Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 14

After orientation ended, I stood at the school entrance for twenty minutes.

I pulled out my phone to check the time, looked at Mom’s number, but never hit call.

I knew she wouldn’t come anyway.

Five miles wasn’t much for me anymore. Since we moved here, I walk everywhere.

I started the slow trek home, but my mind was stuck on that blonde guy. Those deep blue eyes, and that weird burning sensation…

My face went bright red, shame washing over me.

Lacey’s only been gone six months, and here I am crushing on some random guy at school.

Jesus, Senna, you’re seriously disgusting.

Two hours later, I finally reached the front door.

I took a deep breath, grabbed the handle, and right as I pushed it open, I heard-

The TV from the living room, Mom’s heavy sighs, even the soft clink of her setting her wine glass on the coffee table.

I could hear her uneven breathing, like she’d just been crying, or maybe never stopped.

This freakishly sharp hearing started after the accident. The doctors said it was trauma response.

Problem is, it makes coming home feel like walking through a minefield. Every tiny sound tells me exactly how Mom’s doing, and it’s usually not good.

I gripped the handle tighter and forced myself inside.

Mom was on the couch with a glass of red wine. Four in the afternoon and she was already drinking,

“Mom, I’m home.”

She didn’t even look up.

I went to the kitchen to drop my bag, trying to make conversation: “The new school seems pretty nice, teachers are friendly…”

“Friendly?” She let out a bitter laugh, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Of course they are. They don’t know…”

I stopped what I was doing.

She turned to look at me, eyes ice cold. “Happy? The life you’re living now? That should’ve been Lacey’s.”

The words hit me like a knife. “Mom…”

“Don’t call me that.” She shot up, slamming her wine glass down with a dull thud.

Suffocating silence.

She just stared at me, her eyes burning with undisguised pain and hatred.

11:44

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

11.6%

Chapter 14

“You know what?” she finally spoke after what felt like forever, voice so quiet it was almost a whisper, but every word crystal clear. “Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I think about is Lacey. Then I see you…”

She stopped, but we both knew what she was going to say.

The house went deathly quiet. The neighbor chopping vegetables next door, dishes clinking, Mom’s choked breathing–everything got amplified, making my head throb. The hypersensitive hearing from after the crash just made everything hurt worse.

“Why?” Her voice started shaking, barely holding back a complete breakdown. “Why did you have to go see that damn band?”

My breathing got faster, that familiar burning in my chest spreading.

I’d asked myself the same thing thousands of times–why wasn’t it me who died?

I wish it had been me, not Lacey.

“I…” I forced out two hoarse words with everything I had, “I’m sorry…”

Tears rolled down her face and she didn’t even wipe them away. She just looked at me with a despair I’d never seen before.

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