Page 3 of Dominance

“It’s alright, Anna. It’s just a setback.” In a long list of setbacks that have been piling up for the past two years.

“It’s not fair. Dad should help us.”

“No. He’s long gone, Anna.”

“I know. It just makes me mad.”

“Me too. But it’s for the best. And you can’t?—”

“I know. I’m careful not to say anything to anyone.”

I feel that twinge of guilt and remorse that always comes with thinking of my little sister, even more than myself, losing her mother and her father in the same year. Then having to keep secrets. Telling people her aunt pays for school. Only calling each other late at night.

But that’s exactly the point.

Ten months after Mom died, the last of her money dried up. And Claude vanished.

Leaving us with his mountain of credit card and loan debt.

Fortunately, Anna was already enrolled at the boarding school and safe with her first year paid. And I did everything I could to make sure he couldn’t find her or bother her. Including forging his signature on the paperwork and getting full guardianship of my little sister.

“Hey, chin up. Get some sleep and keep getting top marks, okay? Or else I’ll have to come embarrass the shit out of you in front of all of your friends!”

“So you’ll come visit if I misbehave?”

“I’ll take you for a trip soon, I promise. Now go to bed.”

“Fine. Don’t get kidnapped, Glow.”

“I love you,mon petit monstre.”

“Says the sister who snores like an ogre.”

“Rude!”

“That’s what I always thought when I was trying to sleep. Love you, Glow.”

“Goodnight, Anna.”

“Night! Text me when you get home, ’kay?”

The line clicks off, and I’m still chuckling when I hear a scuffle behind me. Nerves shiver up my back.

Dammit, Anna. Got me all jumpy.

But it’s not my imagination. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I reach my neighborhood, just a few blocks from home. Slipping into the alley I usually take as a shortcut during the day, I glance back, scanning the street.

Nothing.

Slipping my pepper spray out of my purse, I trot down the alley, the quickest way to my apartment. Thank God I wore my flats today.

Reaching the end of the street, I follow the wall, dodging out of sight and waiting for a sound, peering from a safe vantage back the way I came. After a few seconds of holding my breath, I sigh, shaking my head.

Anna is right.

I’m too stressed out.

I just need to get home so I can get my schoolwork done and go to sleep for a few hours.

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