Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,40

just need to find out why exactly.

Finally she sighs and holds the door open for me. “You coming in?”

“Is it a bad time?”

“It’s always a bad time around here.” I have a suspicion that there is a double meaning behind that.

I follow Layla up the stairs. When I step in the apartment I’m a little taken aback. This is nothing how I pictured Layla to live. The walls all need to be painted, they are dirty as hell, it looks like they used to be painted white but not now, they look like a tan color. The apartment reeks of cigarettes and stale beer, too. None of the living room furniture matches, sheets are acting as curtains over a window in the front, the carpet is well worn and holes litter around the couch. Out in the kitchen there is a tiny table with two chairs that are different styles, a sink that looks like it’s from the sixties, and stove that looks like it belongs in a playhouse.

When I look back to Layla there is a little girl gripping onto her leg. She looks just like her, could this be her daughter or maybe sister?

Layla reaches down to pick the little girl up and takes a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. “How did you find out where I live?”

“Um,” I clear my throat. “I went to your house, uh — Mrs. Stein’s house and she informed me that you didn’t live there.”

The little girl whispers in Layla’s ear and then she points at me.

Layla huffs clearly annoyed that I’m here. “Fallon, this is Eli…Eli, this is Fallon.”

Ah, so this is Fallon. “Sister?” I guess hoping like hell I’m right and this isn’t a kid that she has with Brian.

“Yes, sister.”

I offer Fallon a little smile. She seems to be around Sophia’s age maybe. “Hi, Fallon.”

She returns my smile then buries her face in Layla’s neck. When Layla shifts in her chair so that she can get a better look at me I notice bruising on her neck.

Nodding my chin in her direction I ask, “What happened?”

Layla whispers in Fallon’s ear. The little girl walks down a hallway. “Why are you here?” Layla asks after the click of a door shutting.

She’s avoiding my question and that’s fine for now but she will answer me before I leave. “You haven’t been to work in a week, Layla. We’re worried but now I can see why you’ve been calling in.”

Layla reaches up and rubs at her neck. “I figured it was best not to come in. Plus, I’ve got some things around here that I need to handle anyway.”

I’m barely holding my shit together right now. I’m fucking livid, I want to go after Brian, I want to scream at Layla and shake the shit out of her, and want to kick myself for not coming here sooner.

“What happened?”

Over the next few minutes she tells me everything that’s been going on. I’m surprised at first; I thought she’d try and say it was nothing. She was angry telling me and then that changed to hurt and then, last but not least, defeat. She’s broken down, kicked down really.

“This is my life, Eli. I can only take one day at a time.” Her eyes water and she takes a shuddering breath. “It’s all I can do.”

I can’t say anything. What can you say to that? Nothing, you can’t fucking say anything because it won’t fix anything. This beautiful broken girl in front of me is one of the bravest people I know to be dealing with this abuse and responsibility. While all this is happening in her life, all she does is smile. Who the hell can cover this type of a life up with a smile? Layla Del Luca can.

I reach over and pull her into my lap, she comes willingly. “I’m sorry.” I whisper just before kissing the side of her head.

I understand now why she takes the extra shifts from the girls and is willing to work doubles if she’s able too. I understand now why she is so insistent on ordering the cheapest shit off the menus when we have dinner. I know now why she doesn’t have a car. And I understand why she keeps all of this to herself, why she doesn’t confide in Jaylinn, in anyone. She’s got too much pride in herself. She doesn’t look at the bad in it; she just deals with what she was given with a smile on her