Twenty-Six
Skye
There was a sharp heartache in me, like I’d lost something big in my life now that Hunter was no longer nearby.
They were placed in an emergency shelter on the other side of town. It was just a room with two beds and a kitchenette. Enough for his mother, and the cat was allowed there, too.
Sometimes I’d cancel tutoring and visit them, knowing there was no way Kurt would know. I’d catch Hunter for a short period of time before he left for work.
“I miss you,” I’d say.
“Just give it time,” he promised. “Before you know it, I’ll be back at your window.”
He’d said that a few times, and after a few months, I’d given up and said, “What if you don’t?”
I’d never forget the look of certainty in Hunter’s eyes, or how he cornered me in the hallway outside his room, looking defeated and resolute at the same time. His lips hovered against mine as he stared me in the eyes, whispering thickly, “Can I…?”
And that was how it would be in the years to come.
Can I kiss you?
Can I touch you?
Can I fuck you, Skye?
Speechless, I nodded, and he ravaged my lips, boldly gripping my breast as he consumed me. I would feel that kiss for years to come. The heat of his mouth. The press of his body against the short length of mine. “I fucking promise,” he growled against my mouth. “You just wait, Skye…”
And I waited.
Now that he was so far away, sneaking out was next near impossible. I sensed Kurt’s smugness about it, like he’d somehow won the war. I never gave that arrogance of his much attention.
I wasn’t going to tell Hunter I felt a void in me. They were stressed enough as it was. But I found a job, not at the fish and chip place for obvious reasons, but as a convenience store clerk. I saved every penny, put it in an envelope with Hunter’s name on it. By the start of summertime, I’d managed to squirrel away a couple thousand dollars.
Maybe—I knew it wasn’t enough, but maybe this would help to rebuild the charred shell that was their home. Half of it was gone, and so far they were still paying the fees to keep it there. I still held hope.
But Kurt noticed the envelope one day. I came home from work, and he was sitting in the armchair, holding it in his hands. I remembered how unnerving he looked sitting there, staring at me with that hard look in his eyes. “Why does this have that savage’s name on it?” he asked first thing before I’d even kicked my shoes off.
I felt hot with anger. “Why were you in my bedroom?”
“I pay for the roof over your head, so I’ll go wherever I want.”
I threw my backpack down at my feet, glancing at Mom who was busying herself in the kitchen. She wouldn’t look at me. “I want to help them move back in—”
“Not a fucking chance,” he cut in evenly.
I glared. “I’ll do whatever I want with my money, Kurt—”
“You are a walking zombie, Skye. You go to school, you tutor, and then you work until late at night, and you don’t even own a car—”
“Summer break is in a week, and I have a bus pass. I don’t need a car.”
“You should be getting a licence, should be putting that money into College—”
“I don’t know what I want to be yet.”
He froze, his gaze unforgiving. “You saying you don’t plan on going to College?”
“I’ve got time to decide. I’ll be in the 11thgrade—”