Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 1.2 - Rough Broke Read Free Page A

he calls you 'fag' a lot, and he seems to mean it to be a specific insult rather than a general one. But maybe he doesn't like you for some whole other reason; you sure haven't limited yourself to just one reason for not liking him.
    It's probably not a good idea, but you go down to the warehouse one day and ask if they're hiring. You've hit a growth spurt, finally, so you're a good size, and you're not in great shape but you're okay, and you can act respectful, when you try. You never took your stepfather’s last name, so there's no connection between the two of you, and you get the job, parttime after school. It's weird to have an after-school job and not go to school, so you start going, this time to some Alternative Education program set up in a storefront. It's got flexible hours and lets you work at your own speed, so you don't hate it, but it's still pretty damn dull. You get your first paycheck and it's not huge, but it's nice to have

Rough Broke | Kate Sherwood
    some legitimate money for a change. When you tell your mom you've got a job and offer to contribute to the household expenses, she cries a little, and tells you to save it for yourself, because maybe you'll need it for something someday. You're pretty sure you know where the money will go if it stays with you, so you ask her if she'll hold on to it for you, and she cries a little more and says yes.
    Your stepfather doesn't work in the warehouse, but he picks up samples there sometimes, and stops by to visit, so it's not exactly shocking when you see him walk in one day. Well, it's not shocking for you, but it's obviously a pretty unpleasant surprise for him. He doesn't say anything, not there in the warehouse, but you've seen too much of his temper to think that there won't be repercussions.
    When you get home that night the house is quiet, but there's a light burning in the front room, and when you unlock the door and go inside he's waiting there for you. He's drunk, and angry. You're not sure where your mother and sister are, but you're glad they're not at home.
    He tells you that he won't have you destroying the family, says that his income is important and he won't let you fuck it up. You say you got hired with your own name and the company has no idea you're connected to him, and you're not going to fuck up anyway. He laughs at that, and you lose your temper, say that from what you've heard around the warehouse, he's doing a pretty good job of fucking up all on his own, with his long lunches and swearing in front of clients. That's when he really loses it, and he calls you a worthless fag and punches you in the side of your face, and it would have hurt a lot more except that he's drunk and slow so you were able to mostly dodge it, but it still hurts a lot and he's coming at you with more. It’s far from the first time he's hit you, but you think maybe it'll be the last.
    You've hardly been smoking at all lately, and all the lifting at work has given you the start of a nice set of muscles, and you're young and quick and sober. You side step the next swing easily and send your fist sailing towards his face. You remember the pain of your hand breaking on

Rough Broke | Kate Sherwood
    the football player's jaw, so you aim for somewhere softer, and it's satisfying as hell to feel your stepfather's nose squish and flatten beneath your knuckles. He falls back, in pain and surprise, and you follow him, just because you can. You give him a hard slap, your hand cupped and rigid, the way he hits you and Krista most of the time, and damn, you can see why he does it, because it feels good. It feels good to be the one in charge, the one giving the hits instead of taking them, and you hit him once more and he falls backwards, sprawling on the floor.
    You move to stand over him, and your feet itch to kick him, to turn this from a fight into a beating, but then there's a sound in the hallway and you turn and realize that your Mom and Krista weren't out at all, they