Until now.
“What the fuck is that?” I bark, blinking at my phone as some pop-girl bullshit blares through the speaker like a traitor.
My brows crash together when I try to place the song but come up blank. The chick is repeatedly singing the words “shake it off” at an octave that makes my teeth ache. After she circles through the same set of lyrics for the third time, the room falls silent for a split second before my playlist kicks back on. As soon as Metallica fills my ears, my shoulders drop in relief.
I move to reset the barbell, but the moment I touch it, the same song blasts again. With a snarl, my head snaps toward the old stereo across the room, only to notice my phone lighting up and rattling with vibrations across the workbench.
I gape at the device, slowly realizing the random song isn’t just a song—it’s a ringtone.
And it’s coming from my phone.
“Fucking kill me,” I mutter, shaking my head as I yank the aux cord from the boombox.
The screen lights up with a horribly filtered photo of my younger sister, Hazel, except someone’s edited it to make her look like a man.
“Colby.” I sigh with a small, reluctant chuckle, instantly knowing which one of my twin sisters is behind the prank.
But the laugh doesn’t stick.
The weight of the inevitable conversation presses in, thick and unwanted, wrapping around my chest like a vice.
Blowing out a slow breath, I drop onto the bench, and swipe to answer, bracing for impact. “What?”
“Where have you been?” she shouts, her pitch oddly reminiscent of the song still echoing around in my brain. “I’ve been calling you for days. I could have been dying, Kade! You do realize that, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Clearly, you’re alive. More than that, you’re well enough to scream at me, so things can’t be that bad.” Waving a dismissive hand through the air, I add, “Silver linings, and all that shit. What do you need, Hazy?”
“You need to come home, Kade,” she demands. “You didn’t even call—today of all days.”
Today of all days.
Like it’s just any other date. A casual reminder that this is the day our dad died.
The day everything cracked wide open.
When I don’t immediately respond, she tacks on, “Mom really misses you.”
Guilt washes over me, fast and hard. The wordsI know she does, almost fall from my lips right alongside,I miss her, too. But I choke them down like I always do.
I wish I had the strength to show up for the people who need me, but I don’t. I can’t.
“I just saw her a few weeks ago.”
“You popped into town for an hour before rushing off, claiming you had to work.”
“I did have to work.” Annoyed as hell, I stomp to the nearest wall and promptly bang my head against the dilapidated wood. “Besides, if mom misses me so much, she can call me.”
Hazel scoffs. “Or you can pick your big, man-child of an ass up off your dirty leather throne, and leave that dumpster fire you call a house. You can take a shower, because we all know you smell like actual shit right now. Then you can put on some real clothes, touch some fucking grass, andcome home, Kade. It’s not that hard. Just get in your truck and drive the thirty miles it takes to do the right thing. It’s time.”
“Who the hell was that and where is my baby sister?” I ask, my stomach twisting at the accuracy of her words. “And I don’t smell.”
I lift my arm, smelling my bare pit and cringe.
I might smell a little bit.
“One, I’m hardly your baby sister. I’m only eleven months younger than you.”
“Semantics.” My lip tips up in a smirk. “You’ll always be my baby sister.”
