Maelstrom (Inferno 5)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kalen

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“Can you give us a second?” I ask Luna, giving my brother a sidelong glance.

She nods and goes back to eating her pizza, making the only option for some privacy being to leave the room.

I set my plate down on the floor in front of me, then motion with my head for Dalton to follow me.

With a shrug, he gets up and trails behind me. I lead him all the way down the hall toward the staircase, where I turn around and look at him sharply.

“Listen, I’m not the biggest fan of Hailey’s but you’re seriously considering letting some stranger who shacked up with some sick old man, and more than likely left as soon as he died watch her while we’re at school?”

Dalton reaches forward and squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. “It’s only for two weeks. She’ll be fine. Mom will be fine. We’ll be fine because it’ll be one less thing for us to have to worry about.”

“What exactly are we going to pay her with?” I snap, shrugging his hand away. “I bet dinner ate up what was left of Hailey’s benefits for the rest of the month.”

“Hm.”

I can see him finally realizing that he leapt when he should have looked first, so maybe now we’ll be on the same page with this.

Dalton’s shoulders sag in defeat as he lets out a sigh. “I guess I can stay home with her.”

I arch an eyebrow. “What? That means you’d have to drop out two weeks before graduation.”

“Well, it seems to be the only option we have,” he counters sharply. Dalton rubs the back of his neck as he cuts his eyes down the hallway, then looks back at me. “I’ll go tell her.”

My hand goes out like a shot, gripping him around his elbow. Dalton looks at me and scowls, but I shake my head.

“Don’t. We can use the money you set aside to get the new sneakers I wanted for my birthday.”

He looks so damn defeated that I almost crack under the weight of his obvious sadness. He had been meticulously taking small amounts of money out of Hailey’s benefits for the past half a year in order to buy me those damned things, but I know how important it is for him to be able to graduate with me.

Not because I’ll be there too, but because he’s earned it more than I have.

He does more than I do to take care of her.

Gives up his Saturday nights, doesn’t go to bed until twilight hours once he’s certain that she’s safe and asleep, then gets up and does it all over again.

It wouldn’t be fair to leave him behind like this.

“Dalton, it’s fine,” I assure him as my hand moves up to squeeze his shoulder affectionately. “Maybe they’ll still be there next year, and I’ll have a job and be able to buy them myself. Or,” I continue mischievously, “there will be a bigger and better pair and then we can splurge on them. Sound good?”

He turns his face away slightly, and I can almost swear that I see him quickly swipe at his cheek before he looks at me again and nods.

“See? It all worked out.”

Everything does eventually.