Free Breathe by Sloan Parker Page A

it.
    He"d been working on the damn filter for an hour and still hadn"t managed to
    get the lid off to see what was wrong underneath. Without it, Jessica couldn"t
    breathe as easy at night. He should head out to get her a new one, but Nancy said
    the kind that helped with her allergies was expensive.
    And of course, he couldn"t drive anywhere.
    He picked up the screwdriver and gave another try at prying open the filter.
    The tool slipped again and struck his leg. “Goddammit.”
    “Goddammit!” The younger-sounding echo of Lincoln"s curse was followed by a
    door banging shut.
    Lincoln stood and kneaded his thigh as he made his way into the hall.
    Adam was wrenching off his shoes. He kicked one then the other down the hall
    without even looking where they went. “Shit.”
    “Hey. Your mom let you talk like that?”
    “Oh. Uncle Linc. Forgot you were here. Sorry.”
    “No big. What"s up with you?”
    “Nothing.”
    The front door opened. Adam took off for his room as Nancy came into the
    house.
    “Adam!” she hollered. “Come here.”
    He ducked into his room, and the hall wall shook with the slam of his door,
    rattling the one on the laundry closet next to the kid"s room. At least the repair on
    the sliding doors held up.
    Lincoln followed Nancy into the kitchen. She tossed her purse onto the table
    and rubbed her closed eyes with the heels of her hands.
    “What"s going on?”
    She stripped off her coat, revealing the scrubs underneath. “He"s suspended.”
    “What for?”
    “Fighting.”

    Breathe

    45

    “Not good.”
    “No. Where do you think he learned stuff like that? His no-good dad and his
    worse stepdad. Some track record, huh?” She dropped into a chair. The metal tips
    on each leg scraped along the floor and sounded oddly like the screech of tires.
    Lincoln flinched. It didn"t faze Nancy.
    “Why was he fighting?” he asked.
    “I don"t know. He wouldn"t tell the principal, and he won"t talk to me.”
    “Doesn"t sound like Adam.”
    Her sad gaze met his. “You don"t know. You haven"t been here, haven"t seen—”
    Adam stomped into the kitchen and threw open the fridge door. He grabbed a
    bottle of soda. “I"m not apologizing. They can"t make me.”
    Nancy bounded to her feet. “They can. And you will. Otherwise, they might not
    let you go back to school. They won"t put up with violence. You"re lucky it"s only a
    suspension.”
    “Yeah?” Adam kicked the fridge door shut. “I was lucky Big Jim from the
    football team was on my side.”
    Lincoln couldn"t hide the smirk. Nancy threw a scowl his way, and he backed
    off on the grin.
    “I had a reason,” Adam said. “There was—”
    “I don"t care about your reasons.” Nancy pressed her hands to her hips.
    “You"re not listening to me.” Adam waved the bottle of soda in the air as he
    spoke. He"d be lucky if it had fizz left when he was done.
    “ You’re not listening. They were clear about what you have to do before you
    can return to school.”
    Adam jabbed the bottle of soda toward her. “Screw that.”
    “Watch it.” Lincoln stepped forward. “Don"t talk to your mom like that.”
    The kid turned the soda bottle on him. “I don"t have to listen to you. You"re not
    my father.”
    “I"ve got this.” Nancy glared at Lincoln.
    “I"m out of here.” Adam spun around to leave.
    “Nuh-uh,” she said. “Get back here. I had to leave work early. We"re talking
    about this now.”
    Adam kept going. Lincoln tried to stop the kid before he could get through the
    kitchen doorway. Adam tucked his arm to his chest and shrank sideways. His left
    side smacked into the doorjamb.
    Lincoln moved toward him. “Jesus. You okay?”
    “Just tripped,” he muttered and left the room.
    Lincoln spun around as soon as Adam"s bedroom door closed. “Dammit, Nancy.
    Did he hit the kids?”

    46
    Sloan Parker

    “I told you, no.”
    “Then what was that?” He pointed toward where Adam had flinched.
    “I don"t know. You"re kinda scary.” She tried