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“I love your wicked side.” He whispers in my ear for only me to hear, and I have to stop myself from gasping as my mind blanks.
Nobody has ever said they love anything about me and been genuine other than the girls, not since Ashlynn. And while he might not be professing his love like people do in romance movies, he just used that word and used it in relation to the worst part of me. I turn to look up at him to ensure I’m not imagining this. But, nope, there he is with a shit-eating grin as he looks at Spencer, whose body language is still stiff.
He looks down at me after a moment, and his smile loses some of its usual homicidal edge. He brushes a hair out of my face before he rests his forehead on my own. “Don’t look so surprised, Doll. Your crazy is one of my favorite things about you.” He says with a wink before he sits back like that is no big deal and just enjoys the ride.
But it is a big deal, and I'm pretty sure my heart just missed a few beats, and I’m dying because I’m not sure what's going on in my chest right now, but it feels like it could explode.
I push the weird feelings aside for now and sit back in his arms. I'm not sure what to make of them, but I know now isn’t the time to worry about it. We're going to see Charlotte, and she deserves my full attention. I can come back to this later or not.
We make it to the restaurant pretty quickly, it’s somewhere I’ve never heard of, but that’s not surprising.
We park around back, and the guys use the back entrance that says staff only. They don’t seem concerned, so I follow their lead. We head down a hall that leads out into the main dining room, I look around to find it’s not all that busy. I don't even make it all the way into the room before I’m almost knocked off my feet. Charlotte's tiny body slams into me as her arms snake around my body to squeeze me with much more force than I thought possible for someone her size.
Zander catches me and helps me steady myself from his place behind me, but I don’t even think about it before I drop to my knees and scoop her up into my arms.
Fuck, I missed her.
I’m not sure how long we hold each other, but as time ticks by, I’m more and more aware that we are in a very public place and probably drawing some attention.
I pull back and quickly wipe away the few tears I felt escape from the overwhelming feeling of seeing her again. Charlotte looks up at me, and I’m not surprised to see tears running down her face too. I wipe hers away as well as she smiles up at me.
“I missed you, Jade.” She tells me, her voice breaking as she talks through her tears.
I push her hair back out of her face, where it fell when she barrelled into me. “I missed you too, Charlotte.” I tell her.
I pull myself off the ground, and she releases her hold on my waist for a moment before she grabs my hand and drags me along with her. I glance back at Zander, and he gives me a nod as he walks a few steps behind us.
It’s not till we get to the table that I realize Roderick and Spencer had already made their way here, sitting with the Thompsons, who I remember meeting when they came to the station to pick Charlotte up.
Mrs. Thompson wipes her eyes as she watches us approach the table, and I fight the urge to duck my head in embarrassment. She no doubt saw that very public display of weakness, just like everyone else.
We make it to the table, and I attempt to stop assuming we will be sitting together, but Charlotte continues pulling me right past them, and I find myself following her without question.
We end up at a smaller table against the far wall, about three tables over from her foster parents and the guys. Charlotte drops my hand before sitting, and I follow her lead, dropping into the chair across from her.
The moment I’m in the chair, Charlotte starts talking. She tells me everything I've missed while we’ve been separated, and I can’t help but eat up every word and detail she gives me.
She looks so happy, and while she goes on and on about her room, the stuff she has, and how great her foster parents are, I take a moment to look at her.
Her hair is down and curly. It looks healthier than I have ever seen it. I would often braid it back to keep it out of her face, but now that she's being taken care of, the curls are soft and springy instead of an unruly knotted mess full of frizz.
Her cheeks have filled out, and she no longer looks quite so thin. She’s probably not one hundred percent yet, but the change is very noticeable to me after almost a year of seeing her all but wasting away. She’s in an adorable little sundress that has rainbows all over it. It fits her personality so well that I can’t help but smile. She’s always loved all the bright colors and magical things. When she had a nightmare or trouble sleeping, I would tell her stories about rainbows and unicorns and all the magical things to calm her down.
But the one thing I can’t get over is how happy she looks.
Freedom suits her so well, and I have to fight against the lump in my throat as I remember all the shit she had to deal with, everything I couldn’t save this innocent child from.
“Jade?” Her voice startles me out of my thoughts, and I realize I zoned out for a minute there.
“I’m sorry, Char. What did you say?”
She smiles at me before she shakes her head as if I’m the child, and it almost makes me laugh. She always was more mature than her years.
“I was telling you that your hair is amazing.” She tells me. I reach my hand up to play with a few strands that lay over my shoulder before giving her a small smile.
“Thanks, I really like it too.” I say simply because I still don’t know how to respond to compliments, not even from her.
“When I get older, I want my hair colorful. I’m going to ask Mrs. Sandra and see how old I have to be.” She says right before a waiter comes up to us.
