I wasn’t a fan of leaving Oakley in the house alone without a way to contact me. But it bothered me that I had to leave him. I wanted to spend more time with the boy, get to know him more, and just…not have to be who I was.
“How about a movie after we finish eating?” I wasn’t sure I’d stay awake, but the idea was already out there.
“If that’s what you want….” Oakley trailed off, refusing to meet my eyes.
He did that often, not wanting to look at me when I asked for his opinion. He seemed to always be afraid of not giving me the answer that I wanted. I wouldn’t care if he said he wasn’t interested in doing a certain thing, but it’d take time to earn his trust, to get him to understand that I wanted his thoughts.
I had to remind myself that Oakley had only been in my care for close to a month. It was going to take way longer to get the boy to trust me enough to do anything he truly wanted, let alone speak his mind.
“Your birthday is coming up soon,” I hedged, changing the topic slightly. All he did was freeze, holding his breath before slowly looking at me fromunder his lashes. Just as quickly, he dropped his gaze back to his mostly empty bowl. “You’ll be eighteen.”
He didn’t have to look up for me to see the thoughts whirling around his mind. His posture was more than enough to see how frightened he was at just that thought of his upcoming day.
“I want to do something special.” I’d give him an entire store filled with whatever he wanted if he’d actually enjoy such a thing. Instead, I planned to keep it small and simple.
“Whatever you want, Sir.” The words were whispered, and I barely caught them. It took all my energy to not reply to that.
It would be something quiet, where I hoped I would get a chance to get to know him better. Maybe if I played the right cards, I could finally get this boy to open up a tiny bit and talk, truly talk.
After cleaning up, Oakley followed me to the living room. He was still tense, still unsure, about anything and everything. His eyes flickered to me as he sat on the edge of the couch, hands clasped tightly against his legs.
Today, he wore the purple skirt, the one I had found him wearing the day I got him, with a tank top and one of my flannel shirts over that.
I hated to admit it, but I liked him in my shirts. I didn’t care what he wore, though.
“Tomorrow,” I yawned, leaning against the back of the couch, legs propped up on the coffee table as I turned on the TV, “I’ll teach you how to do the laundry.”
“Already done, Sir.” Once more, his voice was quiet. “Your clothes are put away, too.”
Huh.
I guess I must have missed that. Keeping an eye on him through the camera had its perks, but I couldn’t always watch every minute of the day.
“Thank you.” Surprise filtered through with the words.
“I can do whatever you wish of me,” he whispered. “Sir…uh...Donny…had to be clean and stuff.”
“Stuff?” Did I want to know?
“Yes.” Oakley shifted a bit. “Clean, dust, vacuum, laundry, organize things. He…he liked to mess things up all the time just to make me do more work.”
“I suppose you could do that here,” I said, mentally trying to think of when the last time I personally cleaned anything. I had a cleaner come twice a month to do that for me. “What else did you do with Donny?”
Oakley sat there, blinking down at his lap. His shoulders barely moved as he breathed.
When I was sure he wasn’t going to answer, he spoke lightly, as if he wasn’t sure what the right way to answer was.
“He kept me in my room. When he’d allow me to be out, I’d clean. He…taught me how to obey. If I was good, I…I got to have books to learn from. School books. Sometimes, paper and colors. But if I was bad….”
“I bet you were always good,” I said the words, even though I knew they weren’t true. The bruises that covered this poor boy were just starting to fade.
Oakley shook his head, blinking quickly. “Always bad. Never good enough. But I’ll be good for you, Sir. Icanbe good.”
At those words, he moved too quickly, falling to his knees before me. Head down, his hair covered his face, hiding his beauty from me.
Chapter 25
Oakley
