Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,35

Andrew take some pictures of her wounds.

“They had a lady police officer do that already.” Allie said that was wonderful. Then she asked if they were hungry. “Yes, ma’am. It’s been a couple of days before we left since we got any food. They were making us weak, they told us.”

Anger. It came off the woman like the lava hot tears that he’d cried. Conor reached for his sister to pull her away from Allie, but she smiled at him. It was a real one too. Not a bit of evilness was in her eyes. Conor had never been so confused around two people in his life. They weren’t acting at all like anyone ever had with them before.

“I’m not angry with you two. But I might have to teach a couple of people what it is to be responsible for another person’s life. I want you two to know this right now. There will never be a time when we hold food from you. We’ll never turn away a hug. And you can bet your sweet asses that you guys are going to be taken care of.” Conor laughed. He was nervous, but her cursing was just like he thought someone would talk. Not holding back. Conor told Beck that when he asked. “Wait until you meet the rest of the family. You two will hear cursing like you’ve never heard before. But you’ll have a set of grandparents and aunts and uncles that will be there for you too.”

“You’re acting like you’re going to take us home with you. Don’t you want to, I don’t know, have a dry run or something? The other people did.” Allie looked at Beck and asked him if he needed a dry run. He smiled at his wife and told her he was good. “You two are weird. Do you know that?”

“We are. And yes, we know it. I was a child of the system too. It didn’t get any better after I was adopted either. No one tried to rape me, but they did hurt me mentally, as well as verbally. I already want the best for you guys. Oh, I forgot to mention, you’ll already have lots of cousins. Come on, Beck, let’s feed these guys and take them home. Tomorrow we’ll have to get them other things to wear, but for now, I just want to get to know them.”

The pizza place wasn’t very busy, but the owner came out from the back when they entered to give Beck and Allie a hug. She asked after someone that Conor didn’t hear her name, and they were seated in an area that just held them. Beck handed them menus and told them to get whatever they wanted. Conor didn’t even know what he wanted, not having had pizza from a restaurant before.

“I’ve invited my family to come and eat with us. Mom and Dad, my parents, will be here first. They don’t know that we’re going to adopt you, so I would appreciate it if you would put your best foot forward for them. I’m asking you nicely, Conor, not to piss my mom off. She’ll be both your best friends if you allow her to be.” He lowered his head and felt his shame. He’d not asked him to be nice to him or with Allie. Just his mom. For some reason, that hurt him all the way to the tips of his toes. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry I acted the way I did. I have no excuse for acting like that against you two.” Beck said his name, and when he looked at him, he told him that he had every right to be hurt with people. No one had treated them kindly. “No, sir. No one has cared a bit for either one of us. Not even our parents.”

“I’m sorry about that. Both of us are. The moment we heard about you, we both considered you ours. Allie told you that she’d been a part of the system, and that’s the truth. She wasn’t abused, not like you guys were, but she didn’t get the love she already has for the two of you.” Conor looked at Allie as she read over the menu with Holly. His sister was smiling, something that he’d missed until now. “I’m not going to blackmail you into anything either. Nor will I try to mislead you into something that will harm either of you. I want you