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My shoulders sagged at the truth vomiting from my lips. I would never escape her, nor would she ever love me how I yearned for.
“I hate that for you.” Drake all but growled the words, scowling, his eyes hard. “It’s your life, Preston. Be who you want. Do what you want. Don’t let some antiquated expectations from the illustrious Casswell line dictate your future.”
I snorted at his use of the big words he always tossed out when talking about any of New York’s richest families. Even though his way of speaking amused me, he’d made statements with such passion, such brutal honesty sometimes that I wanted to cry.
“What’s your idea of the perfect job?” he asked, not ready to give up the conversation. He made my heart soar.
At least someone cared about me. Listened.
“Something with computers,” I admitted, my chest fluttering. I’d bought myself a new Mac desktop halfway through my freshman year, and I’d been addicted to all things coding ever since I’d learned how the world wide web worked.
And Drake had thought I was a nerd before.
“You’re a damn wiz with them. I can only check my email and social media. Even those fucking Google Docs we use for school mess with my head.”
My poor stepbrother was not technologically inclined.
But he knew how to make me feel special. He could bring a smile to my face with a quick hug. He had my back as he’d promised, snuffing out the bullying against me before our first year at D.P. had ended.
As far as I was concerned, Drake was worth a million bucks.
“Our parents aren’t coming home until tomorrow night,” Drake said, sitting up and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “Want to give Nancy a call? See if she’s up for some company since she won’t be around Monday morning before we head to hell?”
My heart squeezed tight inside my suddenly aching chest. “Yeah,” I rasped. “I’d love that.”
Forget that million. Drake was priceless.
We slogged through traffic in Devlin’s old SUV with Drake behind the wheel, but we got into Queens without too much difficulty for a Saturday night.
Jacqueline’s parents had demanded a prenup before she’d married my father, so when Nancy got kicked out of our home and Mom filed for divorce, she’d been left with close to nothing.
I wasn’t sure what my mom had done with Devlin and how they’d gotten married so quickly, but knowing how tight she and her lawyers were, I expected Devlin had to sign something before she’d agreed to say “I do” again.
My second mom was left to work retail during the day, since she’d lost her position at Casswell Global in the human resources department. It had been five years, and she still hadn’t been able to find a job worthy of her degree or kindness.
The world sucked, plain and simple. You’d think with how liberal New York could be that a trans woman in her forties would be accepted and hired for her resume regardless that she didn’t always pass for a female.
Why couldn’t people just be free to be?
Nancy greeted me with a hug, and I got teary-eyed at the scent of her new flowery perfume surrounding me. While she no longer smelled like my dad used to, she felt pretty much the same. Perhaps a bit softer, but I would love her no matter what she wore or how long she grew her hair.
“Drake.” Nancy squeezed Drake tight too. “Thank you for bringing Preston to visit me.” Her voice broke, and Drake held onto her while she sniffled a bit.
Throat tight, I looked on, loving how Drake accepted Nancy for who she was and how he gifted me the opportunity to spend time with her since I didn’t have my license. The thought of driving sent my anxiety spiraling.
“Beer?” Nancy asked, and we both agreed, settling in her tiny living room with its love seat and recliner.
While we were far from twenty-one, Nancy didn’t give a shit about the two of us having a drink while we hung out with her for a few hours. I still wasn’t a huge fan of beer, but the occasional one shared with family was kind of cool.
The hops were growing on me.
“So.” Nancy smiled, what looked like real happiness shining from her face for the first time in longer than I could remember. “Your junior year starts on Monday.”
“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
Drake elbowed me and sipped his beer. We were squashed together from knee to shoulder on the tiny couch, but we didn’t care. Affection and physical touch came easily between us. I craved his nearness even if all my thoughts weren’t always appropriate toward him.
He never talked about girls like Ben did, and he’d never once been on a date that I knew of. Like me, he spent weekends at home, hanging out. We’d watched countless movies while lounging in my bed in front of the flat-screen TV I had hanging on my wall.
