Whispers of a Broken Halo by Abbi Glines

Henley looked up at me and started to smile but stopped when she noticed the scowl on my face. Her gaze went past me to see Saul, and she put her book down in her lap, as if to prepare herself for whatever we had come out here to tell her.

“Hello, boys. From the looks on your faces, I am not going to like what you have to tell me,” she said, shifting her gaze from me to Saul.

“Tory was arrested this morning in a meth lab, completely fucked up. This isn’t her first time to be arrested like this. She won’t be getting out soon or easily. Bryn knows. I went to tell her this morning as soon as I heard it was happening.”

There, she knew. I could go get a shower now.

Henley swung her legs off the lounge chair she had been sitting on, putting them on the wooden boards beneath her, then stood up quickly. “You know where she lives?” she asked me.

I didn’t want to tell her yes because she looked like she was about to go somewhere. I just stood there and stared at her, trying to think of a lie to stop whatever she was thinking.

Henley’s fingertip hit my chest as she looked up at me with determination. “If Tory is in jail, then Bryn has a little boy who has been told today that he might not see his mama for a while. She has no other family. It’s just them. She can’t go to work at night if she’s taking care of Cullen. She needs help. So, tell me where she lives.”

“You aren’t getting mixed up with this. Hell, for all I know, Bryn is on the same shit. She works at a strip club and lives with a druggie. She could be using too,” I said.

Her eyes flared, and I heard Saul cough or cover a laugh behind me. I wasn’t sure which it was.

“When did you become this-this heartless, judgmental jerk? Bryn isn’t that child’s mother, but she sacrifices for him every day, the way a mother is supposed to do for her child. She’s come in the shop enough for me to see her with the little boy. He trusts her. She loves him. It is clear as day. I do not believe she bashed your Jeep. I don’t care if you saw her put the pole through a window of your Jeep; there has to be an explanation. Even if there isn’t, then you must have done something to deserve it. And I absolutely do not believe she is using drugs. Now, I am going to see Bryn and find out how I can help her and Cullen. Tell me where she lives, or I’m calling her.”

Deep down, I guessed I had known this was what Henley would want to do. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t wanted her to know. Did that make me a heartless, judgmental jerk? I hadn’t even considered Bryn wouldn’t be able to work or didn’t have help with the boy. She had trashed my Jeep, but she had said she didn’t know it was mine. Maybe she had been telling the truth. Didn’t make her any less crazy for it though. She had demons, and Henley could never understand something as dark as the life Bryn had been raised in.

“I’ll take you.” It was all I could agree to.

I stood behind what I’d said about Bryn’s past damaging her. I didn’t trust what she had become because of it, and I wasn’t going to let my sister get hurt. Henley had no idea the kind of life Bryn had lived and how it had ruined her.





Chapter Sixteen

Bryn

I sat on the bed, staring down at my phone. Tory had used her one call to call me. I’d expected that. Who else would she have called? I was all she had. I was all she had ever had. Unshed tears stung my eyes. I fought to keep them from falling. Cullen was in the living room, watching some Spider-Man movie he loved with different versions of Spider-Man. It confused me, but it kept him occupied.

Tory was looking at up to forty-two months in prison. There would be no probation this time.

How blind was I that I hadn’t even realized she was addicted again? My working nights and leaving her here with Cullen. What kind of sister and aunt am I? I’d failed both of them.

The money had made our life easier—or so I had thought. That was why I had done it. But my being gone, the ease it provided Tory, it wasn’t something she could handle. She needed the stress of financial responsibility. I had taken that away. But then I didn’t know how long this had been going on. Until recently, she had been coming home.

Had she been high the night she beat Rio’s Jeep with the pole? Why hadn’t I considered that then? How long had she been doing this?

All day, I had felt a heavy weight on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Every moment that passed, it just grew heavier. I had failed Cullen when all I wanted to do was give him a better life.

The knock on the door, however, kept me from falling apart. Tonight was not the time to let Cullen answer the door. I had no idea who might be on the other side. There was the fear that Tory might owe someone also haunting me. The fact that Cullen could be in any path of danger terrified me more than anything else.

I stopped in the kitchen on my way to the door and glanced at the block of knives by the stove. Should I take the big one with me? Had our life really come to this?

“Someone knocked on the door,” Cullen said from his spot on the sofa.

I jerked my gaze off the knives and looked at him, hoping the panic inside me didn’t reflect in my eyes. “I heard it, honey. Just watch your show. I’ll handle it.”

I put 911 in my phone and had my finger hover above the Call button. Then, I walked to the door to slightly pull back the curtain covering the window beside it and peeked out. The first thing I saw was Rio’s profile. I paused, unsure if I was willing to deal with him tonight, but I was relieved I wasn’t about to get held up at gunpoint. Then, I noticed the figure beside him. It was Henley. With a sigh, I cleared my phone, so I didn’t accidentally call for help, then put it in my pocket.