“At eight-thirty?”
“My room is the safest place for me right now. While you get Rylee tucked in, I’m going to take a shower.”
You might be safe, but if I get my hands on your body, it damn sure won’t be.
“Aight, come meet me in the kitchen when you’re done.”I stepped around her, heading to Rylee’s room. I heard the toilet flush and water running before she came padding out of the bathroom with a huge grin. I pulled her covers back and created space for her to climb in before I sat next to her.
“Did you have fun?”
She nodded, still grinning goofily.“I did. Somee said we can invite you sometimes so you won’t be sad.”
“You going to let me come to your dance parties?”I arched a brow and her little hands were moving.
“I don’t want you to be sad, so you can come. I don’t like being sad.”
I probably shouldn’t have asked, but I wanted to know, so I lifted my hands and signed slowly.“Were you sad when you were with your mom?”
Her brows shifted in.“She didn’t hug me a lot and we didn’t do fun stuff. Sometimes that made me sad.”The moment came and went so quickly because she smiled and signed immediately after.“But I get to do fun stuff with you and Somee now and Somee hugs me all the time, so I’m not sad.”
“You like hugs?”
That goofy grin was on her face again before she nodded.
“Me too, and as your big brother, I do believe it’s my job to make sure you have all the hugs you want. But you have to share. I’ll give you some of my hugs if you give me some of yours.”
She moved from under the covers, climbing into my lap. I opened my arms, welcoming her into an embrace and she hugged me back when I closed her in tightly.
This made me emotional as hell. I’d missed six years with my sister. Six fucking years where she could have been with me—happy, safe, and protected. I had her now though and she would never in her life feel alone the way she had with Felicia. I put that on my life.
When she pulled back and grinned, exposing those missing teeth, I signed,“I think your hugs are better than mine; so I’m going to have to give you two.”
I closed her in my arms one more time and kissed her cheek. I let her go and she climbed back into bed pulling the covers up, still grinning.
“I’ll see you in the morning,”I signed after I was standing.
“I’m going to wake you up when it’s time for school.”Her little face was so expressive when she spoke about school.
“I might already be up.”
“I had to wake you up this morning. I was the first one up before you and Somee,”she quickly confirmed.
“You’re right. Get some sleep.”
“Good night.”
After she snuggled up with a stuffed butterfly, I pulled the covers over her head and signed goodnight. I turned on the lamp next to her bed that shone butterflies and hearts in a variation of colors on the walls and left her room, pulling the door with me but making sure to keep it cracked.
Rylee was happy here. She was already considering this home but I wanted her to also see me as her emotional support system. If things were not right in her world, I wanted to be the person she expected to fix it and the person she leaned on. The most wild part of all that was, I wanted Rylee to have Somee, which meant I had to provide her with enough reasons to stay.
Chapter 14
Somee
What am I doing?
I stood in the middle of my room, raking my fingers through my hair after spending an entire ten minutes digging through my things to find something to meet Ryland downstairs in.
And why?
