Starlee's Heart (The Wayward Sons 1)
Page 57
“Eh, it’s all Dexter. I woke up this morning and he’d been pulling an all-nighter.”
“A pie-baking all-nighter?”
“Yeah, I’m surprise you didn’t hear the fire alarm when he fell asleep and burned one.” I bet that didn’t make him happy. Charlie reads my mind and says, “Oh yeah, he was pissed.”
“Well what can I do to help you?”
He smiles up at me. “Just hang out for a while?”
“Sure, as long as I can get away with it.”
After a few minutes, I realize he’s rebuilding the inside of the speaker.
“How’d you get so good with electronics?”
“My dad’s an engineer. I think it’s in the genes.”
It’s the first time he’s mentioned his father. “What about your mom? What’s she like?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. She left when I was a kid.”
“I don’t really know my dad, either,” I said. “Is George the same way with electronics as you?”
“He’s smart, but the ADHD makes it hard for him to concentrate. My dad sent him to a bunch of specialists trying to figure out how to get a handle on it. His big issue is something called executive function. I always call it executive dis-function. Because he sucks at organizing. His grades have always been awful and my dad could deal with that, but when he started getting arrested…”
“For the tagging?”
“He told you about that?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he tell you the guys he hung out with had enough weed on them to get an intent to distribute arrest?”
“Uh, no.”
“Or that they got pulled over in the school parking lot?”
“He left that out, too.”
“It was that kind of shit that got him in so much trouble. Just one dumb decision after the other.” He sighs. “Look, my dad had a temper, and I knew how to keep quiet, but not George. He couldn’t stop himself and…it got really bad.”
“Is that why you’re up here with Sierra?” His jaw clenches and he wraps two wires together. “You don’t have to tell me. I was just curious.”
“We moved up here because when he got arrested the state did a few home visits. It became clear there were bigger issues at home. When the state got involved, it was determined that it would be better if George lived somewhere else.”
“What about you?”
“They let me decide. I didn’t have the same problems with my dad as George and they said I was old enough to make my own decision. I wasn’t going to let him go without me.”
“You’re a good brother.”
“No, he’s a good brother. He really is. He’s just a dumbass sometimes.”
His conviction is pure and my heart swells hearing it. Being an only child, it makes it hard to understand that kind of bond—even more so with a twin.
“Dude! Watch where you’re going!” Katie shouts and I peer out at the lawn. George is carrying another box of supplies and bumped into the ladder.
“Sorry!”