Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(32)
Her mom turned around from the driver’s seat with a wide smile, her hair in a wild mane and her face freshly scrubbed of makeup. Apparently Chuck liked the natural look. “It’s fun to get wet.”
Actually, it wasn’t fun to get wet. Not really. “My hair gets all wild and curly, and then I sneeze.” Zara shook her head and focused on Chuck in the passenger seat. “Did you remember the ledger?”
He turned, his green eyes dilated. “No, dude. Totally forgot.”
Zara sighed and started organizing her hair into two neat braids the rain couldn’t ruin. “We need the ledger to keep track of how many of the pottery pieces you sell, Mom.”
Her mom laughed and concentrated on the road while shoving back curly black hair. “Why? I mean, if we have money, we sold some. If we don’t, then it wasn’t a good day.”
Zara shook her head. The old jeans barely fit her, and she just didn’t understand why her mom didn’t care. Somebody had to be a grown-up and take care of things. The world was dark and scary. She shivered.
They’d never go global with the pottery pieces without organization. While she’d given up any idea of having a college fund, it’d be nice if she could start a savings account for her mom, for when she went to college. On loans, no doubt. College was her way out, and then, to get rid of the guilt of leaving, she’d send money to her mom.
If she made it into college. Fear clawed up her throat, and she swallowed it rapidly down. She eyed the marketing book she’d borrowed from the library. “Have you contacted that distributor in Seattle?” It had taken her three days to understand exactly what a distributor did, and she figured they needed one now.
“Um, no.” Her mom leaned forward as thunder ripped across the sky. “I will later today. Promise.”
“Right.” Zara wrapped rubber bands around her braids and kicked out her feet. There were holes in the bottoms of her tennis shoes. If they made any money today, she’d have to grab some before Chuck got it all and bought more pot.
Chuck turned, his frizzy blond hair drifting around. “Whoops. Did you feed the dogs?”
“Yes. The dogs, cats, and llama.” Zara sighed.
Chuck laughed. “Sounds like a nursery rhyme.”
“Sounds like a moron,” Zara muttered quietly to herself. But at least this one didn’t hit, yell, or look at her funny. So she smiled at him. If they could just stay in one place for a little while, her mom could make a bunch of the pretty pottery to sell, and then maybe they’d get to eat regularly. Her stomach growled as if on cue. “The animals are fine.”
The rain pounded harder, and she wished for a warmer jacket. Or even for one of those rain slicker kinds that kept people dry. A girl in her class, Mandy Martini, had two of those jackets. One was purple and one was blue. The blue one was super pretty. Mandy’s dad was a lawyer.
Lightning cracked again, and she shivered. Maybe she’d be a lawyer. Well, she didn’t like to fight with people, so maybe she’d be a paralegal. That was stable, and the lawyers she’d seen on television wore cool clothes.
Something popped. Her mom shrieked and wrenched the steering wheel around. The car turned left and plunged down an embankment. Trees flew by.
Zara screamed. Terror ripped into her, and she flung her arms out.
Glass shot inside. The car hit a tree, and the sound of metal crunching destroyed the day. Zara blinked blood from her eyes. “Mom?” she yelled.
Zara bolted upright in bed, sucking in air. Sweat dripped down her back, and she couldn’t breathe. She clutched her chest and shook.
“Whoa.” Ryker snagged her around the waist and pulled her to him, settling her face against his neck. “What the hell, darlin’?”
Breath whooshed out of her lungs. She sucked in air. Breathe. She could breathe.
She blinked away tears and exhaled slowly. Okay. It was just panic. She wasn’t having a heart attack. Thunder rolled outside, and sleet pinged against the windows. Fairly strong light filtered in. “Bad dream,” she burst out.
“No shit.” His voice was sleepy, but the hand caressing down her back was very comforting. “You’ve had it before. What happened?”
She stilled, although the comfort he offered settled something deep inside her. Something warm and safe. “I, ah, don’t really talk about it.”
“That sentence is easy to change.” The sleep cleared from his voice, the tone commanding and oddly comforting.
Her feelings were, too. For once, she was tempted to share her story. So she told him about the wreck and her mother dying. “I was trapped in the car with them, both dead, for several hours.” She shivered, remembering how terrified she’d been. How sad and alone.
Ryker’s head had lifted, and his eyes burned. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I wish I could fix that.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and she battled them away. He’d fix everything for her if he could. A sweetness lived in Ryker that she doubted many people in his life had seen. “So I went to live with my Grams. That’s all.”
“Sounds like a lot.” Ryker pressed a kiss to her head, his strong shoulders shielding her. “All I know about your grandmother is what I read in a file and that she moved here to Cisco when you did. You never talk about her.”
“She’s mine.” Zara smiled.