“Honey, it’s okay. You don’t have to protect her,” his mother started up.
“WOMAN, ARE YOU CRAZY?” Krit yelled.
“Oh God. Please go stop him,” Trisha begged. “Please. If he tells them, we will be split up. He doesn’t understand that foster homes could be worse.”
I stared at her face, still beautiful though beaten, and swollen. I realized she was right. At least where she was she knew what to expect, and Krit was there with her. The kid was bigger than her and loved her. He could also get in touch with me if they needed me.
Nurses were trying to calm them down, and security was walking up when I stepped outside the room.
“Krit,” I called out.
He looked at me with a furious scowl. “This is it! You gonna fix it? Save her from this shit!” he challenged me.
It was time I started proving myself. I walked over to Krit and put my arm around his shoulders. “Your sister needs you. She’s asking for you,” I told him while glaring at the woman across from him.
He didn’t move at first. Finally he nodded and walked back to his sister’s room.
“Baby, don’t go in there to her—”
“Leave him alone. He’s going where he wants to be. With the sister who loves him and got hurt tonight. And you need to calm down. Too many drinks have you saying shit no one around you believes. It’s obvious Krit loves his sister and she loves him. If you want to keep your family, then you might want to act like a mother and not a drunk, deranged psycho.”
Her eyes went wide as I told her exactly how things were going to go. The painted-on makeup didn’t cover up her hard living. Her skin had seen better days. The stench on her was nauseating. Sour whiskey and cheap perfume.
“Now, you need to go sign the papers to release your daughter. She’s been treated, and she needs to go home and rest. I’ll be making sure that happens. If you f**k with her, I swear to God you’ll lose everything. Do you understand me?”
The woman’s bent shoulders snapped back as she looked at me hatefully. “Who the hell do you think you are? You don’t tell me what to do. Did you hurt Trisha? Are you some loser who she’s running wild and partying with?”
She was trying to twist it so I looked like the bad guy.”
A security guard stepped up beside me. “No, ma’am. This here is Sea Breeze High’s football star. He’ll put us on the map one day. Good kid. Watch him play every Friday. This young man don’t ever cause trouble.”
I glanced over at the man beside me and recognized him as one of the security guards who worked the games. I owed him one.
“Y’all don’t know what she’s like,” the woman started up again.
“Yeah, I do. She’s the mother your son doesn’t have in you,” I replied.
The security guard beside me patted my back. “That’s good, son. Why don’t you go on back in there with the girl? We’ll oversee her momma signing the release papers.”
I shot her one more warning glare, then headed back to the room, where I found Krit watching me from the doorway.
There was surprise in his eyes. He hadn’t expected me to stand up to her. I’d show them both over and over again I wasn’t going anywhere. Trisha’s pretty face had been what attracted me to her. I had watched her for a year, wanting to be the reason she smiled, and making her beam up at me had become a goal in life. Now that I had actually gotten to know her even a little, I wanted more.
It killed me that this beautiful girl who should be cherished and loved didn’t have parents who protected and loved her. She deserved that.
“She’s signing the papers,” Krit whispered in disbelief as he watched his mother from the doorway. “You got her to f**king shut up and sign the papers,” he repeated as he turned to look at me in awe.
It was a start. I had a long way to go to win their trust. But after tonight I was done waiting on Trisha Corbin to give me a chance. If she didn’t want to, then fine. I wouldn’t make her. I’d just be the unwanted friend she couldn’t get rid of. The girl needed someone to take care of her.
“Thank you.” Her voice washed over me. She had claimed me with just a look.
“I’m taking you home. Then I’m staying there,” I informed her. “I’ll need to get my truck back to my dad for work in the morning, so I’ll get Marcus or Dewayne to help me out. But I’m staying with you until Monday morning.”
She had just started to say something when the nurse walked into the room, followed by that bitch Trisha lived with.
The nurse smiled at Trisha, then turned to me. “Will you be giving her a ride home?” the woman asked, but it sounded more like she telling me I was going to.
I smiled. “Yes ma’am. I’ll be giving her and her brother a ride home.”