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Trying to push down all my anger for the things she’d faced in this place, I choked out, “You’re my lucky Penny.” I leaned in, kissing her forehead. “With you by my side, we can survive anything.
“It’s you and me, Penny. You and me, forever.”
* * *
I followed Gabriel into the house. We were too busy laughing and joking about last period that I didn’t notice Derek standing at the bottom of the staircase.
“Yo, Derek,” Gabriel said in an indifferent tone as he walked straight past him into the kitchen.
My good mood disappeared, and I locked eyes with Derek refusing to back down. He straightened and said, “Keep walking, boy,” as his evil smirk spread wider.
My fists clenched at my sides, and I had to bite down on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying something I would regret.
It was always the same. Derek would catch me off guard, and I’d struggle to rein in my temper. But the asshole had me right where he wanted me. If I went after him, he would kick me out, and he knew I would never risk leaving Penny behind. Deep down, I think that’s why he went after her in the first place because he knew I liked her. In some sick and twisted way, he was jealous of our bond.
The first time I had caught Derek jerking off in Penny’s room, I thought he had hurt her… or worse. Penny explained everything to me, but it didn’t make me feel any better. The sick fuck had laid down with her on the bed, unzipped his pants, and jacked off while Penny lay paralyzed next to him. He didn’t talk to her or make her touch him; he just got himself off while stroking her skin and then left.
Penny begged me not to do anything; I was one second away from rushing out of the room and pounding my fists into his face. But then she dropped a bombshell. Derek had threatened her with splitting us up. If either of us said a word to anyone, he would make sure we never saw each other again.
For the first few months, I was so full of anger and darkness that I pulled away from everyone. Even Penny, to some extent.
Every time I crossed paths with Derek, I saw red, and it took everything in me not to confront him. It was even worse on the nights he crept into Penny’s room. I would lie down the hall listening for the creak of the door, and the sound of her muffled cries, plotting ways to end him. To ruin his life the way he’d ruined ours.
But after a while, the cries stopped. When I asked Penny what had changed, she simply said, ‘I won’t let him break me.’
That was the day I knew I had to be strong for us as well.
Derek never returned to her room after that.
It wasn’t until Jessica aged out, and Penny moved into the bigger room with Amy and Mia that I slept easier, knowing she was in a room with two other girls. Of course, part of me wondered if Derek had done the same thing to any of the others. He had always leered at Jessica, and I’d overheard him talking about Amy before. She was always so mean and yet eager to please Derek that it crossed my mind more than once.
But what was I supposed to do?
Derek and Marie had been fostering for years; in the eyes of the state, they had a clean record and ran a good home. No social worker would listen to the likes of me, the hot-tempered kid from the drug-dealer father and junkie mother.
With Penny off-limits, Derek came down on me harder. Assigned me extra chores, grounded me for even looking at him wrong, and he even cornered me a couple of times and left me with bruised ribs. But I took everything he had to give and then some.
When he bolted down the window in the downstairs bathroom and stayed up extra late to make sure we couldn’t sneak out, we found new ways to spend time together. Stolen kisses during our lunch break or a brush of our hands while sitting in the den. Plus, we always had Sundays out by the lake while Marie dragged Derek to the Golden Corral.
Last night had been a one-off; Marie had dragged Derek to some convention in town. The second they were out of the driveway, Penny and I had escaped to No Man’s Land. It was there I’d looked Penny in the eyes and told her we could survive another eighteen months here. I only hoped I was right because Penny was the only good thing in my life. She was all I needed.
My lucky Penny.
I couldn’t lose her.
* * *
The next few weeks passed uneventfully. It was officially the summer, which meant our birthdays were finally in sight. I turned seventeen first on September first, and Penny followed on September fifteenth. In just three more months, we would only have twelve months left.
Fifty-two weeks before we walked away from Derek and Marie and their stupid fucking rules.
Three hundred and sixty-five days until we were free.
Things were good—as good as they could be in our situation. I caught Derek leering at Penny occasionally, and he still went out of his way to make my life hell, but Marie was having some health concerns that diverted a lot of his attention.
“So, what do you want for your birthday?” I whispered to Penny as we walked back from the store with the others. She batted me away.
I didn’t give a fuck if the others saw us like this—up close and personal—because they all knew about us anyway. But Penny was a private person, and she didn’t like to flaunt our relationship in front of them.
