I knew that he was here for Cali the moment mom brought him home. Little slut! She was finally about to get what she deserved!

I raced to the back of the house and slipped through an open window. The neighbors were all at work or school so I didn't need to be crafty about remaining unseen. A few moments later and there I was; looking down on her as she sat on the sofa filing her nails and glaring at me.

"Can't you use the door like a normal person?" she demanded, gesturing towards the scratched, wooden slab across the room that hung slightly lopsided.

One of mom's boyfriends had once painted it blue to apologize for sending it flying across the room. But the color had faded a long time ago. Of course, mom had taken the loser back and their make-up sex had taken place right against that damn door! And knowing Cali, the door was probably unlocked right now because God forbid she walk her fat ass an additional three steps across the living room to secure the house.

"I'm sitting here trying to be a civilized human being - a concept you have no knowledge of apparently! But there you go, sneaking through windows and spying on me!"

"But I wasn't-" 

She glared at me, cold enough to freeze ice, and I abruptly closed my mouth. It was so hard to maintain eye contact with her and not wince against the sheer beauty of her face that had no right belong in this world.

It was no one thing that caused the hitch in my throat, the same sound I've often heard echoed by other people. Instead, it was the sum of the whole; the luminosity of her large green eyes like pools of emerald. It was the gorgeous honey blond hair and exquisite cheekbones in a face so perfectly shaped you wondered if God had been fantasizing on the day he made her. It was the sensual lips, naturally pink and pouty, and the body of a woman that connected that pretty, pretty face to the large bosom and plump, womanly body.

Cal was so sure that her stunning beauty would always ensure mom loved and protected her the most, but I knew better. My face was living proof that no matter how much mom loved you, her moods were unpredictable and her cruelty was legion to the three foster kids she had housed all their lives but never saw fit to legally adopt. Not unless there was something in it for her.

"Cal, mom’s got a new boyfriend and you should either lock the door or hide!" 

I blurted the words out on an exhale and opened my eyes. I gulped deep breaths of air and listened for the sounds of other occupants in the house. Nil. Nada. None. 

No neighbors at home to hear the screams. No Bran at home to intervene. Cali was on her own and was being a prick, and I wasn't even sure why I bothered. I didn't have much time to find a hiding place myself, but here I was wasting precious time on this cunt.

"Maybe he's here for you," Cali sneered. "Ever wondered why mom let you stay here after you turned eighteen and became a leech she could no longer collect money for?"

The barb found its mark and I gritted my teeth. I was not a leech and I had done everything in my power to find a job after I graduated from high school last summer. But it seemed nobody was willing to hire me and risk scaring their customers away, plus I helped out around the house in other ways. I was mommy's little helper, maid, cook and housekeeper and Cali was the one who should be worried. She turned eighteen today and I had been deliberating loitering out front all morning with a funny feeling that mom meant something different when she promised Cali that she would return with a gift. 

"You know that it's only a matter of time before her boyfriends start getting handsy." I lowered my tone and tried to sound serious and logical as she balefully glared at me. "We both know how mom earns extra money after she gambles away the state checks and there's no food in the house to eat."

A muscle jumped in her jaw but she remained stubbornly stubborn with her chin jutted out and her hands crossed in her lap. I sighed.

There was no reasoning with Cali when she got like this and a part of me didn’t even want to try. Except that if I thought what was about to happen did happen, then she was unlikely to be as luckily barren as mom and there were already enough mouths around her to feed. I've wanted to hurt her for the longest time but I couldn't and face mom's wrath.  Ut it finally seemed like someone was going to do so for me.

"Remember that I did warn you, okay. Despite the fact that you're a whole bitch, I fulfilled my sisterly duties when it counted."

I muttered the words over my shoulder as I quickly sprinted off, ignoring the look of uncertainty that flashed across her face much too late as the front door burst open and they appeared. He was a hideous, tall, brawny, bearded fella with huge biceps and long scraggy auburn hair. Mom stood next to him with her brassy blond hair in a neat coiffure, a fresh coat of red lipsticks on her smiling lips, and the white, petalled sundress, red pumps and green purse as pristine as I had prepared them. That was all I glimpsed before I darted out the room and headed to our bedroom to find an open window to slip through.

But I wasn't fast enough to escape the conversation taking place behind me.

"Surprise, my love!" Mom sang in her lithe, soothing voice. I could picture the beam on her face, the way her eyes would light up as she looked at the man who was here to save all our days. "Isn't he handsome, Cali dear? Won't you like him to be your first?"