“Okay.” He frowned. “But why is she here?”
“Because she needed a friend, and she looked sad and lonely on her porch.”
Birdie sucked in a sharp breath, flicking her eyes to mine as she hovered behind me. Zane’s eyes narrowed again. Zane didn’t like outsiders; he didn’t really like people. Sure, he liked me and Kye and his gran. But Birdie wasn’t a threat. She was too small and fragile for that. He only had to look at her, with those big green eyes and the way she stood huddled in on herself to see that she was scared.
And if she was scared, that meant she needed someone to protect her.
“I don’t know, Nix. You know my gran doesn’t like strangers.”
Code for: I don’t like strangers.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t leave her there, Z. She was so… sad.”
“Uh, fine. But remember she’s a girl, Nix. And my gran says you can’t never trust a girl.”
My dad said something similar.
I glanced back at Birdie, and she flashed me a small smile. Surely, she couldn’t cause that much trouble.
I decided right there and then. Birdie was sad and lonely, and something told me she didn’t have many friends.
But I could be her friend.
I could protect her.