Free Skeletons in the Mist (The McCall Twins) by Jennifer Hayden Page B

Instead, she rested her fingers against her mouth, afraid that anything she said would be wrong.
    When she’d left town ten years earlier, she remembered a small toddler, barely out of diapers, staring up at her with a look of confusion and sadness. His tiny thumb had been in his mouth and his blanket had been tucked in his free arm. He’d barely said goodbye. Instead he’d just stared at her with those sad, blue eyes. Those eyes weren’t sad anymore. They were angry.
    “Have a seat, Devon,” Chas said, apparently figuring out that Roxy couldn’t speak.
    “Don’t want to sit. I’ve sat enough.” The boy shook his head to flip the hair out of his eyes. “What the fuck do you want now? I fired him.” He gestured to Briggs with his eyes. “He’s a dick.”
    Briggs didn’t dignify that with a response. He just looked from Chas to Roxy with a look that said
I told you so
.
    “You have to have counsel,” Chas said, looking at Roxy for some kind of support. She really didn’t know what to say. She was way out of her element here. God, she hadn’t let herself believe things were as bad as Chas had warned her they would be.
    “Who the fuck is she?”
    Roxy nearly jumped when her brother spoke again. When she met his gaze, her heart cracked a little further. He was glaring at her, those angry blue eyes filled with hate and mistrust.
    “She’s your sister,” Chas told him, nodding at her to say something. She didn’t. She couldn’t. This boy was a complete stranger to her. Her own brother was a complete stranger. The realization that she had completely and utterly screwed up not only her life, but the lives of those around her,became crystal clear right at that moment. She wanted to crawl into a hole and cry.
    “I don’t got no fucking sister. Now leave me alone!” Devon shook his cuffed hands angrily. “Why do you keep coming here? What do you care what happens to me?” He glared at Chas.
    “The question isn’t why I care, Devon. The question is why you don’t.” Chas took a step toward Roxy. “Your sister is here because she is your next of kin. She’ll be making all decisions as to what’s in your best interest.”
    Devon turned those hateful eyes on her again and she nearly cringed visibly. Her skin broke out in goose bumps and her eyes narrowed tensely. “Hi, Devon.”
    He stared at her, his expression blank.
    “Do you remember me?” she finally asked nervously. She suddenly wished she had listened to Chas and taken things a little more slowly. The kid was looking at her as though she were the antichrist.
    “Should I?”
    “I hope so. I remember you. It’s been a longtime.” She gave him a forced smile. “You were just this high when I saw—”
    “I know how fucking tall I was. When people look down at you, you remember those kinds of things.” He looked away from her abruptly and met Chas’s gaze. “I don’t want you here and I don’t want her here. Just get out.”
    “Sorry,” Chas said simply and rested on a corner of the table near Briggs. “You’ve been appointed counsel. That counsel is Mr. Briggs here. You need to answer his questions and do what you can to help him defend you.”
    “I don’t gotta do shit.”
    “Devon,” Roxy began.
    “You mind your own business! You’re the reason I have no fucking father! He couldn’t stand being reminded of you so he put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger!”
    The words sliced her good and she stepped back in surprise.
    The room was quiet for a moment and then Chas spoke. “She’s here to help you, Devon. She gave up a lot to come a long way. You owe her at least somerespect.”
    “I don’t owe her shit!”
    “He doesn’t,” she heard herself say, and hated the fact that her voice was shaking. “I never meant to hurt you.”
    Devon ignored her. He turned to the guards and gestured with his hands. “I don’t want to be here. Take me back.”
    “You’re making a mistake here, Devon. Precious time is going by