Read Online Calamity by J.T. Warren - Free Book Online

stuff. He had been so pissed at Delaney for that, but that was how things went between brother and sister. Besides, she was pretty cool, even for a girl. She liked good music, like Spoon and even old ones like The Clash, and she read Stephen King novels, which immediately made her a cooler girl than eighty percent of them out there. Still, she was his sister, and as a result . . .
    “You’re not going out like that, are you?” he asked her.
    “What?”
    “With your hair like that and your face.”
    Concern flashed in her eyes and she started grooming herself with her hands without seeing what she was doing, and then anger conquered concern. “Shut up.”
    He shrugged. “I just don’t want my baby sister going out in public looking like, well, like you. It would be embarrassing for the family.”
    “Fuck you.”
    “Delaney,” Dad said immediately. “Please.”
    She leaned across the table and whispered, “At least I don’t like boys with snaggleteeth.”
    Sasha’s snaggletooth hadn’t bothered him, not even when he was on top of her and pressing his lips against hers as hard as he thrusted inside her. This morning, his own lips were a bit sore. As well as the thing in his pants that had gotten him into this mess.
    When he didn’t respond, Delaney’s face softened. “I’m just joking. You can barely notice it.”
    “Forget it,” he said.
    “It’s only noticeable when she talks.” He couldn’t help but laugh with her; she had a great laugh, the contagious type. Though he’d never tell her, he loved her for being able to make him laugh, especially this morning.
    The eggs were off the pan and steaming on his plate. He had thought he was hungry but the sight of the yellow clumps and the sulfur smell wafting off them almost made him gag. He drank more coffee and pushed his chair back a foot.
    “Stop pestering your brother,” Dad said. “He’s not used to being up before noon.”
    If Tyler didn’t redirect the conversation, this would soon evolve, or devolve, into a two-front onslaught against him. They were only teasing, of course, not trying to be mean, but he knew what would happen if they kept prying at him. He’d snap, say something he’d regret (like the truth) and lock himself in his room where the only thing waiting for him was an endless mental movie of what had happened last night— you raped me .
    “Do I look ugly today?” Delaney asked Dad. While that was a perfect set up for Tyler to throw in a quip— no more than usual, sis —he resisted because that would only encourage a return attack from her. Or because you’re done with childish things. You’ve ly s. Youbeen with a woman--you’re now a man .
    Then why did he want to vomit?
    Dad smiled at her, touched her hair, shook his head. “You got your mother’s wispy hair, like straw. And my deep eyes, like canyons. In fact, go like this”—he held out his arms from his sides—“you would make quite the scarecrow.”
    She frowned at him. “Har. De. Har.”
    He held up several strands of her hair in a goofy Mohawk. “Don’t you think your sister’s face would scare the birds away, Brendan?”
    But Brendan wasn’t listening. He had that composition book he always carried around with him open on his lap.
    “He thinks you’re so frightening he can’t even look at you,” Dad said. He was on quite the roll this morning. Maybe Mom was feeling better. Or maybe he had accepted how she was dealing with things. Either way, it was nice to have life in the house again.
    “Stop it,” Delaney said and swatted Dad’s hand away.
    Brendan still did not look up. His eyes were narrow slits and his eyebrows pushed almost together in concentration.
    Tyler touched him on the shoulder and the response was as if Tyler had zapped him with a stun gun: a tremor raced through Brendan’s body and his head snapped up and to the side, eyes suddenly huge, skin taunt. Tyler jumped and let him go. Maybe there had been electricity in the