Tears poured freely again down my face and only got worse when Kip wiped them away for me. “Thank you.”
“Go back to sleep. You’ll feel much better in the morning.”
Kip was right, when the morning comes, I feel much better and will be allowed to go home once my social worker gets here. That’s any minute now. I’m waiting on the edge of my bed, wearing clothes Kip brought in for me. They aren’t mine, but they’re new, and he says I can keep them.
A woman pops her head around the curtain, her curly red hair seeming to escape from a plait. Her smile looks genuine, and her eyes sparkle. “Hey, Royal, right?”
“Um yeah, that’s me.”
“Good, I’m Ella, your new social worker, but I’d rather we didn’t put too many labels on us. I’d much rather be friends. I have a couple of things we need to run through before I can set you free from here. Are you feeling well enough to go through some paperwork?”
I nod and let her get it over with. She talks about what is happening with the Watsons and about my belongings; we are going to go and collect them together. Then she talks about Kip and his family. “Are you happy to be placed with them?”
“I’d rather them than some people I don’t know. The next lot could be just as bad as the Watsons.”
“I’m sorry you had such a dreadful time and that you weren’t listened to and taken seriously. You’ve been let down. I promise that won’t happen with me.”
Kip shows up just as we finish. “Is someone ready to break free?” he chuckles. His demeanour doesn’t match his bodybuilder physique. He’s so friendly and open. I have a good feeling about him and what will happen next.
It’s only Mrs Watson at the house, and she doesn’t even look at me. All she does is open the door to let us in and then slam it firmly shut when we leave.
“Good riddance to her.” Kip pats my back gently as he takes the large holdall from me.
We drive across the town together. Ella is going to meet us at the house. “Robin is looking forward to meeting you. He’s a hugger, but I’ve warned him to be gentle with you. I’m not sure if he’ll remember though.”
Kip pulls up on the wide drive of a big house. It’s a new house and is bigger than anywhere I’ve lived before. “I take up a lot of space.” He grins when he sees me take it all in.
“It’s lovely,” I say quietly. Then the front door opens and a man I guess is Robin stands there. He’s smaller than Kip but still looks like he knows his way around their gym.
“Ready?”
I nod, but I’m not sure I am. Too late now, I think.
“Oh, look at you, those animals should be strung up by their balls.” Robin holds my arms gently as he looks me over. “You’ll be beautiful again in no time. Come on in and meet our kids.” He kisses my cheek softly.
There are three boys inside and all are grinning at me. I didn’t know they had more than one foster kid. Maybe because only one is my age, maybe even a little older than me.
“Royal, this is Saint, Knox, and Drake.”
I only have to look at Saint to know I’ve found my person. My best friend.
“Where’s Dad?” Saint walks into the locker room and drops down on the bench. He wipes the sweat from his face, then wraps the towel around his neck.
“He’s gone to the supermarket with Pops.” I open my locker, looking for my phone.
“About time, too, we’re out of just about everything.” He stares at me. “What are you up to now? Shall we grab some food?”
“I came in to check the video surveillance. Knox says there’s been a kid hanging around outside in the evenings. He hasn’t spoken to anyone; he just hangs out by the entrance. He sent me the videos of him.”
“Shit, does Dad know? He’ll go apeshit.” Saint stands up and moves around to see my screen. “Is that him? He looks young.”
“Yeah, I reckon so. I’m going to wait, see if he’s here again.”
“Want me to wait with you?”
“Nah, two of us will scare the lad away.”
In the seven years I’ve been in this family, there’s not much Saint and I have done without each other. Robin calls us his set of twins. Considering our birthdays are only days apart from each other, we were happy to tell everyone we were twins. Our dark hair and blue eyes gave us some credibility and a chance to wind up our teachers. When Kip and Robin asked if we would like to be a true family, to be adopted, we jumped at the chance. Knox and Drake are three and four years younger than us. Knox now manages the gym; he was the only one of interested in running the place. We’re happy to help out with some of the classes, the youth programs, but we wanted different things. I wanted to teach, and for my sins, I picked high school kids.
