“Big bed for a little man.” She helped him hop in before unwinding the robe and tucking him into the warm blankets. He sighed softly and smiled when she kissed him on the forehead.
“He’s the sweetest,” she mouthed when she turned.
I locked her fingers with mine before leaning over and placing a kiss on the crown of his head. He was already breathing steadily, a small smile on his lips as he drifted to sleep.
“What a night.” I rubbed her shoulders as we walked out of the room, leaving the door cracked and crossing to the master.
“I’m glad we’re sleeping close to him,” she breathed, as I pulled her into my bed with me. She sighed, tracing circles along my forearms. “I’m worried he might have nightmares. So much chaos all the time could leave him in permanent fight or flight response. Kids with higher cortisol levels in stressful homes have more trouble with sleeping and bed-wetting. And…Elliot, well, when I was helping him out of the bath tonight, I saw at least a dozen marks on his arms. They looked like cigarette burns.”
She covered her lips, tears stinging her eyes instantly before they began dragging salty tracks down her cheeks. I held her as she trembled, head shaking, “I just can’t let him go back to that house, to that woman. Not over my dead body.”
“I won’t let that happen, Reese, you’ve got my word. I won’t let any kid go through the abuse I went through. I’d rather die than see that boy suffer a moment longer.” I slipped a piece of her silky hair through my fingers. “I won’t let that happen.”
She seemed to calm, breaths growing a little more even as our heartbeats synced. I ran calming circles up her arms as we lay in my bed, fully clothed and sitting in peaceful silence.
“I like your shirt,” she finally whispered, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
“What?” I hummed, rubbing her back.
“It’s not black. It stood out as soon as I saw you. You look good in something other than black, Sheriff. You should try new things more often.”
I laughed, “I’ve got enough new things in my life. What I could use is a lot more of you.”
I pressed our lips together in a hot kiss, searing and bruising and pushing past the barriers that’d stopped me before. I licked and nipped, pouring every frustrated moment we’d spent apart before now into that kiss.
“Don’t know what I did without you before now, Miss. Winters, and I never plan on finding out again.”
Chapter 10
Reese
As the weeks went by, Elliot, Bobby and I settled into being our own little family. We had dinner around Elliot’s small kitchen table, encouraging Bobby to eat his vegetables, which he always slowly tried to sneak to the dog. We’d all laugh when the dog rejected them as well, making Bobby feel vindicated. The best part was seeing my two men laugh and be so relaxed. I loved seeing Bobby climb all over Elliot, laughter and joy heard throughout the four walls of the cabin.
“Can I have ice cream first?” Bobby asked, sitting at the table, beaming up at me.
“Nope. You know the deal, buddy, vegetables for sweets,” I said, preparing his plate for him. I turned around to see him pouting. It was so hard not to crack when he looked at me like that. I kept wanting to give him everything he wanted in order to make up for the bad start he had in life. But I knew that wasn’t the best for him. Vegetables were what was best for him.
“Buddy, you need the broccoli and mushrooms. Those vitamins will make you big and strong. You want to be Hulk strong, don’t you?”
“If I eat them, will I be as big as Elliot? He’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“Yes, but only if you eat them,” Elliot said coming out of our bedroom. I looked at him, smiling, but his face wasn’t as joyful as it normally was. He tried to put on a fake smile but I knew it wasn’t genuine because it wasn’t in his eyes.
I walked over to Bobby, crouching down to be eye level with him.
“Hey, Buddy, I just need to talk to Elliot for a second.”
He nodded and smiled, petting Bruno on the head.
I walked over to Elliot, fisting a handful of his t-shirt in my hand and dragging him into our bedroom. I closed the door and stared at him.
“So, are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” I demanded, my hands at my hips.
“Anyone tell you how sexy you are, even when you’re pissed?” He said, trying to distract me.
“Cut the shit, Elliot. What’s going on?”
“Susan wants to see us. She asked if we’d come see her in rehab.”
“She doesn’t want Bobby to go there, does she? It’s not a place for him,” I said, backing away from Elliot and sitting on the edge of the bed. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to. I wanted to grab Bobby and hide him away here in the mountains forever. But I knew that no matter how much I hated it, Susan was still legally his mother, and she did have rights. She didn’t deserve them, but life was full of bad people getting things they didn’t deserve.