Family Love by Crowe Liz

Author:Crowe, Liz [Crowe, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: BeerWench Enterprises LLC
Published: 2015-09-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

“I’ve gotta hand it to you, little sister,” my oldest brother Antony said on the phone the next day. “You sure know how to cause more than your fair share of trouble.”

I’d come in from school, anxious, mildly sick, and hungry, since I’d been avoiding food for over a week, afraid I’d get fat and lose my place at the school I’d worked so hard for. “Don’t tell anyone else,” I said, sliding down the kitchen wall.

“I haven’t. You know, that kid should—”

“I haven’t told him, and I’m not going to. His mama would make us get married. You know how that family is.”

He heaved a huge sigh, sounding so much like our father it was eerie. “Why in the hell did you make it a dinner table announcement? You know that’s not gonna help.”

I swiped my fingers under my streaming eyes. “I need to get it taken care of and soon. I don’t care what she thinks of me anymore. She’s never liked me. Nothing I do or say—”

“Stop whining. Jesus,” he said. “You two are worse than a pair of squabbling sisters.”

“I wish. If she was my sister maybe she wouldn’t be such a bi—”

“Don’t. Just don’t. That attitude doesn’t help.”

I got to my feet, my mind floundering over where to turn, what to do next, what the hell I would do if my father and my oldest, most trusted brother wouldn’t help me out of this mess. “You’re in no position to talk to me about my attitude, Antony Ian Love. You won’t even look at your poor little girl. Mama and Daddy are raising her like she was their own, and that’s not even close to right.”

“Don’t lecture me, Angelique. Not if you want my fuckin’ help with this mess.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Fine,” he said. “Make the appointment. I’ll get you there and pay for it, but so help me, if you don’t at least try to get along with her …”

“Why?” I leaned against the counter, taking in the familiar contours of the shabby but scrupulously clean kitchen. “I’m leaving soon. And once I get out of this hellhole I am never, ever coming back.”

“Whatever. Make the appointment.” He hung up, leaving me glaring into space, my chest pounding with frustration.

“Angel,” a small voice said from the doorway, startling me out of a temper tantrum. “Was that my daddy on the phone?”

I got up, put the receiver in the cradle and sat in the nearest chair, patting the chair next to me. My niece AliceLynn was tall for her age, a lanky, redheaded girl with her grandma’s fine features, all the way down to the spray of freckles across her high cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. She slid into the seat, putting her notebook on the table in front of her. I got up and fixed her a peanut butter and honey sandwich and glass of milk in silence.

Antony had married the girl’s pregnant mother, Crystal, his feisty high school girlfriend, then dropped out

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