of work and wife a teacher. They just couldn’t handle it.”
I nod, my heart heavy with the knowledge that an eight-year-old could be on her own, fighting for a home. My mom didn’t want me, but I had my dad. He’d made sure I never needed anything, made sure I was always taken care of and I felt loved. Always. I wonder if this girl ever feels like someone is fighting for her.
But the person who is doing everything in his power to make sure she’s going to be good, is sitting in front of me. “But how did you find her?”
His eyes scrunch up in thought, his nostrils slightly flaring and I feel I’ve touched on a subject he’s not comfortable with. Releasing my hands he sits back and stares off to the blank white wall behind me.
“Damian,” I say quietly.
He focuses his attention back on my face and his features soften, his eyes lowering and his lips gently turning up. “Reed found her.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I ask cautiously.
He sighs out a big breath then looks directly into my eyes. “Reed knew I was lost, fighting for a life that no longer existed. He was trying to hammer home that there were people a lot worse off than me in this world. The minute I saw her, I knew I had to help her.”
Damian has always been secretive and there is a part of me that doesn’t feel I’m getting the whole picture of the why and how Emily came into his life. But if she gives him purpose, if she brought him back to a peaceful place, I need to accept I may not get more information than this.
I lean forward and kiss him, my hand cupping the back of his neck as the short hair tickles my palm.
“You’re a good person, Damian Walker.” He smiles against my lips. “Let’s go see your favorite blue-eyed-girl.”
“Here, let me help you up.” After an incredibly awesome hospital visit, I decided Addison and I needed to work out, or at least I needed to work out. Emily was great, and Addison was amazing with her, playing Would You Rather? until she’d run out of questions then watching re-runs of American Ninja Warrior. Addison knew every contestant, every move they made, where they went wrong and what they needed to work on for the next competition. It was a little frightening how caught up in these people’s worlds she was and I can only hope I’m going to give her a better life than one living through other people’s dreams. She needs to have her own.
I had dreams at one point as well, and they all came crashing down. When your life suddenly changes courses without asking your opinion in the matter, you need to readjust what you want out of life. Sort out the good and forget the bad. Life has a lot to offer, and if you want to find all the amazing parts, you can. It may be lurking in a hidden corner, out in plain sight or have just moved right next door, but it’s there, and I plan to show Addison how great life can be.
“What’s up peoples?” Fucking Reed walks onto the track, his arms outstretched, and a shit-eating grin on his face.
His shirt is ridiculous.
“Oh my God, Reed, that shirt’s worse than any of my mugs.” Addison is cracking up, and I want to deck the guy for thinking it was okay to wear a shirt around Addison that says, ‘When I get tired of snatches, I jerk it.’
Sure, it’s a CrossFit shirt, and I own a few of them myself, but have some fucking class.
“Don’t throw those dark mean eyes my way, Damian.” He throws his shit on the ground and turns on the music. Far East Movement’s “Like a G6” begins to play and I turn towards Addison, helping her with another pull up. I love the dude like he’s my brother and having four of them, that’s saying a lot. But at some point the guy’s got to grow up.
She loses her grip, and I’m not paying as good of attention as I should. Her hands slip off the bar and she lands right into my arms, causing us both to fall to the ground. “You okay, Green Eyes?” I’m holding her, as we lay on the grass and it dawns on me we’ve gone all day without having sex. I begin to wonder why I brought her here instead