Later that evening, after a grueling afternoon of pop quizzes and three hours of studying with Lucy in the school library, my brain was fried. Arriving back at my room after leaving a fresh plate of food out for the stray fox, I glanced at the time and groaned. I was going to be running late to my meeting with Simon.

I showered quickly, then raced around my room hunting for something to wear and smacked my big toe hard into the leg of my desk. “Jesus fucking Christ!” I screamed. When had that moved?

I took a deep breath, trying desperately to get a grip. All afternoon my mind had been in turmoil, running through all the weird things that had happened recently. All the new hot guys arriving in town, my possible mental break with seeing Mr. Gregoric’s eyes change, and the waitress shooting sparks. Simon…

Simon’s sudden appearance was almost more worrying than my possible insanity. He seemed so different from the boy I had known in the foster home. His eyes were cold and hard, and the lecherous way he had looked at me made my gut churn in disgust. I had no idea what might have brought him here after all this time, but it definitely sounded more specific than just “tell me what you’ve been up to for the last five years.”

As kids, Simon had been like an older brother to Lucy and I. The three of us had stuck together through a lot and leaned on each other for support almost daily for over a decade. When Suzette’s fucked up operation was shut down and all of the kids re-homed, Luce and I had been heartbroken to lose touch with him.

Which brought me to another thing bugging me. Why had he barely even looked at Lucy? She’d been just as much a sister as I was… Back then, he and I had shared the job of protecting her. She was small now, but when we were younger, she had been tiny, helpless, and an easy target at the foster home. His lack of interest in her today just didn’t sit right.

Still remembering the less than brotherly hug Simon had given me, I decided to dress down in an oversized hoody and old, faded jeans with a tear across the knee. They were the sloppiest clothes I owned, so would have to suffice. Once dressed, I sat on the floor to lace up my black and white converse boots. Right as I got to the top of my first boot, my bedroom door flew open, whacking into me, and I snarled.

“Crap! Sorry Kitty Kat, I didn’t expect you to be sitting on the floor behind the door.” Crouching down, Caleb apologized and looked me over as though checking for injuries.

“What the hell, Cal? You don’t just go barging into girls’ rooms unannounced!” I scowled. I can’t believe I have to educate him on the concept of privacy. Typical male.

“Sorry, I’ve only ever lived with guys, so I’m kind of used to just barging into each other’s space whenever we want.” He shrugged but at least had the grace to look a bit sheepish.

“What if I had been naked?” I rolled my eyes, rubbing my knee where the door had hit. I doubt he will suddenly start knocking; he’s already too friendly with me to backtrack into politeness.

With a sly look, he winked at me. “Who says that wasn’t what I was hoping for?”

“What are you doing here, Caleb? I’m just on my way out.” Determined not to be charmed by his relentless flirting, I finished tying the lace on my first boot.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He pouted adorably. “I miss you... We haven’t spoken since my dickhead brother and his bitchy little girlfriend treated you like crap, and it’s been killing me. You know that’s not what I think of you, right?”

I sighed, retreating to the bed to deal with the second boot. “Yes, of course I know. I just couldn’t deal with seeing the two of them again and knowing how he always seems to be around you at school, I figured it was easiest to avoid you both.”

He rose from his crouch and took a seat at the end of my bed. Lifting my unlaced booted foot onto his lap, he slowly and precisely laced it up, alternating with a massage of my calf muscle with his strong fingers.

“I get it,” he said eventually. “But I don’t like it. Can we just avoid him together?” Finished with my boot, he stretched his long body out alongside mine and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

Guilt panged through me. I’d lumped Caleb in with his brother. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been avoiding you, too. I’ve just had a lot on my mind recently, even before that scene with Austin and Anna. Honestly, what they said wasn’t anything I’m not used to, but it upsets Lucy to hear that shit, and I’m just a bit protective of her.”

Caleb propped his head on his palm and gestured with his free hand. “Well, go ahead. Why don’t you tell me about what’s got you down, and maybe I can help?”

I stared into his emerald green eyes for a minute, considering what to say. I was already late for my meeting with Simon, but Caleb made me feel warm and fuzzy inside and I wasn’t ready for this moment to end.

“I found out some information recently,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Something which might help me find out who my biological parents are.”

“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful. “What do you know about them so far?”

“Nothing. I was left abandoned on the side of the road when I was five and with no memories except my first name and date of birth.”

“And what is this information that makes you think it could help?”

Lips compressed, I shook my head slightly. I wasn’t willing to share the specifics about my unusual talents or the possibility that I was the result of some sort of genetic experiment.

“How did you and Lucy end up here?” he asked, seeming willing to follow my lead. “You guys never talk about yourselves much. I didn’t even know you were adopted until that showdown with Austin.”

I grimaced as unpleasantness teased at the edge of my memory, but I forcefully pushed it back in its mental box before the pain could get the better of me. “The woman in charge of our foster home was involved in some pretty bad shit. One day the whole place was raided by a private intelligence agency then shut down. After, all the kids were split up and re-homed. A few of us, like me and Lucy, struck it lucky and found really great caregivers. Jonathan, my ‘dad’ is a pretty important guy and didn’t really have the time or skills to raise a damaged teenager, so he sent me here, then offered to pay for Lucy to come here too so I wouldn’t be alone. A really lovely older couple in California adopted her, but they aren’t very wealthy, and they were overjoyed to have Lucy attend school here. It’s an education they wouldn’t have normally been able to provide. She spends every holiday with them, and I think they genuinely love her, which is awesome.”

Caleb frowned. “Jonathan sounds like a real gem.” His tone didn’t match the statement; he actually sounded angry.

“He is.” I laughed. Jonathan was an amazing guardian, but the role of ‘father’ just hadn’t come naturally to him when applied to a damaged thirteen year old. We’d had a bit of a rocky start but since then have grown into a comfortable rhythm. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he didn’t keep track of my comings and goings, like any parent, but he trusted me enough to give me an illusion of freedom. “He took me in simply because I remind him of his sister, but he has absolutely zero parenting skills, so believe me when I say this solution worked best for everyone involved.”

Caleb hummed under his breath and started twisting bits of my hair between his fingers. We fell silent for a bit, and I almost purred under the light tug of his gentle fingers in my hair.

“So where are you headed to tonight in such serious boots?” he asked, breaking the quiet.

“Oh, crap!” I jolted upright. “Shit, I must be so late now! I’m supposed to be meeting up with an old friend for a drink in town.”

“An old friend?” Caleb arched an eyebrow at me, a note of jealousy in his tone.

“Yes, actually someone from my time in foster care. Showed up completely out of the blue today and says he needs to warn me about something important.”

“That sounds kind of sketchy, Kitty Kat. Maybe I should come with you?” He echoed my own thoughts about Simon’s unexplained arrival.

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine.” I smiled at his concern. “I’ll text you when I’m home safe. Lucy has already told me about seventeen thousand times to text her, so I can just copy-paste it to you.” I stuck my tongue out, and he gave me a mock scowl.

I was almost an hour and a half late when I finally reached Pete’s Place. Simon had chosen a table near the back of the bar and had taken full advantage of Pete’s relaxed policy towards checking IDs. Sliding into the booth opposite him, I eyed the empty glasses on the table. Just how many had he had?

“You’re late.” he slurred, narrowing his beady eyes at me.

“Sorry.” I smiled, not in the mood to start an argument. “I got caught talking to someone at school. It looks like you found something to do while you waited, though?” I raised an eyebrow at his inebriated state. As if this whole encounter isn’t strange enough, he has to add alcohol to the equation. Okay, Kit. Just… work out what he’s doing here and leave. Fast.

“School.” He sneered. “That’s a fucking fancy-looking school you and Luce go to, huh? Bet that costs a pretty penny.”

He didn’t seem to actually ask a question, so I said nothing and waited for him to get to the point.

“You know, you always were a good-looking kid. But you sure grew up well.” He flicked out his tongue to wet his lips, and I suppressed a grossed out shudder that someone I thought of as family was looking at me like he was imagining me naked.

“Si, what are we doing here? You said you had something important to warn me about?” The whole situation skeeved me out, and I hated the idea that my “brother” only made me more uncomfortable the longer I spent with him.

He didn’t immediately respond, but continued to stare.

“You know, I had the biggest crush on you when we were kids.”

My stomach sank. Did he intend to get those feelings off his chest before telling me why he was here? Ugh.

“I even started looking forward to the beatings and abuse because I knew that afterwards you’d be there to look after me.”

“Si, that’s just...” My skin crawled, and I was at a loss for the right words.

“Beautiful. I know.” He cut me off with a creepy smile then sipped his drink.

“Sick. It’s sick, Simon. The shit they did... how could you think that anything made that worthwhile?”

He slammed his glass down hard on the table, making a loud bang, and I jumped.

“How dare you?” he hissed. “How dare you call how I felt for you sick? I was a little boy in love! I would have put up with far more than that for those moments when you held me afterwards.” His voice climbed in volume and anger as he spoke. Pete, the old guy who owned the bar, gave me a meaningful scowl. Time to get Simon out of here.

“Of course,” I back-pedaled in a soothing voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Why don’t we get some fresh air and continue talking outside? Then maybe you can tell me what you came here for?” I coaxed him up out of the booth and took the quickest exit, out the back door leading to the alleyway running behind the row of stores where the bar sat. The alcohol must have dulled his reaction time. It wasn’t until we were outside that he even seemed to register we’d left the bar.

“What? Now you’re too ashamed to be seen in public with me, Kit? What’s the problem? What’s so wrong with a man confessing his childhood love to his long-lost friend?” He was yelling now, invading my personal space. Little flecks of his spit were hitting me in the face, and I backed up a step to get away from it.

“That’s just it, Si. I was your friend. Nothing more. Some seriously bad shit happened to us back then, and it’s understandable that you might be experiencing some sort of, I don’t know, misplaced emotion? But I’ve never considered you anything more than my friend and brother.” I tried to keep my voice gentle but could hear the outrage leaking through. This shit was getting out of hand. “Is that what you came here to tell me? That you used to have a crush on me? I don’t believe that is what you came to say.”

He laughed; a more scornful sound I’d never heard. “No. No, what I have to say is much more... life threatening, shall we say? But suddenly I’m not feeling in the most sharing mood.”

It was futile to argue with a drunk, so I pushed off the wall to leave. “This was a waste of time.”

Simon stepped into my path, blocking my exit. “What do you think you’re doing?” he snarled, his saliva hitting me in the face once again.

“I’m leaving, Si. You obviously aren’t going to tell me this big secret you’ve got, and you’re making me super uncomfortable, so I’m not sticking around for it to get any weirder.” I tried to ease past him, unwilling to use any of my extra strength on someone I considered family. No matter how bat shit crazy he was acting. He shoved me back against the wall, the rough contact making me instantly regret my decision to not hurt him, then plastered his mouth to mine like some sort of overgrown octopus under threat.

He tasted like beer and garlic as he forced his wet fish of a tongue into my mouth. Enough. I shoved him off me, uncaring of how much force I had to use.

“What the fuck, Simon?” I screamed, horrified at the unwanted intrusion and his blatant disregard for consent. “Are you fucking deaf? Have you not heard a word I have said? I am not attracted to you!”

The last thing I expected from him in that moment was a violent backhand. The blow against my face startled me more than anything else. My head smacked backwards against the brick wall, and my knees went to jelly. Shock overrode everything, and my mouth burned where my lip was split.

Who reacted like that? Mentally deranged people, Kit, you fucking idiot. I wasn’t dealing with my brother anymore—this man was a stranger.

A dangerous one.

“...could have saved you!” he raged on in some insane tone wavering between madness and fury. “But you... you just have to be such a little bitch, don’t you? You used to be such a nice girl, Kit.” He cackled as he sneered my name. “Kit, the Foxy Girl, Patron’s favorite. No one could ever gain as much favor as adorable, skinny little Foxy with her perfect fox-red hair and porcelain white skin that showed up the marks so beautifully. I guess they were right about that part.” He touched my face where he had just struck me. No doubt I already had a rapidly expanding bruise. I slapped his hand away.

“You know, it wasn’t hard to track you down. You’ve been leaving your little foxes all over the country for years, just begging someone to connect it back to you. But no one ever did, did they? Until me. I knew it was you as soon as I heard about them.” His eyes narrowed, a cruelty in them I’d never imagined. “A notorious thief dubbed ‘The Fox’ because of the little plastic foxes left at the scene of every crime. Let’s not forget who first taught you how to steal, sweetheart.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Denial was my best defense, and I used a calm voice to support it. “I am just a normal high school student. I barely even remember those parlor tricks you taught me.”

“That’s bullshit!” he screamed. “Stop lying to me!” He reached out with curled fingers as though to grab me, and I readied myself to avoid the contact.

Out of nowhere, Simon’s hand was snatched away from where he had it stretched toward me and wrenched up behind his back in an arm lock. He let out a high-pitched scream and tried to turn his head to see who was holding him.

The way the shadows were falling, I couldn’t see much except a nice pair of men’s shoes and suit pants. Whoever he was, the person growled something in a menacing tone against Simon’s ear. Whatever he heard, Simon nodded frantically. The Good Samaritan released him, and Simon staggered away, pausing a few steps down the alley and glaring poison at me.

“I’ll be seeing you real soon, Foxy Girl.” Then he took off out of the alleyway at an unsteady jog.