Kandy let out a sympathetic sound and squeezed my hand tighter.
I continued. “When she got me to calm down, she took me to my room, and it took me a while to pull myself together. I was so mad that I didn’t even realize how distraught she was. I had to chill out, so I helped her wash up and find something else to wear. Buck was still on her floor, still cursing and threatening us, even though he was clearly fucked up. I remember when Lora walked by, she stared at him. I kept telling her to come with me, but she kept staring at him. Watching him. And then she went up to him and stomped on his balls.”
“Holy shit! Are you serious? Lora did that?”
I smiled, remembering the look on Buck’s face as she did it. “Yeah, she did. Apparently that wasn’t his first time touching her. He’d done it before, but Lora hid it from me. That day I made her promise to never hide shit like that from me again.” I released my fingers, showing Kandy my knuckles. “To us, RISE means to never fall. RISE means it’s okay to stumble and to be afraid, but to never back away from our fears. Instead, we face them. It means that if we get knocked down, we will get the fuck back up and face whatever is trying to ruin us. Of course we had more altercations with him growing up, but Buck damn sure didn’t touch Lora like he used to. After that happened, she grew a backbone. She decided she was done taking his shit and was standing her ground with him and Mama. That’s why she’s so fucking stubborn now.” I laughed, and Kandy laughed with me. “When Lora turned eighteen, I remember her calling and telling me she wanted to get her first tattoo. That’s when I got this one and she got hers. After she got her first one, it became an addiction, and she got a whole lot more, as you can plainly see. Same happened to me, though.” I grinned. “Lora is strong-willed and stubborn, but she has every reason to be. Our childhoods were awful. We had a mother who loved drugs and alcohol more than us, and an emotionally and physically abusive father who always swore we wouldn’t amount to anything. One of my missions in life was to prove him wrong, and I have…but now he’s trying to come for the company that I built from the ground up.”
“What’s going on with him anyway? Where is he?” she asked.
“He’s still in Georgia. He’s been there since he was released because he’s been on probation…but I know he’s planning something. It’s been a few months, but he’s not an idiot. He’s keeping quiet, but he’ll come once his probation hearing is done. It’s just a matter of time after that.”
“Oh.”
I exhaled, bringing her on top of me. Her hair curtained one side of her face, a soft smile on her lips.
“I want a tattoo too,” she said.
“Really?” I kissed her cheek. “Where would you get it?”
She pointed to the outside of her hand, near the edge of her pinky finger. “Right here. I want it to say RISE too.”
I smiled. “I can arrange that.”
She laid her head on my chest, and I kissed the top of it. I felt so much better after filling her in on the truth.
Before I knew it, we’d fallen asleep. Only us, beneath the milky moon, with the sounds of the city surrounding us.
Only us, just the way I liked it.
Chapter Twenty
KANDY
When I fell asleep, there was only the pale moon, but when I woke up, the yellow sun was beaming down on me through the window. I moaned and rolled over, reaching for Cane, but he wasn’t there. Startled by the realization, I sat up and looked around the room. He was nowhere in sight.
“Cane?” I called.
No answer.
I pushed out of bed, grabbing the T-shirt he’d worn last night and tugging it over my head. I tiptoed my way to the kitchenette, and that’s when I spotted the note on the counter.
Went to the lobby to make a call.
You were sleeping so peacefully, and I didn’t want to wake you. I’ll be back with breakfast.
I grinned while reading the note again. He would probably be a while. That being the case, I went to my suitcase, pulling out some clothes for the day. I took a shower, washed my hair, and when I came back out with my toothbrush hanging out of my mouth, I spotted Cane in the kitchen.
“Will French toast do?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“French toast sounds perfect. And it smells good,” I garbled out. I went back to the bathroom to finish up, got dressed, and then met him at the table.