Chapter Fourteen
That evening, after an afternoon spent lazing by the gorgeous white-walled, enclosed yard that housed the kidney-shaped pool and reminded Kayla of photos of a Greek Island hotel, Kayla and Charli scrounged for food in the kitchen.
Earlier, Charli had slept in the shade of the royal blue umbrella, catching up on a well-earned rest, while Kayla played on her new burner phone. With implicit instructions not to search for her old friends or contact them in any way, she resisted temptation.
How she’d have loved to send selfies with the pool in the background, an unmistakable finger to those bitches who thrived on meanness. Instead, she’d watched her new protector rest easy. Even if she was young, anyone who cared could see that Charli needed to relax.
Kayla would stay quiet and give her space so she could rejuvenate and not be sorry for taking on her safety. In her book, Charli was aces. Alicia, Kayla, whoever they wanted her to be, needed her.
Chuckling to herself about the instructions that she contact no one in her past, she pushed away the sad. Like she cared about anyone enough to bother? She had no problem following those instructions. Not only her safety depended on her behaving, but Charli had put her life on the line, and that mattered.
She’d never met anyone like Charli before. A woman who wore a hard shell for the world yet had lowered the screen to let Kayla inside her boundaries.
Kayla knew that nowadays many women played major roles in society, that they held positions of power and were respected by their peers. But in her experience, most of the females she’d encountered had been losers, blamed by their men for all the wrongs in the world.
As far back as she could remember, not one person, man or woman, had shown her any real kindness, other than an occasional social worker, and it was their job. She was just another kid on their long list of orphans, a responsibility… a chore.
The last worker, a motherly-type, had begged her to behave, to kick in and play the role she’d been given. Get her diploma so she could leave the system with something to benefit her – an education.
Those words had made sense in a time when nothing else had. She’d started to act out, make stupid choices, hang out with a gang destined to be in jail before their twentieth birthdays.
But Mrs. Hashill had talked with her, not down to her, gave her a dose of harsh reality. She’d made sense, words Kayla had needed to hear at that exact moment in time.
“Alicia, honey, listen to me. Hear what I’m telling you. I’m not sugar-coating it any longer – the time for that is long past. Instead, I’ll tell you exactly what my husband told my son before he finally saw the light. No one truly gives a fuck about you. You understand?”
Hearing these words from the mouth of the middle-aged, motherly type got her attention.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Don’t “yes, ma’am” me, child. Most people only care about themselves. You don’t even show up on their give-a-shit radar, unless you’ve got something they want.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t, girl. You’re still pissed because you think the world owes you a good life, and you’ve been short-changed.”
Unable to lie, Alicia had nodded.
“What you haven’t figured out yet is this. Everyone is too busy worrying about their own shit. But, there is one person who truly cares and can do something about the mess you’re in. You know who that is?”
Still feeling sorry for herself, tears escaping that she couldn’t stop, Alicia shook her head. “No.” The word came out low and with a sniffle.
“You. And if you’re the only one you can depend on, then you better step up.Youneed to take over, be in charge, rather than let life play you. No matter what your circumstances, work the game in your favor. Get that education. You’re smarter than most, Alicia, we both know it and that makes you lucky. You can be anything you want to be, because you do have choices.”
Paying attention, she’d laid awake all that night replaying the words that made a wacky kind of sense. No one else gave a fuck, so she’d better start. From then on, she’d kicked in and brought her grades up. That had been the easy part.
Not making any waves, keeping her mouth shut… not so much. Living with the Whites had been a huge challenge. Thankfully, she’d had Buddy, who’d been the best part of that life. Over time, realizing she’d taken control, she’d begun to feel good about herself.
Until a sicko killer had shot holes through her chances, right in the forehead of a beautiful stranger. For a short while, she’d been in such despair, she’d thought again about ending everything, giving up completely.
Thankfully, she backed down, because now she had Charli in her life. Every time she thought about the Special Agent, how she’d jumped in to protect a stranger, how she accepted the role of babysitter for a teenager who had nothing, and how she’d hugged Kayla so gently, tears surfaced and Kayla dreamed.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a real sister like Charli, one to live with and be a part of her life? Someone who did give a fuck… really cared if she lived or died.
Someoneshecould love.
***
“The man keeps a nice house, but he certainly doesn’t eat here very often. There’s no real food here.” Charli came out of the pantry with a package of noodles and a can of tomato sauce. “I guess I can rustle us up some spaghetti. So you won’t be disappointed, Kayla, I suck at cooking. Gramps used to look after that part of our lives. He taught me how to cook a few meals, but I wasn’t much interested.”