“Then what?”
“The next afternoon, it started to look like it would snow.”
Madden hissed and reached for my hand.
I took his hand and held onto it for comfort. “Everything froze over. I would’ve died between some dumpsters that night if Lake and River hadn’t stumbled past me.”
He nodded slowly. “Probably. You need a lot to survive when you’re homeless.”
I exhaled messily. “Gods, I don’t even know how you did it with Mona—”
“It’s not a contest, Rey,” Madden said in a gentle tone I wouldn’t have expected from him. “It’s not a comparison of misery where there are winners and losers.”
“I hate that we live in a society where kids on the streets make more sense than kids in foster care.”
Madden smiled wryly. “Or kids in their homes.”
“So, they took me home and it was fine for a few days. Then the questions started.” I chuckled under my breath. “I ran.”
He looked amused. “How far did you get?”
I snorted. “Not very. It had frozen overnight again, and the ground was slippery. I twisted my fucking ankle like less than two blocks from the apartment, so they caught up with me.”
Madden couldn’t contain his giggles. I gently shoved his shoulder, which only made him laugh harder.
“Shh, your sister is sleeping,” I hissed, but I couldn’t help but smile, too.
“So, they take you back by force and then what?”
“Then I decided they cared enough. They swore not to ask questions or call anyone and I…I suppose I realized I didn’t have other options.” I shrugged. “And I wasn’t going to go home.”
He hummed. “Our mom was an addict. She was clean for a while, then relapsed. Happened a lot. It’s a miracle Mona was born healthy.” Again, he smiled in that wry way and chuckled a bit darkly. “The boyfriends she had were a varied bunch, too. One of them broke Mona’s arm when she was two.”
I gasped, my gaze immediately finding the lump under the covers on the bed. To think someone had hurt her at all, but while she was practically a baby was insane.
“She took her to a clinic and lied. Said she’d fallen off a swing or something. We moved before DCFS, our CPS, could come make a home visit, because I’m sure they tried to contact them at the clinic.”
“As they should.”
“Yeah.” Madden sighed, sounding so fucking weary it made my heart hurt. “Mom was using heavily after that. She managed to kick the shithead out, but then she got…lost. I saw where it was going…” He shrugged, pulling his hand from mine. I hadn’t even realized we were still connected. “When I found her dead, I packed a backpack, I made sure Mo had clothes and shit. I found anything valuable—there wasn’t much, trust me—and all the money we had. Then I took off with her.”
“Because you didn’t want to end up in the system.”
“Yep. She would’ve been easily adopted, I’m pretty sure. But nobody wants the teenage boys.” He dropped his gaze to his lap and grimaced. “Sometimes I wonder if it was the right call.”
That was a question I couldn’t answer. It was too big. I was too fucking young and I knew that. But I could say one thing.
“You’re here now. I think Toby would grab you and run if someone tried to take you away.”
The corner of Madden’s mouth lifted. “Yeah.” He seemed to relax. “I guess so.”
“I know so.”
When I left a while later, Madden stepped out of the room after me. “Hey, Rey?”
I turned back and saw him looking contemplative. “What?”
“Thank you.” His expression was torn, and he sort of swayed toward me a little.
