She was lucky, though.They had all banded together to make this work. She’d overheard the kids talking one night that if they didn’t help her out or make this work, there was a chance they’d all be taken away. She wasn’t sure if that was accurate, but according to her father when she asked him, there was always a chance that if it didn’t look like things were working out, social workers, the police, and just about anyone else, could step in and take them away from her.Laura couldn’t allow that. She loved these kids. They were hers, and she was going to give them the best damn chance she could.With the kids in school, she often drove home and did a mad dash around the house, cleaning and putting everything neatly. She’d spend a short time studying as she’d taken up her classes again, and with her dad’s help, she’d arranged for all her work to be done from home. The lectures were already recorded, so it wasn’t so hard to watch them. If she didn’t get a chance during the day, when the
“You know they can print and sign some more. The process can begin again.”“And they’ll all meet a fire, Kyle. I’m not divorcing my wife.” “Why not?” Kyle tilted his head to the side.Johannes debated lying, or making up some bullshit, but that had gotten him into trouble with Laura, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.“I love her, Kyle. I’m in love with her and have been for a very some time now, but I fucked up. I made mistakes, and Laura believes the worst of me, but I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I want to help raise you guys. I want to be a … father to you all, or a friend, or whatever you guys need.”Kyle nodded. “I knew it. I knew you weren’t a bad guy, that shit just got out of hand.”“Language. I will tell Leon that you need grounding if you continue.”He chuckled. “How about, you don’t tell Grandpa about my language, and I don’t tell him that you were thinking of sneaking into his daughter’s bedroom.”“That is a deal, but don’t forget, Laura is
Johannes already had a big ego, although she wasn’t really seeing it of late.They had been living with each other for a week. She’d expected him to be gone within three days. Johannes took over from the guard and Billy, driving the kids to the three different schools.He was always awake at five thirty, and they had been ready for breakfast on time. Each morning, he rounded up the kids, helping with buttons, hair, and collecting all their homework. After a braid disaster, he did stop helping the girls with their hair. Laura had to unknot their hair. Laura couldn’t even understand how he’d been able to make it so bad, but this was Johannes, and well, he clearly knew what he was not good at. The dishes were always done before they left for the school trip. Each morning, he fist-bumped the boys, telling them to have an amazing day. The girls kissed his cheek, and he told them the same, but added to kick all guys in the balls.Laura tried to talk to him about that, but he wouldn’t have a
WinonaThe blood on his hands turned the water red as he washed them. The white porcelain sink blurred with the pink and red ribbons of someone else’s life.“HJ,” I whispered.He jumped, the muscles in his back rippling as he tensed. His dark head of hair was dripping wet, and as it shot up, droplets of water sprayed everywhere. Those black eyes solidified into a stone-cold stare when he looked at me in the mirror. “Why are you back here?”“I had to pee. It’s not like I don’t come back—”“Get out!” He delivered the command as swiftly as a sword slicing its enemy down.I stood my ground. We still weren’t friends. We were barely acquaintances at this point. He’d ignored me too many times for that and had acted as though I didn’t exist for the past couple of weeks. And in those weeks, I’d almost slept with another man, one I knew could keep me content.Yet I wanted only HJ.“Winona, you need to leave.” His voice rumbled out low in warning.I should have left like he asked me to. If he di
WinonaMonths went by, and Daddy got worse.I wrote HJ every week, not sure if he was reading my letters and not really caring at all. The outlet was there, and I needed it.HJ,We celebrated my seventeenth birthday at Dad’s bedside. He sang softly to me before I sang him a lullaby and tucked him in that night.He winces in pain a lot more these days, and I’m not sure how to get better care for him.I’ll find a way, WinonaPS Cleopatra supposedly was not beautiful but smart enough to marry some of her political allies. PPS I’m also reading Edgar Allan Poe. He seems to know darkness and pain better than anyone else. I need a friend like that.A daughter’s love made me do what I had to do. I tracked down a suited man’s son in school.Jared let me into his home. He let me into his bed, too.Weeks of my father in pain went by, and I begged Jared’s father for money. The man’s slimy gaze trailed my body over and over again. I started to learn the looks, the sly brushes of his hand, and the
Igot her letter way too late. The date was postmarked months back, and the edges of the envelope were bent and covered with mud.Still, I recited the address as I pounded it into my phone and drove straight there, hoping tofind her, hoping to find the man who must have been taking advantage of her.I banged on the door with the chain I took with me at times wrapped around my knuckles.A tall skinny man with dark circles around his eyes answered. “Damn, calm down. What you want?”“I’m looking for Winona.”“I didn’t tell her she could have anyone over,” he drawled.It was all the confirmation I needed. Taking a step forward, I swung at him, and the chain links shattered his jaw. He flailed back, screaming in surprise. Clattering came from a hallway behind him.Winona stood there, a ripped black shirt hanging from her shoulder and jeans that showed too muchof her waistline hugged her hips. She’d filled out and lost weight too. Her high cheekbones were hollowed out, just like the ga
But my heart jolted back as my mind registered her words.“Sasha,” I whispered. The name matched my unborn baby’s mother, my ex-fiancée. The rhythm of my heart sped up, my stomach suddenly jumped into my throat.It had to be a coincidence.But there weren’t coincidences in the mob.Dallas set a hand on my shoulder. “Not your Sasha, son. She’s an untouchable. Who is this Sasha?” he asked.Jimmy eyeballed us both. “Look . . .” He sighed and then ran a hand through his hair that was wet with his sweat.The walls around me shifted at the fear in his voice. No one’s voice shook like that unless they knew they were about to reveal something unredeemable.“This morning, I went there when you were working, HJ.” He groaned at his own story, as if he was disappointed in his actions. “I shouldn’t have been seeing her. You know how she was though? How she looked at you with those big doe eyes, huh?” Was.I attempted to rise from my chair, but Dallas held me down, a hand on my shoulder. “You’re ly
WinonaDid I look at Jimmy with love or pity?Sympathy or hate? Could I feel both in that moment?My body heaved at the thought of him on the floor, writhing in pain. Or maybe it washeaving up the idea that I would never have to share a bed with him again.Would I have taken him to the hospital had I been given the chance? Or better yet, had it been me, would my boyfriend have driven me there?The answer to that last one was a resounding no.I needed to remember that, remember my place.One flimsy door separated me from a roomful of men who would put a bullet through my head in an instant. And I stood in a hallway of cement walls and dim lighting with the man who had just stabbed my boyfriend numerous times. I was ready for fear to whip through me, make me shake in terror. HJ stood a whole head taller than me, and his shoulders were wider than I remembered. He was bigger, more muscular, more everything than I remembered. Tattoos wove over his neck and arms like they wanted to wrap hi