“Austin, come on, let’s go.” Ashton slipped her arm through her younger brother’s, trying to pull him back from a confrontation with their irate mother. “This isn’t going to solve anything.”

They’d been arguing since she’d arrived at the hospital to check on her father. A bus ride and a taxi had brought her home after Austin’s phone call, and she was determined to make sure her dad was okay, and then figure out why Austin was staring down the woman who’d given birth to him.

“I’m not the one with an issue, Ash. She is.” The venom in Aussie’s tone surprised her, and she turned her head to look at her mother. Her face was drawn, lines that hadn’t been there when Ashton had cut out a little over a week ago showing her obvious strain.

“Mom?” she asked, waiting for an explanation and getting nothing but a shake of the head in response. “Fine, we’ll deal with this in a bit.”

Turning to her brother, pulling again on his arm to move him away from their mom, she gave him a cool once-over. “Well?”

“He’s in recovery, I think. I don’t know. The doctor only talked to Mom, and I overheard bits. He should make it through, but she won’t talk to me.” His head cocked to the side, an unreadable expression forming on his face.

God, he looks so young, she thought, wincing when she realized that she’d left him to deal with their parents alone while she’d been chasing Aaron and petting Duncan. Shit.

And her parents weren’t talking to Aussie or Aaron. And given the reception she’d received, her mom wasn’t all that interested in talking to her, either. “Explain why,” she demanded, trying to hold herself together even as she could feel her family falling apart. “Please,” she added, gentling her tone.

“I wasn’t supposed to call you. She’s pissed off that I did, and worried that Aaron is going to show up.” His jaw clenched, the words coming through gritted teeth and laced with barely leashed anger. “She said it was his fault this happened.”

Ashton didn’t need Austin to elaborate. Apparently, Aaron’s coming out had caused their father to have a heart attack.

What-the fuck-ever.

“Right, well, I’m going to find out what’s happening and when I come back, you and I are leaving.”

“Do you have a car?” Austin asked, knowing she’d come the long way home from Aaron’s apartment. “Or do I need to get us a ride? I can call Odie.”

The thought of Austin calling his best friend, Odette, to come and collect them gave Ashton the first reason to smile in hours. It was clear to her that Aussie loved the girl, but for whatever reason, they were only friends.

Which was probably a good thing. They were only seventeen, and the likelihood of anything starting now and lasting forever was slim.

Except friendship. She had a feeling that their friendship would last all their lives.

“Yeah, okay. That’d be good.” She let go of his arm only to wrap him in a hug, wanting to feel the comfort of a family member that wasn’t in a hospital bed or off somewhere smiting their oldest child for bringing on a massive coronary episode. “Be back, ’kay?”

Austin nodded, and Ashton moved toward the nurse’s desk to see if she could get any information on her father’s condition. If not, she’d take her brother and leave, figuring out what they’d do next along the way.

There was nothing she could do. Once she’d settled that her father would recover in time, she set out to deal with Austin—or, more specifically, with getting him through the last part of school without stepping on the minefield that had become her relationship with her parents.

“I will not let him leave here with you,” her mother said, bitterness in her voice. “I won’t condone him associating with Aaron.”

Ashton winced at the way Aaron sounded coming off her mom’s lips. Like it was distasteful. They were standing face-to-face in the middle of the kitchen in the house Ashton had grown up in. “Aaron”—Ashton made a point of emphasizing his name, too, but it wasn’t distaste on her tongue, it was affection—“is his brother.”

“Not anymore.”

“You can’t just cut him out of your life, Mom. He’s your son.”

“Not anymore,” her mother repeated firmly, brooking no argument. It set a fire in her chest, hearing the adamancy in those two words. She’s giving up on him entirely.

“Fine, whatever. That’s your call, fucking stupid though it is—”

“Don’t speak to me like that.”

“Screw you, I’ll speak to you however I want. If you want to disown Aaron, then you’re disowning me too.”

“Austin stays here.” Her mother crossed her arms tightly across her chest, and Ashton knew she was in for an even bigger fight.

Except, she didn’t know what she’d do if she won. She had to go back to school and so did Austin. He was in his senior year, mere months from graduation, and there was no way he’d be able to commute.

Shit.

“Ash?” As if thinking of him conjured him up, Aussie’s voice interrupted her problem-solving session. Although, she wasn’t getting anything solved, so it was more like a problem-gazing session.

“Yeah?” She turned to face him, giving her still fuming mother her back and concentrating on the next words from Austin’s mouth.

“Go back to school. I’m outta here in a few months anyway.” He smiled but it was sad. As if it could be anything else. “Odie’s family will let me hang out as much as I want, you know that.”

She did know that. Odette’s parents loved Austin, and didn’t seem too concerned with their daughter spending all her time with him. But even still, leaving him behind didn’t sit right with her.

“Aus, I can’t just—”

He didn’t let her finish. He just smiled another sad smile at her, shook his head and turned away. And a few short hours later, having called for back-up that was readily given, Ashton shoved boxes and bags into her friend Bianca’s car, and she too turned away.

From Austin, but only for a few months.

From that house, from her parents, forever.