Starlee's Turn (The Wayward Sons 2)

Mr. Evans turns his gaze on me. “And who the hell are you?”

“I’m his friend.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Friend,” he says, laughing darkly. “Whore is more like it.”

I step back like I’ve been slapped.

“What did you say?” Sierra shouts, jumping forward.

“Okay, that’s enough.” The officers move to separate them, shuffling Mr. Evans toward the door.

I stand with Sierra while they remove him from the building. She wraps her arm around me, and Dexter and Jake emerge from wherever they’d been hiding out. It’s pretty clear neither of them heard him call me a whore.

“That guy’s a piece of work,” Sierra says, shaking her head.

“I guess I understand why they moved out a little better now,” I say. Jake wraps his arm around me.

“The good news is that George is okay,” Sierra says looking exhausted. “I think I’m going to stay the night.”

“I want to stay, too,” Charlie says.

She touches his shoulder. “Okay. Dex, you get Jake and Starlee back home.”

“I’ll open the shop in the morning.”

“No, you’ll go to school. The last thing we need is the truancy officer showing up.”

They stare hard at one another. Finally, I say, “I’ll make sure he gets to school. Both of them.”

“Thank you, Starlee.”

We all give her and Charlie hugs, then go back and do the same to George, although he’s half asleep. Sierra’s going to stay with him to make sure he doesn’t have any side effects from a likely concussion.

On the way back to the car, I see a man sitting in a beat-up, brown truck. Mr. Evans. I don’t mention him to Dex or Jake. The last thing we need is more trouble and I know Charlie and George are safe in the hospital.

“How did he end up here, anyway?” I ask, getting into the passenger seat.

“Who?” Jake asks.

“The twins’ dad. How did he know George was here?”

“Probably a paperwork mix-up,” Dexter says, starting the Jeep. He pulls out of the parking lot and heads back up the highway toward Lee Vines.

“Is it true that he hasn’t tried to see them all this time?”

“As far as I know,” Jake says. Dexter nods in agreement.

I stare out the window into the dark night. In the past, I would have wondered what my mother would do if left to live elsewhere, but now I know. She hadn’t made any effort to see me, either. Now I’m a little nervous to know what may happen if she ever tries.

26

Starlee

It’s rough getting up the next day after coming home so late, but I do get both Jake and Dexter to the car on time. Dex passes me a mocha and a day-old Lucifer lemon bar and Jake crawls in the back, quickly falling back asleep for the ride down the mountain.

There’s an odd buzz, along with a huge banner, when we walk in the front door.

HoCo 2019-Masquerade.