A Family Affair: An Extreme Taboo Anthology

by Vance, Ally

  That had been the same year I started my senior year in high school, and Mom had moved us out of the area and into another state, the same state she’d grown up in. But my sister and I had managed to stay somewhat close.

  My cell stopped ringing just as I picked it up, but it was only a couple of seconds until it started back up again. I didn’t hesitate to answer it this time and bring it to my ear. “Hey, Jenifer,” I greeted, pushing up off the sofa and grabbing my now empty ice-cream tub.

  “Skylar,” she rushed out, and the tone of her voice had me halting in the middle of my small living room. “I need your help.”

  “What?” I asked, rushing to my trash can and depositing the tub. “What’s going on?”

  “I need you to take Carter for a few months.” Some noises rang out over the line and my heart was now racing for a different reason.

  “Carter? Why? What’s happening, Jen?” I gripped on to the counter in my kitchen and looked over at my sofa. I had one of those houses where all the rooms trailed into each other and there were no defining walls to separate them.

  “I—” She screamed and a thump sounded out. “He needs to get out of here, and the only place I know he’ll be safe is with you.”

  “Where the fuck is he?” someone roared at Jen, and I widened my eyes. What the hell was going on?

  “I don’t know!” Jen shouted back to the person. “I haven’t seen him in days.”

  “You’re fuckin' lying! I should shoot your brains out,” the voice growled at her, and I squeezed my eyes closed. She couldn’t die, not now. I’d told her time and time again she needed to move out of the area she lived in. The streets were full of thugs, colors separating the two gangs that divided their territories. It wasn’t the kind of place I wanted to visit in the middle of the day, never mind once nighttime started to descend.

  “Jen?” I whispered. She made a small noise, indicating she could hear me over the shouting people around her. “I’ll take Carter. Send him to me and I’ll keep him safe.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, just loud enough for me to hear over the other voices. “He’s on his way to the airport, his flight lands at seven in the morning.”

  I opened my mouth, about to reply, but she cut the line off. I stared down at my cell, seeing my home screen and app icons, and wondered what the hell I’d just gotten myself in to. I hadn’t seen Carter since he was a seven-year-old kid who was running around the block trying to beat his fastest time. Back then, he had been a sweet boy, but I had no idea who he was now. I didn’t know what he looked like, and I didn’t know what he was like as a person.

  But then, Jen was sending him here to keep him safe. And the man had been screaming, asking where he was. Did that mean he was trouble? Had I just invited danger into my house?

  * * *

  I paced back and forth outside the arrivals section, gnawing on my bottom lip as my thoughts went haywire. I hadn’t been able to sleep all night, worried about what I was welcoming into my life and my home. I didn’t think Jen would put me in danger, but when I thought about it, all our relationship consisted of was phone calls and text messages.

  But all she was doing was trying to take care of her son, and as I lived a couple of states away in Illinois, it meant he’d be safe with me. I hoped.

  The board above arrivals flashed and told me Carter’s plane had landed. I imagined he’d had to wait hours in the airport for the short flight, and part of me wondered why he hadn’t driven instead. Or maybe that was too dangerous. He could be followed all the way here if he’d used a car, whereas he could go anywhere from the airport.

  I halted as people started to file out of the doors, smiles on some faces and tiredness on others. Family and friends greeted them with hugs and kisses while I stood off to the side, my nerves ramping up so much my hands were shaking. What if he was a serial killer? What if he was part of a gang who would come and find him no matter what? What if he was neither of those things and instead was a quiet person with glasses who loved math? What if—

  “Skylar?” a deep voice asked, and I whipped my head up to face the man standing in front of me. He was at least eight inches taller than me, his shoulders wide, his body at ease and yet also on alert. I noticed all of that before I actually looked directly at his face. His sharp jaw and high cheekbones led into a straight nose with a slight bump in the middle, but it was his shocking honey eyes that had mine widening—how could they be so clear?

  “That’s…” I cleared my throat, and tried again. “That’s me.”

  The man nodded and picked the bag up at his feet that I hadn’t even noticed. “I’m Carter.”

  A shocked gasp escaped my lips and I stepped back. “No.” I shook my head. “You can’t be Carter. Carter is only eighteen and—”

  “Yep. Mom said you’d probably freak out a little.” His lips quirked at the corners, but his gaze flicking around us told me he wasn’t comfortable standing here. Maybe he was Carter? But...how had he grown so much? He wasn’t a teenager, he was a full-grown man. I’d never seen an eighteen-year-old that looked like him, and I was surrounded by students all day long at the high school where I taught.

  “I—”

  “Can we get out of here?” he asked, stepping forward, and I tried my hardest not to breathe in his cologne, or was it cologne? I somehow didn’t think he was like the men I’d been dating who doused themselves in it.

  “I...yes.” I stepped forward. “Would you like me to carry that?” I pointed at the bag he held.

  He chuckled, the sound deep and throaty. “I think I got it, Skylar.” He stepped away from me and I followed. “Besides, it probably weighs as much as you do.”

  “Excuse me?” I raised my brows and stared up at him. “Are you commenting on my weight not even five minutes after you’ve landed? Did my sister not teach you how to speak to a lady?”

  He shrugged and moved through the main doors first. “Ain’t many ladies where I’m from.” I opened my mouth, about to reply to him, but...I came up empty. I didn’t know Carter from a stranger walking down the street, and I was about to invite him into my home and sleep under the same roof as him. “Where’s the car?” he asked, glancing around us.

  I pointed toward the lot I’d parked in several hours ago. “Over there.” I waited until he moved and then walked beside him. I was sure he could feel my nerves rolling off me in waves, but he didn’t seem fazed by having to come and stay with his aunt who he barely knew.

  He didn’t say another word as we made it to my dark-blue car, and part of me wondered if he’d even be able to fit inside it. There had only ever been me that got inside it, and my mom at a push if she needed to, and we were both firmly under five foot four. Whereas Carter was easily six foot two.

  Part of me expected him to comment on my tiny car, but all he did was open up the passenger door and slide inside. He’d gone quiet, and even though it was in my nature to make small talk and possibly put my foot in it, I decided to keep silent too and got into the car.

  The drive took just over an hour, but the farther we got from the airport, the more my shoulders relaxed. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Jenifer said it was for a few months, so all I had to do was provide him with a safe space to stay until then.

  I turned into my street, and my lips lifted up into a smile. I loved my house more than anything else. I’d saved up for the one-story, small cottage-style home, and I’d fixed it up little by little. It still had a way to go until the whole house was done, but it was my own little slice of heaven.

  Pulling into the driveway, I then switched the engine off and turned to face Carter. His gaze was fixated on my front door, and I wondered if he was tracing the numbers five, six, and eight. “This is my home.” He didn’t move to acknowledge me at first, but when I placed my hand on his arm, he jumped a little. “Sorry.”

  “No worries,” he gritted out, a muscle in his jaw ticking. He flung open the passenger door and pushed out of my car then strolled to my fr
ont door. He waited, his attention on anything but me as I moved toward him.

  I pushed my key into the lock and the wooden door creaked open. “I’ll get you a key made,” I told him and stepped inside. The small entryway consisted of my collection of shoes on a shoe rack, and a circle mirror attached to the wall. It only took a couple of steps to enter the living room, and from here you could see the kitchen and the start of a small hallway which led to a bathroom and two bedrooms. “This is the living room,” I told Carter. “Kitchen.” I pointed toward the kitchen and then to the glass sliding doors. “They lead to the backyard.” I flicked my gaze up to him, wondering what he thought of my house. Or if he even cared.

  Carter pushed his hand through his dark-brown hair and huffed out a breath. “And my room? Or do I gotta sleep on the sofa?”

  “Oh no, I have a spare room.” I waved my arm at him and headed toward the hallway. There were three doors, one right ahead which was the bathroom, and two opposite each other. The left was my room, and the right was the spare room. I pushed the door open and swallowed. “I know it’s small…”

  I waited as he strolled past me, his arm whispering against mine as he stepped into the room. “Bigger than the one I have at home.” He threw his bag down on the bed I’d made right after Jenifer had called me last night.

  I shuffled on the spot, not really sure how I felt having someone else in my space. I was used to living on my own and not worrying about anyone, but now I had a man—no, he was still a teenager—in my house, and I wasn’t sure how this would work, the one thing I was sure about was: “We need rules.”

  “Rules?” Carter asked, turning around to face me. He’d been taking everything in the room in. The single bed pushed against one wall and the chest of drawers opposite. It was the definition of a box room, but he didn’t seem fazed by it one bit.

  “Yeah.” I cleared my throat and clasped my hands in front of me. My sweaty palms told me I was nervous, as if I hadn’t already known that. “I’m not sure what rules your mom has—”

  “She ain’t got any,” Carter interrupted, his brows lowering as he stared at me.

  I glanced away from him, not able to keep eye contact. His deep voice and the atmosphere swirling around him was knocking me off-kilter. “Well…” I cleared my throat and begged my feet not to move away from him. This was my house, and while he was staying here, he’d follow my rules. “Your curfew is midnight.” He opened his mouth but I didn’t give him the chance to talk. “And you attend school every day.” I pulled in a breath. “I’ll know if you’re not there as I’m an English teacher.”

  “You’re a teacher?” he asked, his gaze trailing over the workout leggings I was wearing and the oversized sweater hanging off one of my shoulders.

  “I am.” I took one last look into his eyes, wishing I hadn’t when his stare connected. There was so much swirling inside them, and I had no idea how to understand any of it. I had some idea of how it had been for him growing up, but I didn’t really know. I could sense what he’d been through, and could listen to my sister as she told me stories of him skipping school so he could pay the rent that month. It shouldn’t have been his responsibility to do that, and I was even more determined to make sure he didn’t have to do it here.

  “I’m meeting my mother for lunch,” I finally said, looking away from him. “Will you be okay here on your own?”

  “Yeah. I’m gonna crash for a bit.”

  I nodded, stepped back, and my hand collided with the door handle. With one last look at him, I closed the door behind me, and took what felt like the first breath since I’d met him in the airport.

  Chapter 2

  My alarm beeped out in the otherwise quiet room, but I didn’t have to open my eyes to turn it off because I’d already been awake for an hour. Carter’s soft snores had me more than aware he was in my house. I hadn’t seen him since I left for lunch with my mom yesterday. It had been on the tip of my tongue to tell her that Carter was staying at my house, but for some reason.

  I knew what she would think. She’d tell me I was stupid for helping Jenifer out. She’d tell me I was being a fool. She’d talk down to me, just like she always did, and I just...I didn’t need her opinion.

  I huffed out a breath, fed up of my own thoughts, and pushed myself up into a sitting position. My glasses sat on my bedside table, but I didn’t reach for them. Instead, I headed right into the bathroom and washed my hands to put my contacts in.

  I went about my usual routine, taking a shower, washing and drying my hair, brushing my teeth. And nearly an hour later, Carter’s snores were still ringing out. It took me several minutes standing in front of his bedroom door for me to pluck up the courage and knock on it. We only had thirty minutes until we had to leave for school, and then we had to enroll him too.

  “Carter?” I asked, leaning closer to the door and waiting for him to answer, when nearly a minute went by and he hadn’t replied, I repeated, “Carter?” and knocked harder. I’d told him the rules, and now he was ignoring me. I’d taken a chance on him and told Jenifer I’d help, but if he wasn’t going to—I pushed my shoulders back and opened the door. This was my house, and I had every right to go inside there. “Carter!”

  He jumped up in bed, his feet seeming to land on the floor out of nowhere, as he lunged for the small bedside table, but halted when his eyes opened and he saw me. “Fuck, Skylar. You don’t sneak up on a guy like that!”

  My heart hammered in my chest and I tried to keep my gaze focused on his face and not on his naked body. Who the hell slept naked in someone else’s house? “I...erm...you…” I could feel the burn of my cheeks and I couldn’t stop my attention zoning in on his groin. “Ah!” I slapped my hand over my eyes and held my other hand out. “You weren’t answering me.”

  “Because I was asleep,” he said, and from the tone of his voice, I could just imagine he was smirking. “What the hell you waking me up so early for anyway?”

  “School,” I blurted out, trying to step back without looking where I was going. My back collided with the doorframe and I winced. “Ow.” I tried to calm my breathing, but the wood had taken my breath away. “I’m leaving in twenty,” I told him, and finally moved my hand off my eyes. I kept them squeezed closed as I felt my way out of his bedroom then spun around to walk into mine.

  My pulse was thrumming in my ears as I heard him move down the hallway and then the shower turned on several minutes later. I shouldn't have still been thinking about his naked body. I shouldn't have had his tensed abs and V burned into my retinas, but I did. Dammit. This wasn’t the plan. He was meant to be my sweet nephew who would lie low for a couple of months and leave like he’d never been here, but now all I could think about was his naked body standing in my shower.

  I slapped my hand on the wall beside me and growled at the vibrations it sent up my arm. Stop it, Sky. He’s eighteen, your nephew, and just needs help. I was overthinking everything, and I had a feeling it was because I wasn’t used to having a male in my house, unless you counted the stray cat who liked to stroll in like he owned the place.

  My cell pinged with a message from Guy, the man I’d been dating for the last month since the school year had started. He was the chemistry teacher in the school, and he’d used a cheesy pick-up line that had made me laugh, so when he’d asked me out, I figured I had nothing to lose.

  Guy: Missed you this weekend.

  I grinned down at the message and typed one out.

  Skylar: Missed you too. Meet you for lunch in the teachers’ lounge?

  Guy: It’s a date.

  “Hey, Skylar? I’m ready to go and fully clothed,” Carter called from outside my bedroom. I jumped on the spot and locked my cell on impulse.

  “I’m coming!” I shouted, checking in the mirror one last time. My face had minimal makeup and my shoulder-length black hair was straight, but it wasn’t what I was looking at. It was the tattoos on my back and shoulders I made sure were covered up. People had an opinion of me from who
my mother was and the way I acted, but they’d never know my love of ink. I’d noticed some ink on Carter’s chest too—no, stop it, don’t think about it.

  I shook my head, trying to eject the image of Carter out of my brain, and pulled a smile on my face as I opened my bedroom door. Carter wasn’t there, but I could hear him murmuring to someone in the living room, and when I walked in, I saw him talking on his cell.

  “Yeah, Mom, I’m fine.” He turned and stared at me, his gaze tracking over my pale pink blouse and down to my knee-length skirt I was wearing. His eyes flared, and I hated how much it drew me in. “Skylar is fine too,” he said, his voice deeper this time. I was sure there was another meaning behind his words, but I ignored it as I grabbed my bag full of assignments and my laptop off the sofa.

  “Tell your mom we’re leaving for school,” I told Carter, to which he repeated me, and I headed to the front door. I’d just gotten it open when his footsteps came closer and his hand wrapped around my wrist.

  “I can get that for you,” he said, his voice low.

  “I got it,” I told him. And I did have it. I was used to lugging this bag to and from school every day. “Lock the door behind you, I got you a key made yesterday, it’s on the shoe rack.” I stepped away from him, feeling his hand trail off my wrist, and walked to my car. My trunk opened automatically when I waved my foot near the exhaust, and I placed my bag inside it.

  “Well, shit, that’s fuckin' modern.”

  “Language,” I automatically said. It wasn’t that I wasn’t used to hearing it, because I was. I was around a bunch of teenagers all day, but that didn’t mean it was part of my vocabulary. There were much better words than fuck, unless you stubbed your toe, which in that case, was more than acceptable.