Page 126 of Running Winter

Except for Leigh.

He couldn't get enough of me but remained silent and mysterious.

I wanted him to be mine, yet I didn't know how he would react to being with me.

Leigh always seemed to be deep in thought, and I wanted in.

I wanted to know everything about him.

So I ordered all the information on him and sat reading it in Dad's office.

Leigh was sitting outside by the pool, and Manny was seated by the front door, eternally in my debt for letting him get away with allowing Hetty into the house.

I sipped my espresso, sitting back and picking up Leigh's folder.

Some of which I knew, but some I didn't.

The social worker’s report on his wounds as a six-year-old boy cut me deeply, and I felt tears spring to my eyes.

The photos of him as a skinny, beautiful boy made my heart weep.

His adoptive parents had starved him and beat him regularly. According to the report, the parents said he was a danger to himself and others, so that was why he didn't have a single item to call his own in the entire house.

I knew the reports of broken bones weren't to do with being a clumsy child.

No child was that clumsy, and I should know.

His crimes as a teen were petty but enough to get him sent down, away from his adoptive parents.

John and Judy Hurley.

The names burned into my mind, and I flipped the page over, uncovering his educational records.

He skipped school and didn't graduate high school.

"Fuck," I whispered, tears falling down my cheeks.

It was then that I realized I was in love with Leigh, and I wanted to do anything to keep him safe and happy.

The door opened, and Leigh walked in, a smile on his handsome face, which faded when he saw the tears on my cheeks.

"Raven?"

His eyes darted around the room, and I shook my head, closing the folder before he could see what was inside.

"What's happened?" he demanded gruffly, and it was then that I noticed the scar above his eyebrow.

A broken bottle. A child had fallen and landed on a broken bottle.

Who the fuck had believed that?

"I know what happened to you," I whispered, as he frowned, shaking his head with confusion.

"Me? I was just at the pool—" he began before I closed my eyes.

"I know about your history, Leigh."

He stopped, his hand running over his head slowly. Frowning, he stared at me before leaning on the table.

---