Page 64 of Rules

His statement causes a cacophony of laughter, but even that doesn’t dull out the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

“Already done?” I look at Jeanette’s half-eaten lunch before my disapproving gaze meets hers. We don’t say a word, our eyes doing all the talking.

I thought we agreed, I say, looking at her barely touched food.

It’s fine. I’m not hungry.

Jeanette, I growl.

Don’t be a worrywart, Max,then she says out loud, “Yeah, I have some studying to do before my math exam. I’ll see you later.”

I open my mouth to protest, this time out loud, the worry eating at me, but she’s already turned on the balls of her feet and is walking away. Watching after her, I can’t help but overthink everything that was exchanged, analyze her every word, every look on her face.

Is there something going on again? Is that why she’s not eating? She said she’s done with that shit. Shepromised. She wouldn’t do anything like that again.

But what if she is?

Chapter Twenty-Two

BROOK

I shiver as I walk down a dark alley. It’s full-on winter now, and my trusty leather jacket isn’t cutting it. My whole body is shaking violently with the strong wind. My face is red, just like my fingers. I’ve known for a while now that soon I’ll have to cave and get something more winter appropriate, but not yet. All the money I got at my shit job went to a safe place where I’ll be able to use it later on.

That was my guaranteed money, and I couldn’t bring myself to use it a second before it was absolutely necessary.

Sucking it up, I rub my hands together to ward off the ice cold. Snow is slowly falling from the dark sky and sticking to the ground. By the looks of it, tomorrow we’ll wake up to at least a few inches of snow that’ll need to be cleaned up. Not like anybody cares about shit like that in this neighborhood.

Sighing, I curl my arms around myself. With my eyes zeroed in on the ground so I don’t slip and fall, I continue walking home.

It’s late and I’m dead-ass tired, but I’m not sure what’ll await me when I get there.

Maybe I should have gone to Lia’s.

Then again, if I had, she would have found a reason to ask me to stay during the holidays, and I couldn’t do that. I managed to pressure Joe into giving me those extra shifts, and Lia would want to know where I’m disappearing to every day.

It’s better this way anyway. I have to start pulling back. The first semester is almost over, which leaves me with one more. One more semester, five months, and that will be it. She’ll go to college and I… I’ll leave this godforsaken town and never look back.

Sighing, I lift my gaze as I approach my building. It looks even more depressing now than it did earlier, and I can feel the lump in my throat growing until it’s impossible to breathe.

It’s been happening more and more. The reality of my life crashing down on me, making me wonder…

What if this is my life? What if I’m just deluding myself? What if there is no getting out, no matter how hard I try? How hard I work? Is this what my future will hold? Will I be just like my mother—always craving for things out of my reach but without hope of ever achieving them?

Pushing the dark thoughts away, I inhale deeply, a shaky breath entering my lungs.

You will succeed, Brook. You will get out. There is no other option.

I stick to that as I enter the building and climb the stairs to our floor. My whole body is shaking with the cold because although I’m inside, it’s not much better than it is outside.

Maybe if I’m lucky, there will be some hot water left that will help warm me up. My mind is still wrapped around the idea when I get to my front door only to find it left ajar.

My brows furrow as I look at that small gap, my heartbeat kicking up a notch. Josephine is a lot of things, but carelessly leaving our front door open like this? I take a step closer, but jump back when I hear something smash on the floor.

“I’m not doing this, Josephine!” a clearly male voice shouts from the inside. “I already gave you more than enough.”

Tingles run through my body at the sound of that voice. I know it by now. It’s the guy from before. His voice is hard and serious. There is a roughness in it, a smoker maybe?

I remember the night when Max walked me home—Andrew’s dad? Is that who’s inside?

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