Chapter 2
He wore a black t-shirt pulled tight across those wide shoulders, the kind of shoulders that looked like they could throw a grown man across a room without breaking a sweat, dark jeans sitting low on his hips, arms folded over his chest so the muscles in his forearms stood out thick and corded.
His face stayed mostly blank, hard lines around his mouth and eyes, but the second I climbed out of the car hauling my duffel, that tiny curl happened at the corner of his lips, slow and private, like he’d just seen something he’d been thinking about for a long damn time.
My stepdad didn’t bother getting out. He rolled the window down halfway, engine still running, gravel dust swirling around the tires.
“She’s your problem for a while,” he called out, his voice flat and tired like he
