Page 3 of Only Temporary

“Never met the guy. He’s not their dad though.”

Her lips purse. “I see.” She sighs. “There are no fathers listed on any of their birth certificates.”

I shake my head. “Mom wasn’t really a winner,” I say bitterly. “She liked drugs, and she liked the men who gave her drugs. Was happy to spread her legs to get them.”

Tatum tenses next to me, even though he already knew that. I’m sure he thinks I’ve said too much. My mom had plenty of arrests for prostitution over the years, though, so it’s not a big secret.

“So none of you know your fathers?”

“No,” I answer simply, leaving out the sheer number of men I saw around my mother when I was younger.

I feel that familiar itch deep inside me, the dark hollow feeling trying to claw at my insides. I push it away, but I don’t know how long it’ll stay away.

I need a meeting.

But I need to make sure my brothers and sister are okay first.

“You were a resident at Rockford?” I nod my head in answer, my palms sweating, just thinking about the rundown old rehab facility.

“I needed to get clean and make a better life, so I could get custody of my siblings before something really bad happened to them,” I answer far too honestly. And the truth is, four years feels a hell of a lot like abandonment.

I’m sure she’ll see it that way too.

Instead of commenting on it, she hands me a card. “This will be your caseworker. You’ll need to contact him to arrange a time to see the children. After that, you’ll work out a plan with Phillip, and he’ll help determine placement of the kids.”

I look at the card.

Phillip Miller.

The man who holds my fate in his hands.

TWO

For some reason, I was expecting Phillip Miller to be some stuffy old guy. But when Tatum and I arrive for the meeting later in the day with this Phillip guy, I can see that’s not the case.

The guy doesn’t look much older than me. He’s a little shorter than my six-two self, with sandy-blond hair and light-green eyes, which I think are blue at first but then realize they’re indeed green. And since when do I care what color a dude’s eyes are? I have no idea. Must be the stress. “Kellan Rhodes?”

I nod my head, but I have to force myself to reach out and actually shake the man’s hand. I do, reluctantly, but nearly jump back at the strange feeling his hand in mine gives me. A tingle races down my spine as my eyes lock on the man. A man who’ll determine my future. “Yes,” I answer him and then let go of his hand because I don’t know what the hell that was all about, and I don’t like it.

Not at all.

I nod my head in the direction of Tatum, who’s standing right by me. My friend is kind of a giant at six foot six, and I watch as Phillip has to look up at him to acknowledge him. “This is my friend, Tatum.”

“Nice to meet you.” He’s really polite, and I don’t like that either. I want to bark at him to take me to my siblings, but I spent enough time in the system to know how this goes.

“Likewise. How do we get these kids out of whatever shitholes they’re in?” I cringe a little bit because Tatum may know how the system goes, but he still doesn’t play by the rules.

Phillip doesn’t look too surprised, even though I notice his jaw set in irritation. He must not be too new to all this then. Although he does seem pretty damn bright and shiny for having worked here for very long. This place kills your soul, no doubt. “Why don’t we sit down and discuss this in more detail?”

He remains professional as he leads us to his cubicle, where there are two seats across from his, and we both sit down. I’m anxious as fuck though. I just want to see my siblings, even though I’m certain they don’t want to see me.

“Alright, so Mr. Rhodes?—”

“Kellan,” I immediately interrupt him. We may all have different dads, but we were all five stuck with her last name. Something I’ve thought about changing for myself for a long time. I want to put her and her shitty last name in the past, so I don’t need to hear it right now.

The man seems a little taken aback but then offers me a small smile and grabs a file, opening it up. “Okay, Kellan, you can call me Phillip.” I nod, and he continues, “So, according to this, none of the children have a biological father on record. Is that correct?”

I nod grimly. “Correct.”

---