Page 81 of Resisting Temptation (Men of Honor 3)
“I’m sowwy fwor you too, Faif.” Ruthie throws an arm over Faith as well, until we are one giant tangled web. “I’m gwad Tade saved you.”
Me fucking too. I try not to even think about the other potential outcomes.
“Me too, Ruthie,” Faith replies with a whisper before I feel her place a soft kiss on my ribs.
As I hold two girls who have come to mean more to me than I thought anyone could, a sudden panic strikes me, and it tries to pull me under but I quickly push it away. I am in way too deep to back out now and, to be honest, I don’t want to. I’m starting to realize I want this; I want them more than anything. I just hope that I do not fuck this up…
*
An hour later I’m driving Ruthie to school because I wanted Faith to go back to sleep. She looked fucking exhausted this morning… still goddamn sexy but tired, and after our night last night she needed to sleep. I try not to think about how our night ended or else my dick will be in a painful state all day.
I had offered Christopher a ride too but he wanted to walk, which is okay with me because I wanted a chance to talk to Ruthie, just the two of us.
She looks out her window quietly, lost in thought, and I don’t miss the way her tiny shoulders are slumped.
“You doing okay now, kid?”
She turns and gives me a soft smile. It’s a pretty smile. I’ve seen this on her a lot lately. Since Red purchased new clothes that fit her and is helping to keep her hair clean and done up, she shows a true beauty that was missed before, one that no one ever noticed because it was always hidden.
“Yeah, I’m betta now.”
I nod then clear my throat, “Listen, I want to talk to you about something.”
She looks at me inquisitively, “Shoure what’s up?”
It takes me a minute to get my words together. “I want you to promise me that if someone ever does anything to you, or says anything to you that makes you feel uncomfortable, you will tell me.”
There’s a moment of silence as I feel her watch me. I try to school my features so she doesn’t see just how panicked this topic makes me.
“Otay.”
“This goes for anyone, Ruthie, no matter who it is or what they say to you, you always tell me if they make you upset or uncomfortable. Whether it’s a teacher, kid, parent, friend…anyone at that church,” I try to say that without grinding my teeth, but don’t succeed. “Even if they threaten you with something, you don’t listen to them and you always tell me.”
When another moment of silence stretches between us I look over to see her staring at me, scared shitless. Well fuck, I am screwing this up. “I’m sure nothing like that will ever happen, but I just want to make sure that you will always tell me if it does, all right?”
She nods. “Otay, I will. I pwomise.”
I let out a breath, relieved that’s over with. I feel her continue to watch me with questions but I leave it at that. It still makes me insane to know she’s going to be going to that fucking place, but hopefully Red will be with her all the time, and hopefully she will tell me if anyone does fuck with her. And if anyone does… so help them. It will be the end of their fucking life.
CHAPTER 23
Cade
A couple of days later, the three of us are standing in the center of the sparring ring, going over material for the next self-defense class, when Christopher comes bolting into the gym for his shift like a bat out of hell.
He rushes over and jumps into the ring with us. “You have to help me. I’m in serious shit!”
“What’s going on?” Don’t tell me the kid has been busted fighting again.
“Alissa asked me to the school dance.”
I stare at him, waiting to hear what happened next, but he says nothing. I look at Jaxson and Sawyer, wondering if I’m missing something but they seem just as lost as me. I look back at him. “Okay…”
“And, like an idiot, I said yes!”
I wait for him to continue, but again he adds nothing else. “I don’t understand what the problem is? What do you need help with?”
“It’s a huge problem because I can’t dance.”
Oh… well shit! “Don’t look at me, kid. That is not something I can help you with.”
“You don’t know how to dance?” he asks in disbelief.
“Do I look like the kind of guy who can dance?”
Instead of answering he looks at Jaxson next, but Jaxson throws his hands up. “Don’t look at me.”
He drops his head. “I’m so screwed. I’m just going to tell her I can’t go. I don’t know why I said yes in the first place.”
Before I can respond, Evans breaks in, “All right, now just calm down. Let’s not be hasty. I got this shit.”
Oh christ! I brace myself for what the idiot is going to do because I know damn well he doesn’t dance either.
“Okay listen, I just recently discovered this shit is simple. There is nothing to it, kid. You grab the chick and pull her in nice and close.” He holds his arms up and out in front of him. “Now depending how close you want to feel her, you can either hold her hand in your right one or you can put your arms around her waist, and hers around your neck. Personally I say the latter, especially if you want to cop a feel.”
Oh for fuck sakes!
Before I can stop the idiot from speaking further, Christopher jumps in, “What? I can’t do that. I’ll get a boner!”
Jaxson chuckles and I have to admit the kid’s honesty is amusing. Of course Evans wears a smug smile and has to say something completely inappropriate. “Exactly, and if you’re lucky enough she will stroke it for you later.”
