A/N: This chapter went through a lot. I just wasn't satisfied with it and I still don't know if I really am. I lost the notebook it was in for a while so it took longer to post than I wanted but oh well. Enjoy!

Wasteland

Chapter Two- Tell Me Now Whose To Blame

Homework for me was peace, which to most everyone else my age sounds like torture but between my father Julian's constant yelling or the moaning and screams coming from his bedroom nearly every night, homework was heaven. Matt and I had a routine. Every night between the time I got home from school to the time Julian got home from working at Bone's body shop I did homework. Then when he got home I sent Matt and Meghan upstairs while I took Julian's daily wrath. For some reason though that day he was just awful, five times worse than usual.

Coco was sitting on the couch when he got home, mascara streaked down her cheeks wailing about how mean I was to her like I gave a shit. She had changed into a pair of skimpy black shorts, fishnet stockings, a red corset and platform boots. See the only one of us dear old dad gave a shit about was little Meghan because she was all Julian had to remind himself of his dead beloved wife. She was our mom too but Matt and I looked too much like himself for him to love. Meghan looked exactly like mom, same big blue eyes, same red hair while poor Matty and I looked like dad, same dark hair, same sharp face, same dull eyes with the exception of one of my eyes being brown and the other green they still managed to look dull. So when Julian looked at us he only saw himself the man that couldn't save his wife, the man who let her die but Meghan was his little angel and to be honest I was okay with that. As long as I didn't have to worry about him hitting her like he did me I was okay with it. Julian never hit Matty. He only did once when Matt and I were little but he stopped because of my mother. Mom hated me though, probably because when I was four I called her a bitch.

See Julian and Bones had been best friends sense hight school so after high school it was natural for dad to work for Bones. Mom and Julian had been high school sweethearts while Bones knocked up some bimbo mom worked with and produced Billy. During that time Julian and mom got married but soon later got into a huge fight and mom left. One she returned a couple months later because she was carrying his child, me. Mom was a pretty hardcore heroin addict. I was lucky to only be born prematurely. Matt almost didn't make it through his first year.

Mommy dearest, was a junkie derived prostitute with bimbo and best friend, Molly Darley who got married to Bones while pregnant with Billy. Everything went to hell after Matt was born. Mom and Julian fought every single day then right after Meghan was born a year ago mom went missing. A week later her body turned up in the lake. Spink and I had been dating at the time. I was the one that answered the call from the police saying they had identified the body as Lila Jamison, my mother. Spink almost shit himself when I told him what had happened. I just sat down and buckled down on my homework having even more incentive than ever to get the fuck out of this town. Spink ran a corner that night and Julian never came home and didn't come home for two weeks. Matt cried every night for a month and Meghan just cried and slept like new born babies were supposed to. I had no choice but to keep trekking forward. Sure I loved my mother, unlike my father. She had her good moments but I knew one day she'd be gone. She'd been so drugged up that year that home didn't feel any different without her there. The only thing that actually bugged me was how lonely I was.

Billy and I hadn't spoken in two years and I missed him. He had been my rock for so long that when something bad happened I didn't know what to do. I was just at a constant loss. So that night I broke my own rule, scaled the Darley residence drain pipe and knocked on his window. He had been sitting on his bed reading the penny saver searching for a car. Billy had been saving up and trying to find his dream car sense we were seven. He glanced up and gave me a confused look before getting up and letting me in.

"This is... unexpected," He said with a raised brow.

I grimaced at him and plopped myself down on his bed.

"I'm surprised you aren't with Spink," He continued making a face that could only be described as pure green envy but it was quickly replaced with his usual hard face.

I sighed heavily, "He's running a corner like the good soldier he is."

Billy thought about it for a moment then sat down beside me.

I gestured to the penny saver, "Find anything?"

He nodded, "Yeah, actually. Some guy is selling two 1969 Ford Mustangs. They are in South Dakota though so he's driving them here for a show this weekend. I'm gonna check it out. Julian's working it so it won't be a stretch. I can work and see them at the same time."

We were silent for a few minutes before Billy spoke again, "I heard about your mom. Julian threw a crowbar through the windshield of an old Camaro he was working on then-

"Bill, I don't give a shit what Julian is doing."

He glared at me, "Why are you here then?"

"I don't know, stupid mistake. I guess I'll just leave."

But as I got up he grabbed my arm and pulled me down into his lap where he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and pressed his lips roughly against mine. I couldn't stop myself from kissing him back, at the time I still cared about him.

"You can stay, Kat."

And so I spent the night curled up beside Billy who in turn kissed me and held me making up for what Spink couldn't provide. Let's just say the next morning Spink wasn't too happy.

Even though I loved my mother it didn't make her protect me all those years she lived with us and in a lot of ways I resented her for it. Julian hit and abused me sense the time I could walk. At the age of four I had to learn to take care of Matty and spent most of my life raising my siblings and being abused. Which led me right back to the present.

Julian was merciless tonight and first thing he did was slap me across the face.

"Who gave you the right to talk like that," he yelled at me.

I rolled my eyes, "The bitch just cried all fucking day she's worse than the baby."

He hit me again only this time in the stomach with his large fist. Julian was a large six foot yet buff skinhead and Lord did he know how to throw a punch, wonder where I got it from.

"Apologize!" He hollered.

"Yeah, right."

He punched me again causing me to buckle over onto the floor.

"Right now, you fucking piece of shit."

I chuckled. "Funny, I recall saying the same thing to her earlier."

I got a kick in the ribs for that one. "Oh, come on Dad, she'll never replace mom and we both know it."

I got a kick in the head for that which thankfully knocked me unconscious.

I awoke to Coco's screams of pleasure and the bang of the headboard against Julian's room wall. I stumbled up to my room and found a note on Meghan's crib.

Kat-

Took Meghan over to Darley's. We ordered pizza. Your welcome to come over. Billy is just bruised up bad. He seems a bit pissed though. I really hope you wake up soon. FYI Julian knocked you out around 6. I'm coming back to check on you in a bit.

Love,

Matt

I looked at the clock which read 6:25 pm, could have been worse. I threw a cardigan over my bloody tank top and straightened out my skirt. I couldn't afford new clothes so I had to save what clean ones I had and half way decent ones for school. Last thing I needed was child protective services to raid the house. I walked through the backyard and made a quick trip over the fence to the Darley's back door. I yanked the door open and winced at the pain that shot through my fingers. I'd wrapped my broken fingers before working on homework but we had no painkillers in the house to numb the pain. I walked through the kitchen grabbed a beer and some painkillers then walked into the living room. Matt and Joe where on the floor playing Bomber Man on N64 while Billy lay on the couch Meghan in his lap pushing one of Matt's old matchbox cars around on his chest. I sat down on the end of the couch and leaned forward and grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza only to hiss as a sering pain ruptured in my ribs and stomach. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Billy set Meghan on the floor then got to his feet. The side of his face was ugly shades of black, blue, purple, yellow and green. He grabbed me roughly by my arm and dragged me upstairs to the bathroom where he pulled off my cardigan and tank top. He then pressed one of his large rough hands against the back of my neck and pulled me up against him so that our chests touched and I could feel his heart heavily beating.

"Billy," I hissed half in anger half shock.

He just glared at me his eyes glistening with a look I hadn't seen in a long time. He then leaned and before I could comprehend what was happening his lips crashed down on mine. He kissed me roughly while I tried to pry him off but he wouldn't budge. He final pulled away and smirked down at me.

"Bill," I hissed again. "What the fuck is your problem?"

His hand on the back of my neck tightened and he gave me an angry glare. "Why can't we go back to the way things were before? I could protect you Kat. I could take care of you."

"I don't want your help, Bill and by all means I'm not that person and you know it."

He pulled me forward his face mere centimeters from mine. "Kat," He spoke his voice venomous. "It doesn't matter where you go you'll always be mine. We all know that."

"What Bill? You stripped me down so you could get back at me for hitting you real classy," I yelled trying to push him away but he held me in place.

He sighed picking me up and placing me on the counter top.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

He glared at me as he replied. "Shut the fuck up or I won't clean you up."

Billy and I had been wrapping each others wounds sense we were younger. We met for that very reason. I was four, it was fall Billy was outside riding the tricycle he stole from Bodie as Bodie chased him down the street, yeah Billy got an early start. When they saw me in my blue long sleeved velvet dress. They both burst out laughing and started to tease me for looking like some prissy ballerina, mind you the dress was from Walmart. What they didn't expect that I'd sock them both in the face breaking Bodie's nose and giving Billy a black eye. I was a natural born fighter and learned early you fight first ask later.

After that day the three of us were inseparable, practically attached at the hip till freshmen year when they dropped out and joined the gang. To Billy though we were all still just a bunch of petty criminals a life I'd long given up and he couldn't let go of.