Page 102 of Laila Manning
“It’s not your fault.” She sighed, “It’s not even my fault. We can’t burden the faults of abusers on our shoulders; that’s their weight to carry. But now we need to figure out how to help him heal from this.” Laila turned and looked up at me with her big wide eyes, “I can’t let him go, so please don’t ask me to.”
“What are you saying, Laila? You want to keep him? He’s not a puppy.”
“He’s a kid,” She shrugged, “He needs someone to take care of him, the way he deserves to be taken care of.” Looking back over at Kade, “The way you and I both deserved.”
My shoulders deflated, and I rested my chin on her head. “Whatever you want to do, I support you.”
“Really?” Laila asked, almost surprised.
“Yes.” I tightened my hold on her, “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him abuse you the way he has. If he’s here, if he’s going to stay, then he’s going to learn respect and gentleness. For you.”
“For me.” She replied wistfully. “I’ve never had respect or gentleness. Not until I met you.”
“That’s the only thing you’ll ever know again.” I looked over at Kade as he rolled over in his sleep, facing us. When he was clean and peaceful in slumber, he looked like a fragile little kid, not the snarky, sarcastic pain in the ass he had been when he was around the crew. “I’ll teach him how to be a man. A good man.”
Laila sniffled, looking up at me with those warm brown eyes swimming with unshed tears, “You’re a good man, Zeke Evans.”
“Only for you.” I kissed her gently, “And now for him, too.”
Hours later, I stood in the doorway to Laila’s place, coffee in hand, watching the boy as he started rousing from his sedation. Laila was asleep across the hall in my bed, both of our doors were open when she finally agreed to crash a few hours ago, just in case he woke up.
Kade tossed again and then his eyelids cracked open, squinting into the bright morning sunrise shining in through Laila’s blinds. And then he sat up like a bolt of lightning, touched his toes and his eyes found mine across the room.
Fear burned in them.
That was understandable.
I hadn’t always treated him fairly.
“Good morning.” I said gently, walking in to lean against the kitchen counter as I took another sip of coffee. “You’re safe.”
Kade looked around the empty apartment, probably looking for Laila, before he pushed his floppy hair off his forehead. “Is she here?”
“Laila.” I corrected him. “And yes, she’s asleep at my place across the hall. She didn’t want to leave you, but she was exhausted.”
“You want me out.” He said, not asking, instead assuming. “I get it.” He swung his legs off the edge of the bed, and the basketball shorts he was wearing slid above his knees, revealing cuts and scrapes covering every inch of his bare legs below.
“Stop.” I said, and he paused, feet hanging above the floor. “That’s not what I want. Not at all.”
“I don’t understand.” He looked up at me, confused. The thing about Kade was he always said what was on his mind, sometimes to a fault. He was crass and sarcastic, but he was mostly honest. And young. Fuck, he was so damn young.
“Laila wants you to stay with us from now on.” I took another sip of my coffee and stared at him straight on. “And I do too.”
“Why though?” He squinted, laying his hands in his lap and leaning on his elbows. “A few weeks ago, you yelled at her because of me. Fired me, even.”
“That’s something I regret on both of your behalves. I’d like to say it’ll never happen again, but that’s not something I can promise. So, I won’t lie. But what I will do is tell you the truth. Does that work?”
He straightened his spine and nodded his head once. “I can respect that.”
“I don’t know what it is about you personally that caught Laila’s attention, but you got it. And she’s not willing to let it go. She has the biggest heart and a suitcase full of baggage to work through, and shethinks that helping you is what she’s meant to do. Which leaves you with two options.”
“Okay.” He murmured hesitantly.
“You can choose to walk away from her and have the backing of the crew in whatever you want to do. You can go on being a street kid, or go back into foster care, or whatever. You’ll be protected and taken care of by Ryker and myself, all of our members will be your big brothers. But you won’t find any love there, just camaraderie.”
“And the second option?”
“You can stay.” I replied firmly. “You can let go of everything that’s happened to you since you were forced into this life not meant for you, with mine and Laila’s help, and you can be a kid. A real fuckingkid. Not a smart ass with a chip on his shoulder and a foul mouth who aims it at anyone who sticks around long enough to catch it. You can get therapy, and go to school, and do normal kid stuff like play video games and ride a bike and be innocent of everything else you’ve already witnessed, for a few more years, until you’re ready to face it all on.” He swallowed, and his chest rose and fell under his shirt. “You can let Laila love you because she will. God, she’ll fucking love you, and you’ll never think you deserve it, and you’ll mess it up, and you’ll fight it, and you’ll make her cry. But she’ll love you, nonetheless. And eventually, you’ll be better at it. And eventually you’ll start to believe that you’re worthy of it. That will be when you realize how fucking lucky you were to run into her on the street one day, and from that moment on, you’ll work hard every day to prove to her that you aren’t a mistake, that you deserve what she’s giving you. And that’s a damn good life, Kade, compared to the other.”
