she was around?”
I’ve been here the whole time and didn’t hear about a stepfather. They were reading. “How could you know? You obviously were separated young.”
He looks down. “Yeah.” He looks at me. “You think Sheila would get pissed if I brought her to my house?”
He doesn’t want to leave her. He’s a good kid. “Putting her in with three teenage boys may not be a good idea. She needs to be taken care of until she understands about doing that for herself.”
He gives me a look. “You think I wouldn’t take care of her?”
“No Jason, I know you’d take care of her. She didn’t grow up like you did and she was hurt by a man. That may play different than what you would think. Why don’t you stay here? Sheila isn’t going to say no to you. She knows you better than anyone and knows you’ll want to protect Judy.”
“What do you do when a man hurts a girl? She’s not afraid of me so I can help, right?”
A good fuckin’ brother. “Yeah you can. Showing her good from men will help. Letting her know she’s important is good too. Your mom and dad would know better than me. Lily got me information when Sheila got raped. I can bring it to you tomorrow.”
He nods. “Can you get it tonight? Jeremy helped us with Sheila. We just knew to love her. I won’t be able to sleep without knowing what to do tomorrow.”
I stand and mess his hair up. “I’ll be right back.”
I’m just getting back and opening the door as Tiny rides down the street following Nancy. Fuckin’ ‘rents must have flown down here. I walk in leaving the door open. Handing the pages to him, I let him know they’re here. He walks down the hall leaving me to the ‘rents.
Sheila comes out, hugs Nancy, and points her down the hall. She hugs Tiny and he doesn’t let her go. “We’ll get through this, Little Shooter.” She nods against his stomach and I smile then wipe it off my face before he whips a tampon. He’s always called her Little Shooter. It fits.
Since our conversation isn’t happening tonight I throw her chin. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I get a funny look but she nods.
Chapter Two
Two days
Sheila
We’re behind Jessie and Taylor riding to the house Judy told Dakota about. Prez had to let the Connecticut Chapter know we were showing and they want to help. Eliza is excited. I didn’t say, but I am too. Runaways aren’t easy, but Lily is working on a way to keep them safe by pairing them with Brother and military mentors. We have a few that came through the program and are willing to help. This can be good. Jason being here worries me. He said he wants to help, but something is bothering him and he was too focused on being here today. No one has said anything, so I let it go.
Brantley tells us Connecticut is coming up behind us as we turn down the road to the house. Their bikes are loud, drawing kids out as we pull up.
Taylor walks to a kid while we stay behind. The kid looks our way and nods. More kids come out surprising me with their numbers. If there are that many showing, how many are hidden?
Taylor throws us chin and we walk toward him pulling our backpacks off. The kid walks around the building with us following and I’m shocked. There has to be thirty fuckin’ kids here. Taylor points to a picnic table and we dump our bags. Water, juices, granola bars and fruit hit the table and the kids are on them. Jessie pulls grinders and his knife. He starts cutting them and Eliza helps. There isn’t enough for everyone, but they make it stretch. The kid that seems to be in charge calls younger kids up to eat first. A Brother from Connecticut says he’ll be right back and I know he’s going for more.
We sit with a group of older kids and Eliza tells them about the program Lily is working on. They’re skeptical, but listen. The kid that’s in charge is Drake. He wants to know more. Taylor tells him what he knows and how the kids can stay safe. Drake asks about Jason and if he’s in the