The boy who Sneaks i Chapter 54: Unveiling Family Connections

Chapter 54: Unveiling Family Connections

I let Kate talk to Johnny for the rest of lunch, adding in the occasional question or answer when I needed to. He was actually a nice guy. It would have been easier if he was an jerk, then that way I would be able to brush him off and not feel like a piece of crap about it after. I showed him to his classes and he sat next to

when he could. When the bell rang for the end of the day I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So are you headed straight ho?" Johnny asked, smiling, as we walked to my locker.

I shook my head. "No. I need to wait for Jake and Liam to be finished with their practice."

"Yeah, what does Jake play?" he asked curiously.

"Ice hockey."

"Cool. You know, I could give you a ride if you want," he offered. "My mom and Stephen bought

a wicked car for my birthday," he added, smiling broadly. I felt my heart sink at the sound of his na again, the way he used it in casual conversation scared the crap out of .

"Um, thanks for the offer, but I’ll wait for them. Liam usually cos over after because Jake goes to work," I said quickly.

"Where does Jake work?" he asked, leaning against the lockers.

"Benny’s gym." I ramd my books into my bag with way too much force bending all the pages, because I was getting uncomfortable.

"Jake doesn’t seem to like

much," Johnny muttered, looking a little sad.

I smiled reassuringly. "He doesn’t know you. It’s just weird for us that’s all. We haven’t seen our father in three years, then all of a sudden he turns up here and bang, we have another brother and a stepbrother. Jake doesn’t like change," I explained, trying to skirt around the issue a little.

He nodded, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess it’s hard. So, do you think maybe I could wait with you until their practice ends and we could get to know each other a bit more? I an, I don’t want this to carry on being awkward for either of us, I’m here now so I think we need to make the best of it," he asked, looking at

hopefully.

Holy shit buckets! I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing, I nodded and shut my locker.

"You want to sit out front? I usually sit under the tree and wait," I said as we walked out of the building.

"Sounds good," he agreed, following

with a little smile. I walked to the big oak tree where I usually sit and do my howork and sat down leaning against it. He plopped down in front of , picking a couple of blades of grass, playing with them nervously. There was a little daisy next to my foot, so I picked it and tucked it into the back of my ponytail because it reminded

of the one that Liam picked for

before dance practice after that first night we kissed.

I was so uncomfortable that I squird on the spot, trying to think of sothing to say. "So, your little brother, Matt.... Well, I guess he’s my brother now too, anyway what I was going to say is, what’s he like?" I asked curiously.

He grinned. "He’s cute. He’s a pain in the butt, especially when he cries in the night, but he’s cute. I have a picture if you want to see," he offered, pulling his wallet out and handing it to .

I smiled and eagerly flicked it open, wanting to see the little baby. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the picture, it wasn’t just the baby, it was a family picture. I looked at my father; he was smiling proudly with one arm around his new wife and the other around Johnny who was holding a little blond boy.

My father looked older, his hair had changed and gone a little greyer, but his eyes were the thing that caught . I rember his eyes being hard and cold and always angry, but he was different here, smiling and warm, he looked friendly and kind.

"Cute, huh?" Johnny said.

I tore my eyes away from my father and looked at the little baby; he was cute, chubby, blond hair, brown eyes and a big smile. I looked at the lady in the picture; she had brown hair and grey eyes just like my mom and . She looked nice. "Is this your mom?" I asked, pointing at her.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Her na’s Ruby," he said, taking his wallet back when I was done.

I couldn’t get the image out of my brain of my father smiling. Had he changed? I looked Johnny over, he looked happy, no bruises or cuts, no telltale limp or wincing or anything. "So, do you get on with him then?" I asked curiously, watching his face for his reaction.

"Matt? Yeah he’s OK. It’ll be better when he’s older and he can do more stuff," he answered, shrugging.

I gulped. "No, I ant my father," I clarified, trying not to flinch at the thought of him.

Johnny shrugged and nodded, but didn’t say anything. "It must be hard having a guy co along though after years of it just being you and your mom," I stated, trying to push for an answer. Was my father hurting him too, or maybe the baby, or his mom?

I was imdiately thankful that he didn’t have another girl living with him. The physical abuse was bad; Jake got the brunt of it, but the sexual abuse, that left ntal scars that I knew I still wasn’t over.

mories of those Sunday’s flashed through my mind and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from crying.

He nodded and looked at the floor. "It was a little hard, but they’ve been together for over two years now, so..."