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“Fine.” I grit out before turning back to Madeline. “A lady is coming. Okay?”
“Mama?” Her eyes light up as she moves closer to me and peeks her tiny head out of the closet and tries to peer around my body. Her eyes dart to mine as if to say are you lying? Because I’m not amused.
Even as she’s blinked the majority of the tears from her eyes, her gaze pi
erces mine. They’re so young and innocent. It feels like there’s a vice grip around my heart as I think about her going into the system. Her growing up without her parents—well a mother…because fuck her dad. But her mama. The mama she so desperately loves. “Mama!” She screams, her eyes shut and I wince at the ear-splitting volume of her wail.
“Maddie… sweetheart… please don’t cry.” I reach out for her slowly and she flinches but she lets me slowly rub her back just as Aria appears in the doorway.
Objectively, Aria was a knockout with green eyes, dirty blonde hair, and curves that stop men on the street in hopes that she is just celebrating Halloween early, parading around in a uniform that is just a touch too tight. Aria is that hot girl cop fantasy that probably every man and a few women have had when they come into contact with her.
Except me.
Not only is Aria a royal pain in my ass who consistently acts like she’s my mother, but she’s been dating my brother for the past few months, and it seems that they are pretty into each other.
“Oh, you are so sweet.” I hear her soft voice float into the room and then she’s kneeling next to me in front of Madeline. “What’s your name?”
Her eyebrows furrow slightly and flit to me. She shakes her head before planting her lips firmly together, a sign that I am not talking to you. “We are going to go downstairs now, okay? It’s time to leave. Do you want to ride in a police car? I’ll turn the siren on.” I smile at her, knowing that the bribe usually always worked for children.
“That’s bad,” she whispers. “The siren on is bad. And it’s loud,” she says as her eyes are trained on me. She puts her hands up and covers her ears.
“It’s not as bad when you’re in the car” I tell her, and I don’t know why I feel the need to argue with a traumatized seven year old.
“Is Mama coming too?” she asks, and she scurries back to the closet to grab her book and her bunny.
“No, sweetheart,” Aria answers and my neck snaps towards her. I shoot a glare at her as if to say why the fuck did you tell her that?
She shoots me one back as if to say I know what I’m doing.
As we have this engagement with our eyes, an ear shattering cry fills the room and my head darts over to Maddie, as she falls to her knees in a fit of sobs, her hands covering her face.
“See what you did,” I growl at Aria.
“She’s too old for me to lie to her face. I need her to trust me.”
“Well she hates you,” I growl at her.
“Oh stop,” she snaps at me before she goes to pick up the small hysterical child whose life, unbeknownst to her, was slowly changing with each passing second.
Maddie, however, is Not. Fucking. Having. It.
“GET AWAY!” She swings at Aria and scoots closer to me. “You are not my Mama!” she screams and before I even have a chance to shoot Aria a look what you did glance, Maddie has attached herself to me and wrapped herself around me as best as she could. Her arms and legs are wrapped around my right leg like ivy, with her cheek pressed against my shin. I pull her from me slightly and stand up so I can collect her in my arms properly.
“I need you to keep those eyes shut until I say, okay?”
She regards me warily, her eyes studying my face for any answers as to why I would be asking that.
“Why?” She asks.
“Please? And then if you’re a big girl, you can have…ice cream?” I’m not sure what I can really entice her with, but I was under the impression that most children could be persuaded to do just about anything for the promise of ice cream.
“I can’t have ice cream before dinner,” she says as she plays with my badge, her blue eyes staring transfixed by the shininess.
“We can break the rule just this once.”
“Okay, deal. Chocolate.” She gives me a smile before squeezing her eyes shut but opens one eye as best as she can. “Don’t forget my bunny and my book…please,” she adds before shutting her eyes again and placing her head on my shoulder.
“Of course,” I point at the items on the floor and nod at Aria before I head out of the door, a smug grin finding my face that for once Aria didn’t know what was best.
