Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
“You’re a father?” I ask in shock.
He nods as he bounces the little girl in his arms. She looks half asleep and I’m assuming she may have been, and he woke her up for this.
“How?”
He chuckles as he holds up a finger and disappears with the little girl again. When he reappears without her, I cross my arms over my chest again.
It’s more to control my rapidly beating heart, though I know it makes me look stand-offish.
“Madison.”
I stare at him.
Madison and her friends decided to use Lake as a practice boyfriend as soon as he hit puberty at eight years old. It was non-stop, constant abuse and his parents wrote it off because they refused to believe that his sister could be capable of doing something like that to him.
I was the only one that ever believed him.
“And where is she now?”
Lake chews the inside of his mouth thoughtfully as he begins to close the gap between us and slips his arms around my waist.
“Dead.”
“Wait a minute,” I say as I uncross my arms and place them against his chest. I push him back an inch. “How?”
“She had an accident after Eden was born.”
“What kind of accident?”
“A tragic one,” he replies with an eyeroll. “Do you want to know why I named her Eden?”
Lake leans down and presses his forehead against mine, “Because your name is Genesis. It was my way of keeping you close.”
I understand that what he’s explaining is supposed to make me feel better but the fact that his sister had his baby is still warping my mind.
“Gen?”
“Yeah?” I ask a little too loudly.
Lake laughs as he pulls away from me, “Too much. I know.”
“Mabel is your babysitter.”
“Yeah if I want to go out at night. During the day, Eden goes to her mom’s house. Mabel’s, I mean.”
“And what about this entire situation you’re in isn’t reason enough to tell those bitches at school to fuck off?”
“They don’t know about my past. No one in that school does. Not until you showed up, anyway. I don’t want them knowing my business.”
“So why are you having sex with them?” I blurt out.
He shakes his head as he chuckles, “Kaylee found out about Eden. She told the other two and they used it against me to show them how to do things. As long as I oblige, they’ll keep their mouths shut.”
“Lake—”
“Leave it alone, Gen. I think after today, they’ll think better about how they see me,” he says with a smirk.
“And if they don’t?”
“Well, how many text books are you willing to swing?” he asks.
There has to be a better way to get them to leave Lake alone once and for all, I just have to think of something.
And that’s when it hits me.
“Alright, I’ll make a deal with you,” I begin thoughtfully. “I think I can get them to back off without having to tell them why.”
“How’s that?” he probes curiously.
“Meet me in the home economics classroom an hour before lunch. I think I have an idea. Or maybe we should give it a few days to let the bruising go down on Fia,” I state with a chuckle.
Lake raises an eyebrow but nods in agreement.
“Wanna stay over tonight? We haven’t slept in the same bed in ten years.”
I blanch at his invitation, but he laughs and holds up both hands.
“Sleep, Gen. Just to sleep, I promise.”
I mull his offer over for a moment before I nod, “Let me call Mom and tell her we’re pulling an all-nighter.”