She rolls her head to look at me. “I have missed you.”
I smile, still struggling to catch my breath. “I missed you too.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Jenny
“I’m going to send Jackson and your mom a text. Just to let them know where you are. I’ll tell them you were tired and went to bed, and that I’m hitting the hay too,” Raffe tells me.
“I hate lying to them.”
“Would you rather me tell them the truth?” He laughs lightly.
I walk over to the window and sit down. Everyone looks like they’re having a good time. Raffe sits on the bed, his fingers flying over his phone screen.
Jackson looks at his phone and then up at my window. I give him a small wave. He taps two fingers over his chest. A quirk he picked up from his dad.
He smiles at me and then goes back to talking with his friends.
Before I close the curtains, I notice Dirk staring up at me. He gives me a thumbs up, and I chuckle. Mission accomplished.
When I turn around, Raffe is waiting for me by the bathroom door. I rush over to the dresser and begin going through it, looking for something to put on after my … our shower.
I’m slamming things around because I’m suddenly feeling flustered. Everything is unfamiliar. This is almost how I felt when I was trafficked. Nothing they gave me ever felt like my own. It wasn’t until Rachel helped me get away that things started to slowly feel familiar. Like they really belonged to me.
Raffe’s hands wrap around mine, stopping me. “You’re not going to need anything to put on,” he reminds me softly. He winds his arms around me and rocks us back and forth. “Let’s just take a shower and see where it goes from there.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just …”
“Nervous, overwhelmed, scared?” He brushes my hair from my face. “I’m all of those things too.”
“But I haven’t been with anyone in so long, Raffe.”
“It's been a few years for me too, but none of that matters. Right now, it’s just you and me, and a warm shower that is calling our names.”
“A shower does sound nice.”
“Good.” He takes my hand and leads me into the bathroom. He turns the water on, and I stare at myself in the mirror. “I … I haven’t shaved or anything, Raffe. This is embarrassing.”
“I haven’t shaved either,” he teases. “Besides, I’m not afraid of a little body hair.”
“The boys at school were making fun of her,” Raffe tells my mother as I cry at the kitchen table.
“Oh honey, why were they making fun of you?” she asks, making Raffe and me a cup of hot cocoa.
I’m crying so much I can’t even tell her.
“They were calling her Sasquatch because she has hairy legs.”
She sits down at the table, handing Raffe his cup. “Jenny, everyone has body hair. Those boys were just being mean.”
I look at her, tears streaming down my face. “All the other girls in my class shave their legs, Mama. I’m the only girl who doesn’t.”
My mama sighs because she knows my daddy will have none of it. He thinks I’m still a baby.
Raffe leans back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. “They won’t be teasing her no more. I made sure of it.”
Mama’s gaze roams over the scrapes on his knuckles. I don’t know what she thinks of Raffe beating up those stupid boys for me, but she goes to the kitchen and slices him a big piece of her famous chocolate cake.
