go right now.”
“Please Fletch,” Bree pleads with him and stands up, taking his hand, not exactly a fan of all the touching either, but I guess the kid needs some comfort. So, I press forward.
“Come on.” I start walking toward the car, not giving him a chance to argue with me. I can hear Bree and him behind me and open my door, climbing behind the wheel.
Bree climbs into the back, and Fletcher follows. I hear Rhett’s voice as I close my door and put the car in drive. “That asshole.”
Blair glances in the back seat, and I can feel her weary eyes on me. No one says anything as I drive us to the nearest police station. Fletcher makes a report, and we get clearance for him to stay with us tonight.
After setting the kids up in the living room, Blair and I go upstairs. She closes the door and then moves silently to the bed, looking so goddamn numb it barely looks like her. Great, I'm really starting to rub off on her.
“Blair?” I sit on the edge of the bed, wanting to comfort her. But the day has been so fucking long, my nerves are shot, and I don’t want to freak out from the contact.
“We can’t save them all.” Her words are breathless, and she sounds hopeless.
“No. We can’t.” I sigh, pushing my fingers through my hair. “But maybe we can save a few.”
She looks over at me, her eyebrow lifted. “Like the few down in our living room?”
I shrug my shoulders. “We are certified to be foster parents.”
She turns on the bed to face me better, tucking a leg under her. “You want to foster Rhett and Fletcher?”
I drop my hands to my thighs. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“They’re Bree’s family.”
“But they aren’t related.” And they’re both boys.
She’s thinking, I can see it on her face. Several thoughts are turning around in there. “It’s like Sean, Quinn, Logan, and you.”
“Not helping the case. Quinn and Logan are married now.”
She laughs at that, letting her head tip back slightly. “You can’t be afraid of Bree falling in love, Rhys. It’s going to happen, and she already loves both of them. It would be normal for that to morph into real love someday.”
I cringe at that thought, wanting her to stay young forever. “Maybe we’ll just care for them until they can find a nice home to run out puberty.”
She laughs again. “You aren’t keeping them apart even if they aren’t living together.”
“You really think she’s going to date one of them?”
She slips her top off, letting it fall to the floor. “Maybe. Maybe both. Maybe neither. I don’t know. I just know you can’t stop it.”
“So, we’re going to do this?”
She smiles, nodding her head instantly, and I can tell she’s already sold. “Let’s rescue some kids. Do some damn good.”
“Okay, Blair.”
She’s beaming now as she crawls to me over the bed. “Now, get naked.”
I grin, liking her hungriness for me.
Something I used to fight but don’t think I will ever again.
Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. We’ve had Rhett and Fletcher in our home since we found out Fletcher was being abused. We have long-term care licenses, and although the social worker—not Ms. Winters, thankfully—checks in occasionally, everything has been smooth.
We, okay Blair, offered to pay for the boys to go to private school, but they both declined. Surprisingly, Bree has stuck there. I think it was easier for her to make that decision now that she can come home to the guys.
I’m just finishing with a customer when the door dings open, and a kid who can’t be over eighteen walks in. “I’ll be with you in just a minute.”
I take the payment from the guy with a fresh tattoo, and he thanks me before leaving. I turn to the kid, and I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before, but can’t place him. “Hey, Rhys.”
His dark hair is shaggy, and his clothes are tattered, but he’s a good-looking kid. There’s a smirk on his face as his green eyes meet mine. “Christian?”
His smile widens. “Yeah. You remember me?”
I nod. We grew up in the same area. I’m five or six years older than him and haven’t seen him since I was eighteen, but yeah, I know him. “Yeah. Charity’s little brother.”
He nods again. “Yup, that’s me.”
Charity is a couple of years older than me. They moved into the hellhole right before I left. “Are you okay?”
He just laughs, sitting down on the bench