brother. He has a dopey smile on his face. “Sex. That it doesn’t mean anything?”

I can’t answer. It’s like all words are stuck in my throat.

Axel just smiles wistfully. “It doesn’t, you know. It’s just… fucking.” He blinks once. “But I kinda wish it did.”

I hate the vulnerability in my brother’s voice. It scares me more than anything.

“But then, if it means something, it’s the scariest thing in the world.” Axel closes his eyes, and his breathing gets heavy. Then, he passes out.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Gage has been gone for a few minutes, and I’m doing everything I can so as not to have to go back to the living room with their parents. I’m not one for small talk, and the atmosphere is off. And that’s not just because Gage’s mom is a sexy gingerbread man, and Rich won’t stop talking about the hunting trip he has planned at his lake house. I don’t like Rich. There’s somethingabout him that immediately made me tense. Also, every time Axel wasn’t looking, Rich sent him the most disgusted looks.

The boys call Rich by his first name, although they call their mom “Mom.” I can see the resemblance to her. She has the same fairy-like features, though they look more masculine on the boys.