by Eden O'Neill
“Newsflash, kid.” I stole his controller, and he raised his hands. I frowned. “This isn’t a normal life. It’s a privileged life and one that’s on borrowed time.”
Callum’s commitment to us was only as long as he was our guardian, or I guess Bru’s. At seventeen, Callum was his legal guardian, and I only didn’t fight my dad’s will on that because I had nothing. I couldn’t take care of my brother.
At least, not like this and all the stuff we had now.
Fact of the matter was, we were both still kids. Even with me being eighteen.
Bru ripped his controller away. “It may be borrowed time.” He leaned back, playing his game again. “But you’re not going to guilt me for not being the poor kid for once.” His jaw clenched. “We’re already going to be the new kids at school again.” He shook his head. “Well, at least I’ll have this.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, watching him play. I’d checked his ass for less, but I couldn’t find it in me to do it this time. We had always been poor. We had always been different. We were always the new kids at the new school with a father who had a hard time providing for us. He’d actually only let us work jobs because we all had to in order to survive. Dad had been really anxious, didn’t like us going too far. Bru and I never even brought friends over. Mostly, because we moved so much due to Dad’s job situation and could never actually make any.
The pair of us had always been different like Bru said, and apparently, he was done being different.
I stood. “Don’t play video games too late.”
He smirked. “Yes, Mother.”
I threw a pillow at him again before heading up to my room. I got any pick in this glass house, but before I went to bed, I did one more thing. We had academy uniforms in our closet to wear at our new school, and I decided to stay up and iron them. I spent extra care on Bru’s.
I wanted him to have the best day.
Chapter Three
Sloane
On Monday morning, I was rocked awake.
My younger brother had a death wish.
Bru had his toothbrush in his mouth, half his academy uniform on with his shirt open. We probably had at least an hour before we had to be at school, but he was always on top of his shit when it came to academics.
That’d really been all we had coming up, school and not much else. I supposed it’d been the one thing we could rely on since we moved so much.
Groaning, I tugged the comforter over my head. I’d just gotten to sleep. I’d stayed up studying the academy’s campus map after I ironed our uniforms, so I knew where the fuck I was going today. “Fuck off.”
I loved my brother, but I didn’t love him enough to lose sleep.
He ripped the comforter off my head, and I nearly decked his butt.
“What?” I growled, and he tugged me up. Really, I’d forgotten when he’d passed me in height and then some. He had the beefy exterior of a linebacker, not one of the complete nerd he was. He was at the top of his class at pretty much every school we’d attended.
“You gotta see this shit.” He drew back my curtains. He waggled his eyebrows. “We got a delivery outside.”
Clamping down on his toothbrush, he grinned, and I ambled over, sleep in my eyes.
I nearly croaked.
Downstairs were two dudes with one of those trucks that (where I came from) usually took away cars.
Not delivered luxury vehicles.
But that was what these two guys were doing, one lowering a lime-green Audi off the truck while the other waved it down.
“What the fuck?” I pulled a veil of dark hair out of my eyes, shoving Bru away to figure out what was up with this.
I padded down winding vertebrae stairs, and my brother stayed hot on my trail.
I threw open the door, then walked with bare feet all the way up to these dudes. “What’s this, and how did you guys get in here?”
I mean, we had a coded entry at the gate, and this wasn’t normal. Fuck if Bru cared considering the way he waltzed right up to this ride.
“Sloane, this shit is fucking awesome.” Jaw dropped, he pushed his fingers into his hair. “Holy shit.”
“Don’t get too attached,” I gritted, standing in front of the dude who was waving this shit down. Upon seeing me, he held up a clipboard.
“The order is for this residence,” he said, then flipped over a page. “To the Sloane children. Noa Sloane and Bruno Sloane.”
“It’s just Sloane and Bru,” I corrected, and Bru’s gaze shot over just the same.
“Dude can call me Nancy if we get to keep this.” He started to touch the car, but then hesitated. “This is seriously ours?”
“Sent from a Callum Montgomery,” the man said, smiling a little. “He gave us access to the gate.”
Well, hearing this my brother basically lost his mind. He laughed, manically like some crazed kid in a candy store.
“Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.” He danced in front of the candied paint job, then even more when the guy who lowered the car gave him the keys. “Holy shit, Sloane.”
This was more than generous, too fucking much. Turning, I raised a hand to the guy. “There has to be a mistake.”
We had the Chevelle. We didn’t need this.
“No mistake, sweetheart,” he said, and I let him have that one because, well, he delivered a damn car, and I could get over the demeaningly submissive way he acknowledged me. He lowered his clipboard. “We were told to deliver this one by seven o’clock today.” He lifted a second set of keys to me. “Consider it delivered.”
This really had to be a mistake. I stared at the keys. “We have a car. We don’t need this.”
“I just deliver the cars, girlie.” One more of those and this guy would see a fist, but I resisted the temptation. He dropped the keys in my hand since I hadn’t taken them. “You want to protest delivery, I suggest you take it up with this Callum Montgomery.”
He waved his cohort on, and together, the two got back in their truck. Bru and I were left standing there. Well, I was standing there.
Bru was currently in the fucking car.
He turned the wheel like he was about to take it for a test drive down the speedway. I waved him out. “Come on. I’m putting this thing in the garage.”
“Why?”
I eyed him like it was obvious, waiting until he physically got his ass out of the car so I could get inside. Once he did, I started it up. “Because we have a car, and we don’t need this.”
I accepted this house. Even took the education from Callum because of, well, Bru. We didn’t have anything, and I did want him to have a good life.
This car was just too much though.
Bru’s jaw dropped. “You’re fucking crazy, right?” he stated, but did let me back the thing into the garage beside the Chevelle. The old beater looked laughable beside the luxury vehicle, but that was only in comparison. Dad had taken really good care of the muscle car. Powder blue, it had a sleek finish. There wasn’t even a crack to the paint, and Dad had just gotten new tires put on it. This car was actually one of the only things he did keep up on, making sure we always had wheels.
I supposed that was because he knew he couldn’t hold a job for anything, and after I parked, I got out.
“Sloane, you’re not serious.”
“But I am,” I said, then took his keys too.
He growled. “Callum gave this to us.”
“And we don’t need it. We have a car.”
“Okay, you have a car. But what about me? How am I supposed to get around?”
“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” I leaned back against the Audi. “And you can borrow the Chevelle as long as I’m not using it.”
Clearly, I wasn’t joking about this, nor was I moving on the issue. I was still his big sister.
I was still in charge.
“I can’t fucking believe you.” He pouted like a little kid, not the seventeen-year-old he was.
He ground out something
about this whole thing being a joke on his way back inside, but I didn’t care. He could pout all he wanted. We had a car, and this Audi wasn’t it.
Gratefully, my brother and I got to avoid each other during our morning routine. The house was big enough, and we had our separate bathrooms so that made avoiding speaking to each other that much easier.
I didn’t go out of my way to avoid him, but he did. He stomped around like a giant child all morning, which only proved my point that he didn’t need such a nice car. He’d probably total the thing in less than a week.
We drove in silence most of the way to school, my phone prompting us directions on the drive. Callum had gotten us phone plans as well, so that meant we actually got something that wasn’t two to three generations back.
I never minded that. My smart phone got the job done. Bru was playing on his when he got a call.
He looked at me. “It’s Callum.”
I wasn’t surprised. I mean, he was Bru’s guardian, and it was our first day of school. The other students were already a few weeks in, but it was the first day for us being new.
I prompted Bru to put Callum on speaker, and he rolled his eyes at me.
“He called me,” he said, answering, and I almost knocked him across the head. He dodged it. “Hey, Callum. What’s up?”
“Just wanted to wish you both a good first day at school,” I heard Callum say despite not being on speaker. He was muffled, but I still heard him. “Did you children get the vehicle I had sent over this morning?”
Bru shot me a look that could have killed me where I sat, and I started to say something, but he spoke first.
“Yeah, Sloane almost had it sent back,” he said, and I growled, ripping his phone away. He sneered. “Hey—”
I put his phone on speaker, then connected it to the phone stand on my dad’s dash. “Hey, Callum.”
“Good morning, Sloane.” One thing about Callum Montgomery was that he sounded as much like a businessman as he came across in person. In the handful of times I’d seen him, he dressed in nothing short of a suit and never once stumbled over a syllable in conversation. He was also older, well into his sixties and carried a polish about him that definitely made me question how my father was ever in the same circle as this man. Let alone close enough to make him our guardian.
As it seemed my father must have had another life before Bru and me. I suspected this anyway because on the few memories I did have of my mother (she died when Bru and I were really young), my dad had been happy. He’d been at ease.
Though maybe this was the mere perception of a child. I didn’t know, but what I did know, was that this Callum Montgomery was not only well versed but well off. I looked into him a bit, and he had businesses all over the world, a self-made entrepreneur, I guess.
Currently, he was on the other side of the world conducting business dealings, but had come back to not only settle my dad’s affairs, but take care of his kids. Callum had literally taken care of everything after our father died, funeral included, and though I’d been grateful, we really didn’t know the guy.
I supposed it was just one more thing my dad kept to himself in the virtual lockdown that was his head. He kept a lot to himself, his own personal vault.
“Good morning,” I returned through the line. “We did get the car, and it was very generous.”
“Of course. Of course, but was there an issue?” His voice was inquisitive. “Your brother said you were trying to send it back.”
Bru eyed me from his seat, and I rolled my eyes.
“I just told the men I believed the delivery was a mistake. You see, we already have a car. My dad’s Chevelle.”
He remembered that, was there at the will reading when it’d been given to us as well as all my dad’s personal assets. Dad hadn’t had much, but he’d had the Chevelle, and my brother and I had used it to drive down here from Chicago.
“I definitely see where the confusion would come from,” he said, but sounded busy in the background. He probably was. “But there is no mistake. I know you have the Chevelle, but there are two of you. I figured you take one and your brother the other.”
Bru raised his hand like that was obvious.
I eyed him. “Yes, but it was very generous.” The Chevelle was worth like a few grand max. I shook my head. “It’s just too much. I’m grateful, but yeah, it’s a lot.”
“I see,” he said. “But then again, I don’t. It’s my job as your guardian to take care of you and your brother, and it’s an honor doing so. Your father was a great friend to me, and with his passing, I simply want both you kids to be as comfortable as you can possibly be.”
I looked away after he said that, studying the road. He’d said something similar at the funeral.
“I want you kids to ask if you ever need anything. It’s the least I can do. You’ve both had such tragedy,” he’d said.
I could imagine he felt sorry for us, two clearly poor kids in comparison to him. I shook my head. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to think we expect any of this.”
And technically, he wasn’t my guardian just Bru’s.
I felt some kind of way taking things from him because of that. Like all this stuff had a counter, and I didn’t want to owe him anything. He never made it seem like we did, but still.
“I understand if you don’t want to accept the car, but I hope you will,” he continued. “You and your brother have both had a lot of changes. A new school. A new town and life entirely. Having two vehicles will help with that transition.”
“I agree,” Bru stated, putting in his two cents. He faced the phone. “I really appreciate it, Callum. Sloane does too.”
“I do,” I said, and I didn’t want it to come across that I didn’t. “I’m sorry if I came across any other way.”
“You didn’t, and like I said, I understand,” he returned. “I really hope you’ll accept the gift, but if you don’t want it, I get that too. If you’d like a different vehicle, you can let me know that as well. I’ll have anything arranged for you.”
Now, I felt bad. “You really don’t have to do that.”
“Really, it would be my pleasure. You know, you and I had an agreement. I may be technically your brother’s guardian, but that’s just on paper. You call the shots always, Sloane.”
He’d said that during the will reading, that the custody thing was just on paper and Bru and I were free to do what we wished. Even still, he wanted to be there for us and had plans to come out to Maywood Heights often to check on us. He was supposed to after he concluded his latest business endeavor. I guess he was building an airport in New Delhi or something. Wild. Even still, he found a way to fit us and our unusual situation into his life. I was grateful for that.
Traffic started to pick up as my phone stated the school was a couple miles away, and Callum mentioned our class schedules after hearing that.
“I’ve got all of that arranged for you,” he said. “And, Bru, I got you into all the accelerated classes, but the school assures me if it’s too much, you simply need to speak up and they’ll make accommodations for you. Tutors or anything you need. Sloane, I also got you into a few art classes. I hope they’re advanced enough for you.”
I wasn’t a prodigy or anything, and certainly not a wiz kid like Bru, but I did enjoy art. All kinds.
The fact Callum had listened to our interests in the short time we knew him meant a lot, and I thanked him again for the gesture. By the end, both him and Bru convinced me to accept the car. I supposed it made sense for us to have two. Callum even urged us to try out for any sports or join clubs we were interested in despite the school year already in full swing. Classes may have only been in session a short while, but I could imagine all those extracurriculars had already started.
It seemed Callum had arranged that too. Before we wrapped the call, he said we’d just have to speak to the headmaster, and she could arrange for us a meeting with any coaches or club heads.
I left out the fact I’d already m
et Principal Mayberry, but had a feeling for once in my life, things might be going a nice way. I was at a new school, but I’d already met the principal. I was in a new town, but Bru and I had someone in our corner who was willing to help us have an easier time in the transition.
“I’ll be checking in,” Callum said at the end of the call. “You both have a great day.”
“You too, Callum,” Bru and I both returned. Callum also said before he left, that he was working on coming out to visit us soon. Apparently, he moved us to Maywood Heights because he lived here for a time way back when. He’d even gone to the academy.
And holy fuck, this school.
The old brick building divided up into several quads definitely put the brochures to shame. There was both a north and south campus, and a stadium-sized football field with multiple practice fields to accompany it.
Bru and I passed them all, the soccer pitch and baseball field too. The school also had a rowing team, and Bru and I cruised by a lake filled with rowers with long limbs and extended reaches.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.” Bru whistled, our Chevelle passing about a gazillion students rocking the Windsor Preparatory Academy’s navy and orange crest. I heard some kind of gorilla was the school’s mascot, and I saw enough King Kongs on the way to student parking to prove that true. Known as simply “The King,” the big honky ape was everywhere. People had it stamped on their backpacks and clothes. It also adorned flags hanging around the campus, and its life-sized form stood robust as multiple sculptures decorating well-trimmed grass.
I adjusted my necktie after I found a parking spot. I ended up sliding between two luxury vehicles worth easily more than my life, and suddenly, I wished we would have driven Callum’s gift. If anything, just to fit in.
I got out of the Chevelle once the car was off, as did my brother. Our bags were in the trunk, and I sent Bru to get them.