Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“Shit, Sadie, I—” A scream has me pulling my attention away from Dunc to see my mom being kidnapped by some man. Dunc runs toward them. I pull out my phone and call my brother.
He answers on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
“I think Mom is being kidnapped.”
“What?!”
“I’m in front of the school. Your doppelgänger from yesterday is stealing her!” I start moving toward them, not sure what to do.
The man shoves a backpack at Dunc. I hear him say, “If I’m not home tonight, don’t worry. I’m taking care of something.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Dunc shouts back at him, looking just as confused as I am about what’s going on.
“Stop. This is kidnapping!” my mom yells, beating her hands into the man's back. “Someone call the police.”
“Don’t you dare,” the man shouts, already heading toward his truck to toss my mom into the back seat. I try to run after them, but a hand loops around my waist, stopping me.
“What the hell?” I try to wiggle free.
“It’s fine. My dad isn’t going to hurt her.”
“Let me go.” I stomp down on his foot, but that doesn’t work. He didn’t even flinch.
“Calm down,” Dunc tells me. The truck takes off before he releases his hold on me. I step away from him to call 911, but he snatches my phone.
“Give it back.” I lunge for it, but he holds it way over his head, making my body rub against his as I try to jump to get it. I know it’s pointless because I’ll never reach it. I am barely a few inches over five feet.
“Van was right about you.”
“Van can fuck off.”
Every emotion I felt toward my old school bubbles to the surface. The memories of the girls there picking on me, and then sometimes their boyfriends coming to their aid course through me. Add in my mom being kidnapped and Dunc’s cruel words when I tried to say hello, and I do the unthinkable. For me at least. I smack him.
Dunc’s eyes widen in surprise. His hand drops. I manage to grab my phone.
“You stay away from me,” I hiss at him.
“Sadie—” I cut him off, holding my hand out.
“Don’t.”
“Yo,” Van calls out, running toward me. I rush over to him.
“Should we call the police?”
“I already called Dad. He’s on it. I’m going to see if I can catch them.”
“How?” I shout at him, but he’s now sprinting into the parking lot. There are a million ways they could have gone. We haven’t lived here long. He can’t possibly know his way around.
“The app,” he reminds me before he’s gone. Right, I forgot about that. We can all track each other.
“It’s his dad.” Dunc is still standing there with his backpack in his hand.
“What?” I thought he was Dunc’s dad. I suppose he could be both.
“The man Van is chasing with your mom is his father.” I shake my head. “You and Van are close in age. He can’t be your brother.”
“He is my brother,” I defend.
“Not sure he sees it that way. He’s real protective.”
“I really want to smack you again.”
“Smack me again then.”
I swallow, already having guilt over the first time I did it. “You’re not worth it. I’m sorry I hit you. I’ve dealt with my share of bullies and never hit anyone. Guess that makes you an extra special jerk.” I turn to head into school. He calls after me.
“Sadie.”
I stop to glance back at him. “Please leave me alone.” I hate that his words cut me so deep and that my eyes are watering. I play it off that it’s not only him being a jerk but everything else that’s happening.
“Fuck,” he shouts before muttering something about not knowing it was me.
I head into the bathroom, finding an empty stall to call my dad. He reassures me that everything is fine. I also learned Dunc wasn’t lying about the man, Cooper, who I now know is indeed Van’s father.
Does that make Dunc his brother? The more I piece it together, I can see it. My brother and this Cooper were super similar in appearance. I’d said as much yesterday. Now I can see how Dunc too has similarities as well. Not as strong but the build of his body and the hard jawline.
Just great. Now I’m going to be stuck with Dunc regardless. A tear slips free. My life is about to change. What if Van and Mom leave Dad and me? Cooper was hell-bent on taking my mom.
I swipe away the tears, forcing a smile onto my face. I’ll do what I have to do to make sure that my family stays together.
Fake it until you make it. I did it before; surely, I can do it again.
CHAPTER 5
DUNCAN
My life is an episode of Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale but without the supernatural aspects. I think because I honestly have never seen an episode of either, but from what I’ve picked up from school conversations, there’s a lot of backstabbing and morally gray relationships. Right now, I feel like there’s a knife between my shoulder blades shoved there by my da—my uncle Cooper—that not even my backpack full of books could stop. It doesn’t feel right to call him Dad anymore, not when he has a real son out there.