Page 6 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

SAWYER

How far could I stretch out a can of spaghetti and meatballs?

I was about to find out. My eyes squinted at the instructions.

It said one serving per can, but with a little bit of water I could make more sauce, and that could turn it into something.

The sauce would be all runny and thin, but at least me and Brodie would have some food for dinner.

I heard someone knocking at the front door, and I looked over my shoulder to see the familiar, bright smile of my neighbor through the screen.

Eyes all bright and red hair in loose curls, Lindsey sent me a friendly nod through the screen, her fingers tugging at the white sleeves of her uniform.

She worked at the drugstore downtown, and she had always been more than helpful when it came to tending to my cuts and bruises – whether they came from my dad or from whatever stupid shit I had been doing that day.

“Lindsey, hey,” I greeted her, stepping outside.

“Hey. Is your dad home?” She sounded all cautious as she looked over my shoulder.

I shook my head. “Nah. Haven’t seen him all day. We can talk.”

“I am so sorry to ask you this, but do you think you could watch the kids? You know I don’t like leaving them alone at night.” Hands clasped together, she looked at me with big eyes. “I just got called into a shift last minute, and I…”

Her words trailed off, but I knew what she wanted to say.

That she needed the shift and the extra cash.

The father of her kids had died in a car accident before they could even talk, and I knew that Lindsey needed all the help she could get juggling her job and her kids and the rent and everything else I knew she couldn’t afford.

“I’ll be back around ten. I promise,” she said with a smile. “I’ll pay you and you can order pizza for you and the kids if that sweetens the deal.”

Lindsey had quickly become the mom I never had the chance to know or love even though she wasn’t even that much older than me.

She was only twenty five and had moved in next door after her parents kicked her out for getting pregnant so young, and having twins didn’t make it any better.

Dreams of college and moving away and making it big had to be put on the back burner.

I nodded. I never had it in me to say no to her. “Yeah, I can do it. I’ll head over in a couple minutes.”

“You’re an angel.” Reaching forward, she kissed me on the cheek. “I gotta move fast or I’ll miss the bus, but there’s money on the counter. Order pizza for you and the kids. I’ve got a coupon too. Five bucks off a large pizza.”

“What a deal.”

“You eat too, okay? I’ll be back in a few hours. I’ll go tell the kids. Don’t forget: if Caleb says he can go to bed at midnight, he’s lying! You know their bedtime is at nine!” She took off at that, jogging back to her place.

Turning back around, I watched Brodie take a seat on the couch. “I’m just going next door. Should be back around ten. I gotta look after Lindsey’s kids.”

“That lady who works at the drugstore?”

“Yeah, you wanna come?”

Eyes widening, Brodie waved a hand at me. “Her daughter’s a sweetheart. She braided my hair the other day. But her son? No. No way. That kid’s evil.”

“He’s not that bad.”

“He threw a rock at me. On my first day here. Can you believe it? He’s a menace to society. He reminds me of you when you were that age. ”

I snorted, holding up the can of spaghetti. “We can have this for dinner. I gotta go, they’re on their own. I’ll see ya later.”

My cousin shouted out a goodbye as I made my way next door.

Lindsey’s place was the same size as ours – a little too small and a little too cramped along with being a little too run down, but we both knew there wasn’t much we could do to fix all those little things.

Swinging open the door, I instantly felt two fists colliding with my stomach.

Tiny, little fists that belonged to Lindsey’s son Caleb and weren’t doing much damage, but that didn’t stop him.

“Mom said you were gonna look after us,” he said, still punching at me. “Are you?”

“I am,” I said. “Quit with the hitting. Where’s Summer?”

“I’m here!” The sound of two little feet patting on the carpet met my ears as Summer joined us in the living room. “Hi, Sawyer.”

Caleb and Summer looked exactly like their mom: all big, blue eyes and red hair and wide smiles. Good kids with a good mom, and I wished Lindsey hadn’t been given such a shitty deal at life.

“Hi.” I sat down on the brown couch with Caleb quickly chasing after me. “You gonna hit me all night?”

“You know I wanna play hockey when I get big,” he said. “Gotta know how to fight to play hockey.”

“You also gotta know how to play hockey to play hockey.”

He shrugged at me. “It can’t be that hard.”

“Your hair is so long,” Summer said with a soft gasp, kneeling on the couch next to me, her little fingers tugging at my hair. “Can I braid it?”

“Uh…” I said, but she was looking at me with those big eyes, and just like with her mom, I couldn’t ever say no. “Go for it.”

“I’ll go get my stuff!” Summer took off into her room, leaving me alone with her brother who was still practicing his punches.

“Don’t throw rocks at my cousin,” I said, shaking my head at him.

“Why?”

“It’s bad.”

“You used to throw rocks at people. Where do you think I learned to do that?”

I paused for a second. “Those people deserved it. Brodie doesn’t.”

“I just threw one.”

“Don’t throw any more at him.”

Eyes rolling, he kept hitting at me. “Fine. Whatever.”

Summer came back, laughing away as she ran her little, plastic comb through my hair so hard and fast she almost yanked my head off. “I’m gonna give you a French braid, okay? I learned it at school.”

“You goin’ to hairdressing school already?”

“No.” She laughed. “I learned it at recess. It’s really easy, I’ll show you.”

I had no idea what she was doing – or what a French braid even really was – but I let her have her fun, even when she almost ran the comb against my eyes.

“Can we go for a drive in your truck later?” Caleb asked.

“No,” I said firmly, his sister yanking at my hair. She had way too much strength despite having such small hands.

“Why?” he whined.

“It’s a school night.”

“So? You sneak out on school nights.”

I frowned at him. “Stop spying on me.”

“Mom said we can stay up late, by the way,” he said.

“How late?”

“Like, until after midnight.”

“Uh-huh. She told me something else.”

“What’d she say? ‘Cause my bedtime is midnight.”

“No, it’s not,” Summer said from behind me, tugging hard on my hair.

“Don’t you guys have homework?” I asked.

“I already did mine!” Summer said proudly.

I gave Caleb a look.

“Yeah, I did mine too,” he murmured, not meeting my eyes.

“Go do your homework,” I told him, gently grabbing his small fists. I was being a hypocrite. I had homework too and some dumb thing I was meant to read, but I had left everything next door. Maybe if I had time I’d go grab it and try and make an effort.

“Can we watch a scary movie tonight when we eat the pizza?” Caleb asked.

“No.” Summer suddenly came to a halt. “Nothing scary.”

“Nothing scary,” I repeated, staring down at Caleb. Lindsey would kill me if I put on some slasher flick for them to watch.

Caleb rolled his eyes. “You guys are babies.”

Caleb finally sat down at the kitchen table to do his homework after I threatened to never let him in my truck again, and Summer kept pulling at my hair, happily humming as she went to work.

The only reason she got up was to grab the phone so I could call up the pizza place, her hands back in my hair the second she sat back down.

“Can we get garlic bread?” she asked quietly, and I could have sworn I heard the tiniest bit of shame in her words.

It was a tone I recognized. One I used to feel in my own voice when asking my dad for some food or for some stupid toy or if we could go somewhere for my birthday.

Just to the park, just for a few minutes, can I go on the swings?

A cheap gift. A free gift. All that tone got me was a slap across the face or a kick to the stomach if I was lucky.

“Mom said there was only enough money for pizza and soda,” Caleb said from the kitchen table.

He was in big brother mode, only five minutes older than Summer, and with his own tone different to his sister’s: another one I had collected over time.

It screamed responsibility, because just like me, he had to grow up a little faster than he should have.

“Oh,” Summer whispered.

I frowned as she gently touched my hair, the movements suddenly all soft and all her enthusiasm gone. “We can get it,” I said. I was pretty sure I had enough money in my wallet to get some garlic bread.

“Mom only left twenty bucks,” Caleb said.

“I got it,” I told them, dialing the number for the pizza place. “We’ll get the garlic bread.”

Summer clapped her hands together softly. “Yay. Thank you.”

Twenty minutes and thirty more punches to the stomach from Caleb later, there was a knock at the door. Summer’s hands moved from my hair to my shoulders, suddenly clinging to me.

“You tagging along?” I asked Summer as I got up and moved to the door, swinging it open to see the bored face of the pizza guy.

“Hang on tight, okay?” I told Summer, digging a hand into my pocket to pull out my wallet.

My hands flicked through the cash, counting twenty bucks and then some for the garlic bread.

“You got the money, right?” the guy asked impatiently.

“I got it, I got it.” Handing over the heap of dollar bills and the coupon, I awkwardly held the box and garlic bread with one hand while trying to keep Summer steady. “Thanks.” I nodded at him, kicking the door shut. “Alright, time to eat.”

Setting the pizza down on the kitchen table, I let the kids go at it. They could see the TV from the kitchen, so I switched it on to some dumb cartoon – nothing scary – and sat down with a sigh.

“Mom told us to make sure you ate too,” Caleb called out to me.