head bobs while darkness creeps into the periphery of my vision.
“Let her go, Rick,” Damian says, behind me.
“Oh, come on D. I’m just looking for a date.”
“Not her. Go find another girl.”
An arm snakes around me, hauling me out of Rick’s hold in a blur. Before I get my bearings, Damian nudges me behind him. I shake off the darkness, clutching his shirt to steady myself. Arissa hugs me as I peek around Damian and even my ragged breath.
“What part of ‘let me go’ don’t you fucking understand?” Jason demands in a tone I’ve never heard from him before.
“I wasn’t doing anything, man,” Rick says as if he truly believes he is innocent. “She’s too fucking frigid for my taste anyway.”
“You don’t know a fucking thing about her!” Jason shoves Rick’s chest with both hands.
“Jason!” I call out in shock, squeezing Damian’s shoulders before he bolts from my grip.
Rick stutter steps backwards to keep his balance and Damian rushes between the two with the palm of his hand on Jason’s chest. I pry myself away from Arissa and run to Jason.
His body is rigid when I grab his arm. His head cocks towards me with a clenched jaw and dark eyes. His body loosens as he draws me to him, kissing my head. I nestle against him, my arms circling his waist.
“Why don’t you call it a night, Rick?” Damian asks, sounding more like a suggestion.
“And let her ruin the fun I was having?”
“Go have fun elsewhere. You’re done here tonight.”
“You’re sticking up for that cunt?”
Damian’s fist flashes to Rick’s face, his head tossing back upon impact. Football players swarm Rick and carry him away without giving him a chance to recover. Jason, Damian, and Arissa ask me simultaneously if I’m all right and talk over each other.
“Stop,” I plead, pressing into Jason to calm the wracking of my body. “You’re making my head spin.”
“I’m sorry,” Damian apologizes. “I thought he’d be on his best behavior tonight. I was wrong.”
“Take me home, please,” I say to Jason. I know it means missing out on a normal teenage experience. I also know there will be more to go to. Right now, I need out of here.
He keeps a tight grip on my hand on the way home, as if he might lose me if he loosened it. “I’m sorry, Parker.”
“It’s not your fault, J. He should have left me alone.”
“I should have stayed with you,” he says.
“Are you going stay with me twenty-four seven to protect me?”
“There’s an idea.” A roguish grin appears and the tension thins out.
My lips curl into a wisp of a smirk, then return to a serious line. “You might be able to protect me from others, but you can’t protect me from my past,” I pause for a breath. “It felt like my father all over again.”
“I want to. I want to protect you from the monsters in your closet and under your bed.”
My chest wells and I finally know what it means to cry tears of joy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The sandtray is in the middle of Sam’s office when I arrive.
“Sara, I want you to go to the toy baskets and pick out figures to represent your biological family and the Jerichos,” she directs.
I choose one of Cinderella’s step-sisters for Victoria; a black, one-eyed monster with claws for my father; an old witch for my mother; and a small, plain family set for Rose, Andrew and Arissa. I lay them on the floor next to the sandtray.
Sam peruses my choices then asks, “What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask, confused.
“You didn’t pick one out for you.”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to.” How stupid of me. Of course I was supposed to.
She smiles, putting me at ease. “Go pick one for you.”
I return to the baskets, digging through each of them before settling on a mouse. I take it back and lay it next to the others.
“I would like you to put yourself and your biological family in the tray. Feel free to get any other toys to add to the tray.”
I place a car in a corner with Victoria and my mother with purses and shopping bags. I put myself in the opposite corner with dishes, a lawn mower, and a vacuum. I set my father in a chair in front of the TV in the middle of the tray.
“Is there anything else you want to add?”
I shake my head.
“Okay. You can add anything else you want as you work. I would like you to show