Deserted - Cara Dee Page 0,13
zipper on his coat. “Malley gives me clothes when I need them, and I help Sister Margaret with laundry and stuff. I like sleeping on her couch because her cat visits me lots and naps at my feet.”
Gray would give anything to be able to let Jonas know that his little brother was a trooper who’d managed to find his way in a tight-knit community.
It just wasn’t enough. Gray’s heart ached for Jayden. Had he ever experienced real peace? Jonas wouldn’t have left Jayden without being certain that his brother was okay for the time being, but beyond that? An eight-year-old shouldn’t have to settle for uncertainty and barely “okay.”
The big house back home in Washington that Abel’s mom used for her shelter darted past in Gray’s mind, and he found himself wanting to show Jayden more than what he had here. The people here were probably great, but when push came to shove, a kid living on the streets was a goddamn tragedy.
“What does Father O’Malley want you to do?” Gray asked curiously.
Jayden huffed and rolled his eyes. “They all want me to get adopted, okay? But I don’t wanna. He knows I will run away if they pull any shit. They can’t play me. Trust.”
Gray’s mouth twitched with amusement.
It was easier to understand the grown-ups around Jayden now. They wanted him safe, but all they could do was help out from the sidelines. If they pushed too hard, he fled.
It made Gray wonder what Jonas and Jayden had lived through before. Their parents were out of the picture, so Gray guessed that foster families from hell had been the reason Jonas had insisted on Jayden avoiding the system.
Perhaps that was Gray’s best angle. He could promise safety and stability in Washington—a place Jayden wouldn’t have to hide. Because he knew for a fact that Abel’s mom, Adeline, had helped many men, women, and children find shelter in secret at her facility. Most of the residents were or had been escaping abusive partners and parents, and her first priority was to make sure they felt safe.
Jayden deserved a happier upbringing, and maybe a few months of building up trust with those Gray liked to call family would allow the boy to see there were actually good people out there.
Gray needed that reminder too. He’d seen too much of the ugly in the world.
“What if I told you there’s a place you can stay where you don’t have to hide?” he asked Jayden.
The kid glanced up at him, dubious.
“The shelter I mentioned,” Gray went on. “The one my friend’s mom runs. You could stay there. I could visit you too. You’d be safe, and you’d be around other children your age.”
“You’re lying,” Jayden stated plainly. “I know every shelter in the city—”
“It’s not here, buddy,” Gray reasoned gently. “It’s in my hometown—in Washington. All the way across the country.”
Jayden wasn’t convinced one bit. “You gotta register children. I know this. My ears ain’t wet. She has to inform CPS that I’m there.”
Good Christ, this boy was too sweet. “You’re right, you are definitely not wet behind the ears,” Gray agreed. “But you’ll find that Adeline is very different. She grew up with bad parents too, and then she had to go through a bunch of crap with the authorities when my best friend was little. She was afraid they’d take the boys away from her—”
“What did she do?” Jayden narrowed his eyes.
Fuck, time to backtrack. It was becoming abundantly clear that Jayden had trust issues where adults were concerned.
“Abel, my friend,” Gray said, “is different. He needs some medicine to feel better, and Adeline had to work very hard to be able to afford it. So, when all that was over, she kinda hated the system too.”
“The system sucks.” Jayden nodded firmly.
Gray breathed a sigh of relief. “Anyway. She vowed to herself to help others. That’s what she does today. If someone needs her help, she puts that person’s needs first—and sometimes that includes lying to the system.”
“Oh.” Jayden sat back and mulled that over.
Jonas would approve of this, right? It felt like a great idea to Gray. And to give Jayden a better idea of what was waiting for him back home in Camassia, Gray pulled out his phone to google Adeline’s facility.
He found the website right away.
“Look at this.” Gray scrolled past the shelter’s greeting. Jayden wouldn’t care about the great counselors, the rehab, or the fact that they had the option for children to attend school. The