Page 84 of Pretty Broken Wings

Gage lands a shove on Axel. Their voices get snarly, and Axel starts beating on Gage, and suddenly, I’m a kid again, afraid as Dad beats my ass. Buddy scrambles to the kitchen.

“No!” I try to stop her, but it’s too late. She jumps between the men with no worry for her own safety.

Then, Axel notices me. His eyebrows jump up for the quickest second. Then Gage turns around.

I stare at him for a second. Just long enough that he knows I heard and saw them. The confrontation scares me, but for some odd reason, I stand there and take the gamble that they won’t hurt me.

Both men just look at me, then Gage says, “Raven…”

I turn on my heel and stalk away.

I’m gone. I dart back to my room, Buddy scrambling behind. My limbs feel numb, and I’m amped up. What are they doing? Not chasing me. Not hurting me. Not threatening me.

It feels odd.

My dad would have beat my ass if he caught me overhearing a conversation like that.

But they don’t come storming after me. They also don’t come in trying to whine their way back into my good graces, like Max would.

I stare at the door in confusion all day.

How the fuck am I supposed to play this game if I don’t know the rules?

There’s no lashing out for snooping?

Come to think of it, neither of them lashed out when I fought them either. Just moved me from one place to another.

And Axel never touched me, even when I was under him on his bed.

All day, I roll their fight around in my head. I realize I don’t know anything about these men. Who’s their dad? And who’s Rich? What the hell happened to them?

I think about it all day, and all day, I don’t get answers. I also try not to think about how Gage defended me. Why would he do that? What does he want from me? Is it just my silence?

I’m so tired trying to figure it out that I pass out for a little while on the floor. When I wake up, Buddy is there next to me, tail thumping. For a second, my heart races, and I scan the room.

I’m alone.

Nothing bad has happened.

Yet. It’s only a matter of time, right?

As the shadows trace across the room, I get antsy waiting for the bad thing to happen. I know it’s waiting around the corner.

I jump when I hear the clatter of pots in the kitchen, then shake out my hands. I’m tired of waiting. Tired of wondering what they’re doing to sabotage me. I’ll make an excuse to go out and see.

I call Buddy with me and open the hallway door.

I don’t see either of them.

So I stalk down the hall, head high, with Buddy beside me. Axel’s in the living room, lounging on one of the couches, and Gage is in the kitchen. Both turn to look at me.

I just glare, moving to the bookshelf under the grandfather clock. I snatch up a book, then stalk back to my room, heart thumping.

When my door shuts, I watch it.

But neither of them comes to bother me.

“What the fuck,” I hiss, pacing the room.