Obviously sweet.
Bristling with some kind of unfound excitement.
I returned a smile that I hoped matched hers. I was lucky that poor little boy didn’t burst into tears because I was pretty sure the only thing I looked was deranged.
But he was grinning too, dancing back and forth on his little feet as he clung to the woman’s hand, a blue blanket that looked like he dragged it everywhere with him hooked in his elbow.
Okay.
Woman felt like a stretch.
She was young.
Twenty-one to twenty-three, tops.
More evidence against Silas Mercer’s lackluster character.
What a skeeze.
She had to be ten years younger than him.
“I’m Elena.” Her shoulders hitched to her ears when she said it. “We almost came over first thing this morning when Silas said you started at eight, but I figured I needed to give you a little time to get settled before we descended on you.”
Get settled?
There wasn’t going to be any ‘getting settled’ into this place.
Surviving or escaping were clearly the only options.
Escaping sounded like a really good plan right then.
“And this is our favorite little Kai.” Adoration gushing from her, she gestured at the little boy.
He raised his tiny, chubby hand that clutched a toy motorcycle and vroomed it through the air.
“Kaimowercycle!”
His little voice was garbled as he showed off what clearly was a prized possession.
I looked around, wondering how exactly I was supposed to be handling this.
I felt like I was being attacked by sweetness.
Kind of like death by chocolate but a little less enjoyable.
Or maybe the whole problem was them walking through the door was the first bit of comfort I felt since I came to this place.
“Hi, Kai. I’m Brinley,” I whispered.
“Hi,Bwinwey. I got amowercycle.Vroooom.”
He flew it through the air.
Bwinwey.
God, was it possible a child could steal your heart in a beat? Because crap, this kid was adorable.
“That’s an awesome motorcycle,” I forced out.
