“I’ve been here two months and it’s nothing like the foster home I was in before,” I said. I told him about the way Nancy Spaulding liked to slap and shout and how we never got enough to eat and about the box, where you could be sent if you weren’t careful.
“Oh, darlin’—I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Nick murmured, reaching out to squeeze my hand. Even back then he was older than his years, offering me comfort, though he was in the same terrible position I was.
I shrugged, trying to be as stoic as he was about the foster situation.
“It’s all right—I just do my best not to make them mad now. It’s just…it makes me miss the foster mother I had before I was here. And it makes me miss my parents too, my mom and dad…”
I couldn’t be stoic anymore. Tears were welling in my eyes as I spoke. Without a word, Nick gathered me to him and let me cry. Even as a teenager, he had an unusual depth of empathy. I remember feeling so safe in his arms—safer than I had in years.
At last my sobs turned into sniffles.
“S-sorry,” I managed to get out.
“It’s all right, Kira,” he murmured, stroking my hair. “It’s all right—I know it hurts. I miss my dad and mom, too. But you’re not alone anymore and you’ll never be alone again.”
I looked up at him with wet, distrustful eyes.
“You can’t promise me that! You don’t know what’s going to happen—CPS might move you tomorrow!”
“No they won’t,” Nick said with certainty. “I’ll be sure the Spauldings are happy with me—I’ll mow their crappy lawn and wash their shitty cars and smile while I do it. Then they won’t have any reason to send me away from you.”
“But what if they do?” I protested. “What if they try to send one of us away?”
“Then we’ll run away together,” Nick promised. “Look at me, Kira…” He lifted my chin so that we were staring into each other’s eyes in the dimness. “You and I—we’re the only family either one of us has left now,” he murmured to me. “I’m your big brother and you’re my little sister. I’m gonna protect you and keep you safe from now on and we’re never going to be parted again. All right?”
I wanted so badly to trust him—to believe all the promises he was making me. Even back then his scent was warm and comforting as he held me close in his arms.
“All right,” I whispered, nuzzling closer to him. “All right, Nick—we’ll stick together from now on.”
“Yes, we will,” he whispered back. “Because family always sticks together. You’re my family now, Kira—the only family I have. And I’m going to protect you.”
THIRTEEN
Nick was as good as his word and not just at home—he kept me safe at Wolverton high as well, which I started for the first time that fall. Nick was already a sophomore the year I was a freshman, so he knew the ropes. Despite the fact that he was a foster kid, his easy, open attitude and classical features made him instantly likable. Teachers trusted him and the other kids looked up to him.
He had a certain charisma that’s hard to define or explain. Maybe it was coming from the Were side of his nature or maybe he was just naturally extroverted and extra charming—I didn’t know. What I did know was that I often benefited from his popularity because wherever Nick went, he took me with him.
He joined the football team and I joined the marching band—at his urging.
“This way we’ll get to be together, or at least in the same place,” he pointed out. “The band is at every football game, playing for the team.” So I became a piccolo player, even though I’d never had much interest in music before that.
I’m pretty sure the Spauldings would have liked to deny us permission to be in after school activities—after all, every minute we spent in school was a minute we weren’t working for them for free. But Nick sweet-talked Nancy Spaulding into it for both of us—he was good at that, even though we both despised her equally. Being in the foster system for so long had taught him how to get around people and get what he wanted. And of course, the fact that he was handsome and charming didn’t hurt.
So I basically lived in Nick’s shadow and I was grateful for it. I was never going to become head cheerleader or the captain of the debate team—I was too shy for any of that. But having Nick as my protective big brother did mitigate a lot of the teasing I would otherwise have gotten. Especially since my clothes and shoes were never very good quality and my hair needed a lot of help.