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Making our way through the empty kitchen, we walk into the living room where my mom and some of the girls are sitting around. Lainey’s eyes light up as soon as we make it through the threshold. “Sasha!” she shrieks, running as best as she can toward the couch.
A petite blonde girl jumps up from her spot and runs toward Lainey. “Lainey!” she squeals. She grips Lainey in a tight hug, causing her to wince in pain.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I could see you were hurt just from looking at your face, but I got too excited... Are you alright?” Sasha freaks and pulls away, giving Lainey some space.
“It’s okay. Just a couple broken ribs, but they’re healing.” Lainey smiles at her friend and pulls her back in for another hug.
Sasha takes Lainey by the hand and tugs her over to sit on the couch and chat. The way Lainey’s face lights up makes my heart swell with so much love; the look in her eyes tells me that she’s finally at peace and happy.
That feeling is quickly ruined as I look around at the other girls in the room. So many of them look sad and lost. If I’d have done something sooner, they might not have been in this situation. I know that I could’ve prevented this. I’m part of the damn problem. Lainey says I’m not the devil, but that’s exactly how I feel looking at these girls.
“She looks happy.” My mom’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, she does.” I turn my attention to her. Her dark hair is pulled up on the top of her head, and she doesn’t have a lick of makeup on, but she’s still beautiful. She’s as pretty as I remember from my childhood. No wonder my father married her.
“They arrived at the house together and have been inseparable ever since. She got along with the other girls, but no one was as close as those two. Even though Sasha liked to pretend at first that she hated Lainey.”
I hate the thought of her being there, but it does bring some happiness to think at least she wasn’t alone. She had someone that loved her after she was taken away from her family. Someone to help her when I couldn’t.
“That’s really good. She deserves to have people that love her.”
My mom lets out a heavy, dreadful sigh. “He really did a number on her, didn’t he?” she asks in a trembling voice.
Her question causes me to wince internally. I don’t know how I’m ever going to look at Lainey without feeling so much guilt about what happened.
“Yeah… he did, but he got what he deserved.” I can’t help but wish he was still alive, so I could torture him more. Nothing I could’ve done to him would ever be enough to make up for what he did to her.
“You never told me exactly what happened.”
It’s my turn to let out a deep sigh. “I took care of him. That’s all you need to know.” Only Lainey and Zep know exactly what happened in that room. They’re the only ones who know my darkest side. I don’t regret what I did to him, which probably makes me sick. But I just got my mom back in my life; I don’t need her leaving again so soon once she sees the demons inside of me.
“You don’t have to tell me, but you know I’d never judge you, Greyson. You’re my son and I love you no matter what.” Her hand comes up to cup my cheek, as she looks at me with love in her eyes.
Deep down, I know that she wouldn’t judge me, but I’m just not ready. I’m not ready for her to see the monster my father turned me into.
“I know.” Wanting to change the subject, I turn my attention to the girls. “Have you found any of their families yet?”
“A couple. Four girls went home yesterday. Not entirely sure how they're going to explain suddenly coming back, without their families wanting to go to the authorities. But a lot of them still won’t talk about their families—I’m not sure whether they think this is a trap.” She shrugs.
The thought of them turning me in for being a part of my father’s operation has crossed my mind so many times. I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that if they do, I’ll deserve whatever I have coming to me.
“Just give them some time. They can stay as long as they want and I can get them whatever they need.”
“Thank you, Greyson. That’s really nice of you.”
It feels really weird to be classified as “nice.” I still have mixed feelings about my mom, but they’ve really evened out over the past couple of days. Deep down, I know that this was all my father’s fault. He was always a manipulative, skeezy asshole so it doesn’t surprise me that he lied about why she left.
I need to be a better man for myself—the one Lainey would want me to be, the type of man she deserves. “And you can, too… Stay as long as you’d like, I mean.”
Her eyes widen and fill with tears. She doesn’t say anything, she just crashes into me and wraps her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. I bring my hand to the back of her head, holding her close.
She untangles herself from me and wipes the tears from her cheek. “I love you. I want to get to know the man you’ve turned out to be,” she whispers through a smile.
She really doesn’t want to see the man I’ve become.
“We’ll get there,” I murmur, giving her a squeeze on her upper arm.
Our intimate conversation is broken up by commotion upstairs. It sounds like a couple girls having an argument.
