“I’m not hungry.”
“No one asked if you were hungry.”
The testosterone in this place was really starting to overwhelm me. “I’ll eat when I want to eat.”
“Is that what you think?”
“No.” My eyes narrowed. “That’s what I know.”
Devlin’s shoulders shook with a quiet chuckle. It pissed me off even more. The least he could do was look at me.
“Good luck with that.” He sighed. “Now get the fuck out before I decide to have a little fun before I eat.”
Intent on standing my ground, I crossed my arms and huffed. “You won’t be having any fun with me.”
I wasn’t the pushover he thought I was.
He turned his head and locked his dark glare on mine. “Care to test that theory?”
It was the promise glittering in his eyes that made me slowly back out into the hall.
My bedroom wasn’t as decorative or ominous as the others, which was fine with me. I didn’t need fancy decorations. I was happy with my two paintings. One of a lotus flower, floating in the water, and the other of a fluffy orange kitten sleeping on a blanket.
To people like the Adairs, those pictures were probably pretty generic, but to me they were beautiful. Hell, this entire room, with its bland off-white color scheme, was the plaza compared to some of the places I’d stayed.
I could stretch out on the bed and still not touch either end of it. Plus, there wouldn’t be any mysterious smells here. I buried my nose in the fluffy cream-colored bedspread and inhaled the sweet scent of jasmine. Maybe it was honeysuckle? Who cared? It was way better than the lemon fresh fabric softener Stacy used.
One place I stayed, had this weird sourness everywhere. I searched for the source for weeks. No one wanted to know the crap I found stuffed in the corners of that house. Looking back, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. The father in that family smoked two packs a day and drank whiskey like it was water.
He was also the first grown man that tried to sneak in my room. Hence the short stay. Perry might be an uptight prick, but he didn’t put up with shit. All he had to do was see the way I looked at the man, and I was rehoused. My social worker was the one department I lucked out in.
Most kids in the system were thrown away and forgotten. Perry wasn’t burnt out yet. He made all scheduled visits, as well as many surprise visits.
He was the closest thing I had to a father. Even though he didn’t do the drop off this time, he’d called twice. Something he didn’t have to do, considering that, technically, I wasn’t in the system anymore.
I think he even called Angus, because ten minutes after I complained that I hadn’t seen Charmaine, my stepfather was knocking on my door with her in tow. She didn’t say long, but I was comforted by her smile. I was starting to think these people had her buried in the backyard or something.
We talked for a bit while Charmaine played with my hair. She was always twisting her fingers in my straight locks. I chalked it up to the fact that hers was curly. People tended to want what they didn’t have. The tall wanted to be short, people with freckles wanted a clear completion, while others wanted the spots, and so on.
Personally, I thought people should embrace their flaws instead of complaining. It was those subtle differences that made people unique. I had a rose-colored, star-shaped birthmark on my inner right thigh, and you didn’t hear me whining about it. No, I wore it proudly. I mean, who else could say they were born with their own star?
I carefully rested my dad’s picture against the lamp on my oak bedside table and smiled. Before Charmaine left, she said we’d go shopping for some things to spruce up the place.
This photo was the only thing I needed. Saying goodnight to his brightly lit face was a ritual of mine. I couldn’t sleep without doing it. Sometimes it felt like he was the only thing keeping the monsters at bay.
Satisfied that my dad was in his rightful place, I headed back over to dig through my boxes for some pjs.
Most of these cardboard squares were filled with various jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies. I had a few nice items, like the black silk dress one of my foster sisters gave me, and a pair of strappy heels. But my favorite thing was a worn out, flimsy white nightgown decorated with three tiny red flowers. It was Charmaine’s before it was mine, and the last thing my dad gave her. So, in a way, it was kind of like it came from him.
I pulled the nightgown out and quickly changed. It fit me a lot better now than it did when I was ten. It was a tad tight. I was curvier than Charmaine was, and the cotton was so old it didn’t really have much give left. So the hemline sat just below my ass. Didn’t matter. It wasn’t like anyone was going to see me in it.
I thought back to my interaction with Devlin and snorted.
So much for his care to test that theory comment. Did I go down to dinner? No. And did anyone come and tell me I had to? Also no.
I was seventeen, not five. More than capable of deciding when I did or didn’t want to eat. Right now, the only thing I wanted to do was go to sleep. Stacy was ushering me out the door at the crack of dawn.
Yawning, I padded over to my bed and was just about to slide under the covers when the door flew open, banging against the wall.
