𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 , 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

fourteen.

DALLAS WINSTON

"i'm her brother! i look out for her! i don't give a fuck about this gang tellin' my kid sister what streets not to walk down, but i do care if you're trying to raise her better than i am." i yell in darry's face, shoving him at the chest.

"dallas, get off of him!" madeline yells from behind us.

"sure, you're raising her," darrel's arms are up in defense as i grip the neckline of his t-shirt in between my fingers. "but who's roof is she under?"

"dallas!" madeline pulls at my arm, trying to disrupt my hold on him. "that's enough."

i give darry a cold stare for a moment before pushing myself off of him.

"if you wanna talk the rest of this dumb argument out then go upstairs. we want to eat dinner." madeline sits back down and continues to cut her ham.

all the boys look around at each other with wide eyes, unsure of what to do next. i motion for darry to follow me upstairs.

we walk into his room and i lean against the wall as he sits on his bed.

"look man," i shake my head as i stare down at my shoes. "i appreciate you trying to steer madeline in the right direction ... knowing me and what i turned out to be, she's the last hope for a good winston."

darry cracks a smile.

"and i get it, she's living here because i live in a shitty apartment above a shitty, loud bar. i don't want her there, but there are things you don't know about mad. things you all don't know about her. i didn't even know about them 'till a couple days ago ..." i sigh. "my old man used to hit me, you know that."

darry nods his head.

"well, he hit her too when i left. she said he was a real asshole to her. i can just imagine her hiding out in her room whenever he was home or whenever he brought his buddies over. he had some real shitty men for friends, used to gamble together."

darry rubs his hands over his face and then through his hair.

"our mom was a junkie, walked out when madeline was six. she doesn't even remember it, she talks about mom like she was the best person in the world. madeline thinks she left to get away from our dad, but if she was really a good mother, she wouldn't have left her two kids with that son of bitch."

"i'm sorry." darry says. "you are a good brother, you know that right?"

"nah, i'm not." i shake my head. "i could've done so many things differently to be there for her."

a few seconds of silence pass in his bedroom. we can hear everyone else downstairs. they're laughing over something as they continue to eat without us.

"so when she talks about hitting that soc, i don't care. she's been using violence to defend herself for years now. i'm not gonna take that away from her when that's the one thing she knows that will keep her feelin' safe."

"i get it, dal."

i take a seat next to him on the edge of his bed.

"we just gotta protect her. she's been through too much and it's gotta end here, in tulsa. i'm not lettin' her go through any more of what she went through back in new york. and if she fights this girl, we're there for her then too."

"you want me to help protect her too?" darry asks, seeming a bit surprised about my change of heart.

"i know you're just tryna make sure she's okay. you're the good one ... watchin' how you stepped up and how you take care of soda and pony." i shrug. "you see another kid and you wanna do the same with them."