on the floor next to the door. “How old are you in this one?”
I came over to his side and looked where he was pointing, even though I already knew which picture he was asking about. The connection that had drawn me to him in Georgia kept getting stronger, and I just wanted to be near him.
“I’m eighteen there.” I tried to see my younger self the way he would see me, not the way I saw myself.
Isis had taken this picture a couple days after I’d moved in with Kaimi and Rose. I was the same height back then as I was now, but not quite as curvy. I hadn’t been starved in juvie, but for a lot of reasons, I’d been a little underweight.
The t-shirt and jeans I’d been wearing were from a thrift store, and neither of them really fit me that well, which didn’t help how I looked. I’d kept my hair short while I’d been in juvie, both because it’d been easier to take care of and because it was one less thing another girl could grab in a fight. I didn’t really look younger though, I didn’t think. It was the eyes. They hadn’t been innocent for a long time.
“Is it a bad thing if I say you look younger now?” Bradyn glanced at me, his eyes twinkling.
“Depends,” I answered, keeping my tone playful. “If you’re going to start calling me jailbait, I’ll have to knock you on your ass.”
He laughed. “Not that young. Give me some credit here.”
“I’d only been out of juvie for a couple weeks.” I didn’t look at him as I said it. “I was a little shell-shocked.”
“How long were you there?”
Giving him the answer might lead to him asking what I’d done to get arrested, and I wasn’t ready for that conversation yet. But I was fairly confident that if I told him I didn’t want to talk about it, he’d accept it. I took the risk.
“Five years.”
“Going from being barely a teenager to an adult out in the real world would be more than a little shocking.”
I appreciated the comment but waited for the question. When it didn’t come, I turned back to the pictures on the wall. All of them were from the last eight years, and none were of any of my biological family. Instead, they were of members of my real family.
“That Rose looks like she’s been a handful from moment one.” He gestured toward another picture, that one of her on her tenth birthday when she’d asked for a tiara she could wear all the time.
“She has been,” I agreed. “Kaimi’s just hoping that she doesn’t go through a rebellious phase.”
“Speaking of Kaimi, what do you say we pick up some lunch and take it to her and Sitara?”
“I like that idea.”
I’d already called to let them know we were coming, and they’d told us to stop by the tattoo shop when we got in so we could touch base about what we wanted to do. Bringing them lunch would be a nice surprise.
Which was exactly what they said when, forty minutes later, Bradyn and I walked into Polliver’s Ink with two bags from Kaimi and Sitara’s favorite Indian restaurant.
“Hey! Look who’s back!” Kaimi came out from behind the counter, practically bouncing across the floor, and threw her arms around me.
She wasn’t even five feet tall, but she was strong enough that her hugs almost hurt, which she always thought was hilarious. Her normally golden skin had darkened while she and Sitara were on their honeymoon, and she looked good. Me giving her an all-over drew my attention to new ink on her ankle.
“Did you get another tattoo?” I asked, leaning down to peer at what she’d added.
“I did.” She snatched the food from my hand. “You brought me Tandoori Chicken!”
And then she was off with the bag I’d carried in. I didn’t need to ask what ink she’d gotten, though. I’d seen enough to know it was a date, so I felt safe in assuming it was her anniversary.
“Some of that’s for Sitara too,” I called after Kaimi. “You have to share yours ‘cuz I’m not sharing mine.”
“Hey, Nyx.” Liesel Canon greeted me from behind the counter. She was tall like me, but thinner. Henna red hair with black streaks, multiple piercings, and several tattoos went with her smart mouth and tough personality. Basically, she was a badass.
Maybe she and I could eventually become friends.
Damn. I was actually thinking about making friends. What