“Don’t,” I snap, voice sharp enough to cut through any pretenses. The sharpness in my tone surprises even me, but I don’t regret it. Not when his words threaten to unravel the fragile thread holding me together if I look too closely at my flawed family. My chest tightens as I watch his jaw clench, his teeth grinding audibly as though he’s trying to keep whatever storm brews inside him from spilling out. His eyes, dark, stormy, and filled with an unspoken mix of anger lock onto mine, searching for something I’m not sure I have left to give.
“Someone should’ve stopped it,” he says finally, his voice low but weighted, each word landing like a punch. How can he say that when he has done nothing but watch his own friends ridicule me? He certainly has no qualms doing it himself, they all lost a
