Free Into the Blackness (Blackness Series Book 4) by Norma Jeanne Karlsson Page B

the time they were babies. She never had a choice. The only reason she got to break up with him was because her parents were out of town when shit went down between them. By the time they got back, Will was already bangin’ half the cheerleading team. Regan’s parents were pissed at her for not doin’ more to get Will back,” Sawyer huffs.
    “That’s fucked up,” Jake scoffs shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “Still not sure I wanna weigh into that scene.”
    “She’s a nice girl. Not like most of the chicks at Maybelle. Just talk to her. You’ll see,” Cole encourages.
    These boys are pretty sweet for a bunch of fifteen-year-olds.
    “How’d your parents die?” Dane asks Jake in a kind manner.
    “In a car accident just over a year ago. The car in front of them lost control of their car on the highway and my parents over corrected tryin’ to miss the car. They flipped into on-coming traffic. Died on impact,” Jake explains quietly sounding as sad as he should.
    “Fuck, man. I’m sorry. Were you close?” Sawyer asks genuinely.
    “Yeah,” Jake doesn’t elaborate.
    “Must’ve been nice,” Cole says.
    “What’s that?” Jake asks confused, a slight beam of irritation coming from his eyes.
    “Bein’ tight with your parents. Ours could give a shit most days,” Cole huffs.
    “I’m sure you’re good with that. Nice not to have ’em up in your shit all the time.”
    “I used to think that. We’d take advantage and fuck around all night, skip class, party,” Sawyer whispers the last part trying to hide that piece of information from me.
    “What changed?” Jake prompts.
    “Just got old. Cole and I got in trouble last year for too many absences. With our parents and with the school. My dad told me I had one fuckin’ job to do and that was to go to school and follow his legacy to Yale. If I didn’t do that he’d cut me off financially. Cole got a similar threat. Fucked up thing is they do nothing to ensure we’re gettin’ good grades. They just expect that we’ll do it. We’ve been told, so we better follow through,” Dane finishes and chugs his Gatorade.
    “What if you need help in a class or on a project or somethin’?”
    “They’d hire us a tutor and make sure no one knew about it,” Sawyer scoffs like the idea is completely preposterous.
    “Maybe yours would, but mine are never around enough to even ask for help at this point. I’ve been told what they expect and that’s the end of it,” Dane explains in a irritated voice.
    “Not around? Where are they?” Jake asks in an irritated voice that mirrors my mood.
    “Out of town and shit,” Cole dismisses the issue.
    Time for the grownup to wade into the conversation.
    “Are your parents out of town a lot?” I ask wondering how alone these kids are.
    “Cole’s and mine are,” Dane admits with an annoyed tone in his voice.
    “My mom’s…uh…busy a lot. My dad works really long hours, but ends up home most nights. I think,” Sawyer explains.
    I’m guessing his mother is a drunk or has a boyfriend occupying her time based on Sawyer’s description. I’m hoping for the latter.
    “Do you all stay at your houses alone at night?”
    “We have staff that lives in,” Cole says with a snort. I second his snort.
    “You’re all welcome to stay here with us whenever you’d like. We have plenty of space to accommodate you. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to run upstairs for a few minutes. I’ll be back,” I say turning on my heel and swiftly making my way to the stairs.
    “You’re aunt rocks, man. You think she’ll really let us come and eat dinner here every night?” Cole asks disbelieving.
    “Yeah. She’s good like that,” Jake offers nonchalantly.
    “Stay here too?” Dane asks in shock at the idea.
    “If she said it she meant it. No bullshit with Aunt Kay,” Jake states with conviction.
    “She’s fuckin’ hot,” Sawyer pipes in.
    “Dude, that’s his aunt,” Dane admonishes.
    “They aren’t