"I dunno. He just doesn't want me to get into it. Like his toys from when he was a kid. He has those in this trunk, and when I asked if there was anything cool in there, he freaked out. Wouldn't stop yelling at me about it until Mom made him cut it out."
The hardest part of all of this wasn't listening to her. It was not storming out of the room and driving over to beat that fucker's face in. He hadn't touched her, though. She was just too casual about that, so I believed her. Faith wasn't the kind of kid who knew how to lie very well. Her face would probably always give her away, at least until she was old enough to be jaded.
But she had no idea of the danger she was in. I had a feeling Luke didn't either. The only question was how to bring it up. I didn't have any proof. I could be wrong and projecting my own issues onto her life. I liked this kid. I felt protective of her, but right now, I was also scared for her.
"So," I said, "you have your phone on you?"
"Yeah?"
I pulled out mine. "I'm gonna give you my number. If you ever have a problem - any kind of problem - and you don't want to talk to your parents about it, I want you to talk to me."
"Ok," she agreed. "Like when I'm in trouble again?"
"Yep, or if your parents are fighting too much and you're worried, or if someone's bullying you and you just need to vent. Anything, Faith. That's what this is. I'm the person you can talk to, and I'm never going to judge you for it. I'm just here to listen and help you fix it."
"That's why I like coming," she admitted. "I don't want to talk to Dad about Mom, and Mom doesn't like to hear about Dad, but you always ask."
"Yep." I typed her number into my phone and saved it, then gave her mine. "So, how are the cat scratches this week?"
"Don't have any," she said.
"Let's see if we can get two weeks of that," I said, putting my phone away to lean a little closer. "Is it because it was a good week?"
"Yes!" And she fluffed out her hair. "And I look so pretty. I only want to do that when I'm in school, I think. When the girls pick on me. That's why I don't want to go back."
"Sadly, you have to go to school," I reminded her, "but we have a lot of time to get you ready to face it again. I'm proud of you, though."
Since we didn't have a time limit, I was going to use as much as I could. So long as she was still talking, I was going to sit my ass right here and listen. I was also hoping she'd say something to convince me I was wrong about Brody. I had to be. The last thing this girl needed in her life was a pedophile for a stepfather.
Chapter Forty-Three
Luke took Faith home and then headed out to feed the cows. The whole time, my concerns were eating at me. When he got back, we all had dinner, which was getting to be a rather nice habit. Violet grabbed the plates when we were done, saying she'd put them away, Ash said something about hitting the pool, and Luke pointed out that he still had to bring his horses in and feed them.
He was barely out the door before I decided this was my chance. "Hey," I said, catching Ash's eye. "I need to talk to Luke. Don't wait up?"
"Don't start shit," Violet said.
I shook my head. "Doctor to parent kinda talk."
She grabbed my arm. "Take as long as you need. Don't let him hit you?"
"That's actually not something I'm worried about." Then I left, heading right for the front door, across the drive, and to the barn.
Luke already had the lights on. He'd pulled the drive-side doors closed so the horses couldn't make it out. I slipped in and closed them behind me just as Storm came galloping into the alley. I quickly moved over to open the stall for the gelding.
"Let's go," I told the horse, doing my best to mimic the clicks Luke used to direct them.
Luke chuckled as he walked in with Cricket following him. "You're starting to get good at that. And I'm starting to get nervous about being alone in the barn with you guys."
I lifted both hands in surrender. "Not trying to start shit this time. I just wanted to talk about Faith, and it's the confidential kind."
"Bad?" he asked.
I murmured to make it clear I wasn't sure. "Well, I can tell you that she thinks Ashton's a fag, but she likes him."
"That fucking cunt," Luke grumbled. "Her mom talks like that, so it's all she knows. Kinda why I, well, you know."
"Yeah." I made sure the stall door was closed then headed over to where Luke kept his hay. "We gonna make this kind next?"
