Chapter 12 #2
Even though I had been listening in for the past five minutes, feeling his lips coast kisses along my face and in my hair, the look he was giving me made me feel like I’d stepped back in time to that night he dared me to kiss him.
I found myself speechless. He had the same smirk on his face, only now, I was feeling something, too.
From behind me, Shaw sat up and kissed my neck, just below my ear, before quietly whispering in his rough, broken voice, “Good morning, Casey.”
I felt so on the spot, sensing everyone’s eyes watching me, that I almost said, fuck it , and hid beneath the blankets.
Except Lee chose that moment to rise up from the round table of four, carefully stepping over our legs, and scooped me up into his arms. He carried me over to the table and sat down, perching me upon his lap, and pulled an empty plate towards us as Meredith gave Haldon a little kiss before she flipped the bacon on the pan, the sound of it sizzling filling the kitchen.
“I can sit there-” I pointed at one of the empty chairs, but Lee only placed a hand over my stomach, keeping me where I was.
“Limited seating, babe,” he said simply, as though that was the end of it.
Shaw stumbled into the kitchen just as he pulled his sweater over his head, leaving the hood down.
His blond hair was rumpled, sitting in messy disarray which he didn’t care to fix.
He just shuffled past Meredith to the coffee machine and poured two cups.
I glanced over at Vail, who was now standing, stretching as he yawned, his stomach and chest muscles taught and defined.
Someone tapped my nose, and I peered over my shoulder at Lee, who was smirking at me for having caught me ogling our friend.
I bit the inside of my cheek and looked away as Vail disappeared down the hall to the washroom, and Meredith placed a huge platter of eggs, bacon, and toast in the middle of the table.
She sat on Haldon’s lap, both of them sharing a plate, and when Shaw took one of the vacant chairs, he slid one of the cups of coffee he’d just poured toward me.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully, taking it.
Lee piled food onto the plate before us while Shaw just nibbled on some toast he’d covered in bacon.
Meredith was feeding Haldon off a shared fork, both of them giving each other googly eyes.
“So, what’s the plan today?” I asked, pretending to be ignorant of what I’d eavesdropped in on earlier.
“School in an hour?” I glanced at the clock over the stove, noting it was a quarter to eight.
I noted how Meredith’s blue eyes flickered to Lee over my shoulder before looking away, minding her business by staying quiet.
“No, we won’t be doing that.” Lee scooped up a forkful of eggs and brought it up to my mouth.
“I can feed mys-” He stuffed the food into my mouth, nearly causing me to choke. I coughed, trying to keep my mouth closed so I didn’t spew eggs everywhere. Shaw nudged the coffee cup back toward me again. I took a long sip and glared at Lee over my shoulder. “Don’t do that!”
“Eat up. We have a lot to do today,” he said, flashing me that playful smile of his, ignoring my indignation. I ignored him and took the fork from his hand, deciding it was safer and more practical just to feed myself.
“What exactly are we doing?” I questioned after I chewed and passed the fork back to Lee so he could have a bite, too.
“Moving you in with us, darling,” Vail said, sauntering back into the room. His sweats were hanging low on his hips, showing off that beautiful V-line. He strolled over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup before taking the last empty chair on my left and started piling food onto his plate.
“Newsflash,” I told him, “I can’t just move in with you guys. Keith is my guardian, and he won’t approve of-”
“I’m gonna be real blunt here with you, Casey,” Vail said, not looking at me as he focused on his meal. “It’s not safe for you with your dad.”
“Well, no shit. Especially after what the fucker did yesterday.” One of my hands flew up and rubbed at my throat.
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel too emotional about it.
But then again, I figured if someone like Matthew had attacked me that way, it would have hurt me way more emotionally.
I didn’t feel any love for Keith. And knowing the past, how abusive he’d been to Mom, I honestly wasn’t surprised.
Vail’s eyes flick to my throat, his lips pressing together a little more tightly than necessary, before he turns toward me in his seat, holding my gaze. “Casey, why do you think your dad was so eager to take responsibility for you suddenly?”
I shrug. “Probably because of the government cheques he’d get?”
He scoffed, “Those payments are bullshit. They barely cover a week’s worth of groceries for a family.”
I glanced at Meredith, who nodded minutely in agreement without looking up from her seat on Haldon’s lap.
“Okay, then why did he want guardianship?” I questioned, rolling my eyes. “Because he sure as hell didn’t have a sudden epiphany to want to be a better father.”
“It’s your inheritance, Casey…”
“Wha-”
“He has access to all your money. He’s in charge of managing it and can spend it on whatever he wants if he claims it’s for your well-being.
That means he can buy himself a new car and claim he needed to buy it with that money because he uses it to drive you around, get groceries, or whatever the fuck.
Hell, he could even buy a bigger house and say it was because he wanted to give you a nicer, safer home. He could use your money to do it.”
I feel an unsettling weight suddenly bloom in my chest. What. The. Actual. FUCK?!
“No, he’s not-”
“I can guarantee that he paid social Services some sort of percentage so he could claim guardianship and get his hands on that money. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
I shake my head, feeling like I’m going to be sick. “He can’t just take my money and-”
“He can, because he paid off those assholes who brought you to him. No system in their right mind would have allowed you to live with him again. He was locked up for beating on your mom, signing fake cheques, and shit. He’s been a drunken mess since.”
I could feel my face and fingers start to tingle and go cold.
I felt slightly light-headed as I thought it over and realized how much sense it all makes.
Of course, that’s what happened. It also explained why Mr. Bryant was so pissed and confrontational with Jackie MacDonald, my social worker.
He just couldn’t prove it. And he wouldn’t have access to my funds to find any evidence. “So, what do I do?” I asked softly.
“First, you’re moving in with us.” He nodded to Lee and glanced at Shaw. Did that mean that all three of them were living together? “Then we’ll be paying a visit to your old man-”
“Vail, no!”
“Yes, Casey!” he shouted, cutting me off.
I shrunk back where I’d been sitting, which only has me pressing into Lee’s bulky, muscled chest. His arms came around me, hugging me to him like a protective shield, but he didn’t stop Vail.
“We get him to agree to sign over your inheritance to a court-ordered custodian who will properly monitor and can invest it for you. You’re turning seventeen at the end of the month, which means you won’t see this money for another fucking year.
By then, Keith will have pissed it all away, and you’ll be left with nothing! ”
I sucked in a long breath, closing my eyes tight as I fought to control myself. Why must I tear up every time I feel angry? It was annoying as fuck. So I concentrated on my breathing, and when I calmed down, I slowly opened them again to see Vail was watching me closely.
“How are you going to get him to agree to this?”
He lounged back in his chair, his arm resting behind him on the backrest, and sipped his coffee, still observing me, like I might be making a run for it or something. “Don’t worry about that. You’ll stay home with Shaw and Lee, and I will go.”
I almost wanted to ask what exactly Vail was going to do. He was just a teenager from a rundown neighborhood. Could he really persuade him to release the custodial ownership of my money? Keith was a selfish, selfish man. There was no way he was gonna say goodbye to it.
I guess my reservations were showing on my face because he smirked at me and bit into his toast. “Have a little faith in us, Darling.”
I rolled my eyes at the stupid nickname he’d been using on me and took the fork offered to me by Lee.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Mom would feel about all of this.
To think of Keith doing anything with the money left to me would have her rolling in her grave.
My heart clenched at the thought, and I shook it away quickly.
Every time I thought of my mother, it made me feel like I was drowning, and I couldn’t break down in front of them.
I’d play along. If it meant I could get out of that house with that man and be with the three people who made me feel the safest in the world, then I’d try anything.
It turned out all three boys did live together in a low-income townhouse complex called, The Village.
The buildings were aged, with grey stucco on the outside, which appeared ever drearier in the cold, grey Autumn morning.
All the buildings were faced inwards to a parking lot that circled what I assumed was a green space with a playground in the middle, but the grass was dead, everything covered in frost, and there were no signs that any flowers had bloomed in the beds for years.
Lee carried my bag as we walked two blocks down from Meredith’s apartment, with Vail leading the way and Shaw watching our backs.
It made me uneasy about walking down the street, seeing them acting so paranoid.
Was this all necessary? What did I know?
So I stayed between Lee and Vail, doing my best to keep up with his longer strides.