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Back The Family Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (117)
  1. Also by
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
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  29. 24
  30. 25
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  32. 27
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  114. 109
  115. 110
  116. Teaser chapter
  117. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

If Dessie had come home at that moment, had climbed the stairs to rinse out her makeup brushes and shrug off her work clothes, if she had paused outside the door and caught the murmur of Fletcher’s voice, she would have been puzzled by the incantation falling from his lips.

“I mustn’t. I mustn’t. I mustn’t.”

29

29

Monday 30th July 2018, 7:30 P.M.

25 The Avenue

Aster Lockwood stretched out a leg and admired its shape, the color of her lightly toasted skin and the still-wet red nail polish.

She’d seen some boys hanging about the street earlier in the day. Too far away to work out if they were worth her time or not, but it always paid to be prepared.

Her music stopped. Fucking Wi-Fi. The crap signal was another to reason to hate this house. She’d turned up the music to drown out her pain-in-the-arse brother, but now he was crying again.

Aster swung her legs over the bed, careful not to smudge her toes, and walked into the hallway. Mum was cooking, the smell of frying onions drifting upstairs. She’d better not be doing burgers for tea. She’d refuse to eat them if she was. All that saturated fat.

She opened Evan’s door without knocking, went straight for the jugular.

“Be quiet, will you? I’m trying to think.”

She braced herself for an insult in return. Evan always gave as good as he got. Her money was on You’re too stupid to think, and she was formulating her response when her younger brother lifted his tearstained face from his pillow.

“Sorry.”

His voice was small and tight, and the shell that Aster had constructed around herself developed a hairline crack.

She flopped down on the edge of his bed. “What’s up?”

“Mum.” His tone was sulky.

“Oh God, what’s she done now?” Aster inspected her toenails, wondering if they were dry yet. She might go for a walk in a bit, on the off chance she would bump into those boys.

“Shouted. Told me I’m selfish.”

Aster smoothed back his bangs. His face was hot and clammy and he was cuddling his old bear. He didn’t seem nine, curled up on his bed, but a much younger version of himself, a throwback to a time when she’d been younger, too, and interested in him. “Sounds like Mum.”

“I wanted to ask her something, but she was too busy with her laptop and wouldn’t even listen.” Evan had torn out pictures of his favorite soccer players from magazines and stuck them on the wall with Blu Tack. The sight of them pulled at her in a way she didn’t expect.

“Tell me if you want,” she said, surprised by an impulse to protect her brother. Evan checked to see if she was telling the truth. Aster smiled to show him she meant it.