Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
GRIFFIN
“ A nd that one looks like a butterfly,” I say to no one in particular. Literally no one.
Tonight is the first night I’ve had off in years. Knox and I decided that The Wandering Raven will be closed on Mondays from here on out. And it’s weird. So here I lie on my memory foam bed, staring at my ceiling and finding outlines of things in the texture.
I need a hobby.
Well, there’s one hobby I wouldn’t mind exploring, but sex with my employee slash neighbor isn’t exactly easy when she’s a single mom caring for her kid and working overtime. Knox decided to go for a ride on his motorcycle.
Pulling out my phone, I shoot off a text.
Me: You suck.
Me: Why didn’t you ask if I wanted to go for a ride?
Knox: …
Me: Don’t text and drive.
Knox: I’m not. I’m at the gas station.
Me: Grab me a candy bar.
Knox: No.
Me: Pleeeeeease.
Knox: No.
Me: Why not?
Knox: Because you can get one yourself.
Giving up, I toss my phone aside and go back to staring at the ceiling.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
What the hell?
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Is that the front door? No one knocks on our front door. I think the last person was a kid fresh out of high school, trying to sell us pest control. Because of him, we put a “No Solicitors” sign outside.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Ugh,” I complain as I sit up. My feet touch the cold hardwood floor, and I instantly regret not putting on more than a pair of sweats and a tank today. The cold is not for me.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming!” I shout. Taking the stairs down two at a time, I feel my limbs waking up. As I swing open the door, I find what could arguably be the last person I expected to see.
“Katarina?”
“Kat,” she corrects me, firmly, and pushes past me to get inside.
“Uhhhh…” Leaving the door wide open, I spin to face her.
She folds her arms across her chest. “I need your help.”
“Okay?” I massage the base of my neck.
Kat falls into her explanation seamlessly.
“I’m babysitting Noah next door, but there’s an emergency at the coffee shop.
Tyler called and said that the espresso machine is on the frits again, and my other machine is already jacked up.
The company I bought them from said someone would come today to fix the first, but no one showed?—”
“Kat,” I interrupt. “What does any of this have to do with me? I don’t know espresso machines.”
She sighs. “I need to leave, but I’m supposed to be babysitting Noah. Could you go over and watch him until Raven gets back?”
Gets back?
I didn’t even notice her car was gone. It’s true that I haven’t gone outside today, but I feel like I would’ve heard her leaving. Unless she left while I was in the shower…
“Where’s Raven?” I know my tone is a little hard, but Kat doesn’t flinch.
She tries to hide her smile. “On a date.”
What. The. Fuck.
I give Kat the go ahead to leave and take care of her emergency, and she gives me a rundown on putting Noah to bed. In a sprint, I hurry to Raven’s house next door.
“Noah?” I call out when I open the front door.
“Griffin?” Noah responds and comes running down the stairs with wet hair and dressed in pajamas that have trains all over them. “Miss Kat said that you’d be coming.” He snags my hand and drags me up the stairs after him.
Before she even asked me?
I chuckle and shake my head. “Oh, did she?”
“Yeah! So I set up my train set so we could play with it.”
He leads me into his room, where he has a little table adorned with a small town and train tracks. Noah scurries over to the table, still dragging me along. He pulls me down to sit on the floor and hands me a plastic red tub.
“These are your trains.” Then he produces another red tub. “And these are mine.” He goes on to show me each of the trains in his bucket and mine, informing me of the backstories he’s created for each one. I nod and smile at each explanation, asking questions and making comments when he pauses.
Kat told me to get him in bed when I got here, but I can’t seem to say no to this kid. His heart is so pure and innocent. He wants what we all want.
Love and acceptance.
Knowing that my words and actions could affect Noah and his outlook on the world makes me nervous.
That’s a lot of power to hold over someone so small.
It’s daunting. But Raven has trusted me to be around her son, and I don’t want to break that.
I mean, it can’t be too hard. I have enough counterexamples in my own childhood, so I can think of what Amos might do in a situation and do the opposite.
It doesn’t take long for me to notice Noah’s yawning and drooping eyes.
“Let’s get you in bed, little man,” I suggest.
Noah startles. “No, I’m awake. I’m not tired.” His claim is followed by him rubbing his eyes.
Holding back my smile so as not to provoke him, I reply, “You seem pretty tired to me.”
“But I’m not.” Water fills his eyes, and he sniffs.
Shit. What would Amos do? Probably mock Noah for showing emotion.
The opposite it is.
Gently, I remove the tub from his lap. He’s too groggy to even put up a fight. I pick him up and set him on my lap. As if I’ve comforted him a million times before, he leans into me, placing his head on my chest.
“I know you want to play. And I promise we will, but we can’t right now. You need to sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, then your body won’t have the energy to play tomorrow.”
Leaving his head where it is, he asks, “I won’t be able to throw my football?”
“Yeah. You need sleep first.”
He’s quiet for a few long moments, making me think he’s fallen asleep. But then he says, “I don’t want you to leave. Mom says I can’t talk about it, but I used to live with bad men. They hurt Mom.”
My arms automatically wrap around him.
What happened to Noah and Raven? Did they even live in New York? The mysteries surrounding these two keep multiplying.
“I’m so sorry, Noah. No one should hurt your mom.”
Water dampens the front of my shirt.
“They hurt me too,” he admits in a small voice.
That’s my final straw. A tear trickles from my eye, and I use my arm to wipe it away.
What kind of monster would hurt this little boy?
I hold him closer for a second, then pull away so he can see my face. His cheeks are wet, and his chin wobbles. “I won’t let that happen ever again. No one will hurt you.”
He nods, then leaps forward, wrapping his arms around my neck. “Thanks, Griff.”
“Anytime, little man. Anytime.”
And I mean it. If the monsters who hurt Raven and Noah aren’t dead already, they will be. Soon.
A couple of minutes later, and he’s out cold. As if I’m holding thin glass, I carefully maneuver Noah into his bed and under the covers. I wait to make sure he’s peacefully asleep, then quietly leave.
That little boy deserves all the love and protection in the world. He should always feel safe in his home. He shouldn’t have to worry that someone is going to hurt Raven.
When I set my foot on the first step to head downstairs, my stomach drops at the shout I hear coming from outside.
“I said, no!”
I know that voice. That’s the voice of my Sunshine.
Whipping out my phone, I shoot off a quick text to Knox and run down the stairs.
“Raven!”