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“It is a lot. And smart of him to spread it out.”
Val huffs. “Funny, my mom didn’t agree. She wanted seventy-five in a check written to her, right then and there. King told her it didn’t work that way. And that the money belonged to me, not her, and she had no say or access to it. He told me that he set up an account for me at a bank my mom wasn’t a customer of, and since I was over eighteen, she couldn’t access it.”
“Smart man.”
“He was nice to me.” Sadness fills her voice. “He gave me his phone number and told me to tell him when I got into college and that he’d arrange the tuition payments, just like he’d done for high school. And he did.”
“You say that, but why does it feel like hewasn’tnice to you?”
Val shakes her head. “He was. I think he knew how shitty my mom was and felt bad for me. We weren’t, like, friends or anything, but he never seemed bothered by my existence.”
I grind my teeth. “Angel.”
“I just mean that he didn’t actively hate me. Like our moms did.”
I close my eyes. “Jesus.”
This poor fucking girl. Not being actively hated is her gauge for niceness.
Val had nothing to do with her shitty parents’ actions, and yet all the adults that should’ve been protecting her put the blame on her tiny shoulders.
“I got into a college in the Twin Cities and found an on-campus job for the summer that would allow me to move into a dorm early.”
I slide my eyes open to look at her profile. “My smart girl.”
“It felt really good to finally feel safe.”
Fucking fuck me.
Needing her closer, I push my hand through her grip and hook my arm around her waist.
Valentine rolls to face me, and I pull her into my body, slipping my other arm between her and the mattress.
Her hands are between our chests, her little fists pressing against my bare skin over my heart.
I want to rip her childhood apart.
But I can’t, so I just tuck her head under my chin and wrap both arms around her in a hug, keeping her where she is. “You’ll always be safe with me,” I promise her.
“I know,” she breathes. And her acceptance settles inside me.
“Did she leave you alone once you moved?” I have a sense of dread for what must still be coming.
“Mostly. The month after I moved out, she met a guy and followed him to Florida. I think she lived with him for a while because I didn’t hear from her for a few months.” Tension builds in Val’s shoulders. “King reached out at the start of the school year. He’d seen I’d taken a summer course while I was working. Told me I did a good job. And then reminded me that I’d be getting my first payout in a couple months. As though I could forget.” She scoffs. “He told me not to spend it all at once. And when I told him I was thinking about getting a car, he said to send what I was looking at to him first. It felt a little overbearing at the time, since no one had ever been that involved before, but I was grateful to have someone to help me. It’s not like I knew what I was doing.”
“Did you buy a car?” I try to picture what nineteen-year-old Valentine would buy. Something practical, I’m sure.
But Val shakes her head. “My mom called me on my birthday and asked me to come visit her in Florida.” A rumble of anger vibrates my chest, and Val flattens her hand against me. “I thought the worst, too, at first. But she never mentioned the money. And I wanted… It was so dumb, but I just wanted to believe she wasn’t awful. So I told her when the semester was over, I’d visit.”
I hug her a little harder, my own throat starting to itch.
“That was the first thing I spent any of the money on. A plane ticket to see my mom.”
Val is quiet for a long moment.
“What happened?” I ask against her hair.
“We got into a huge fight. The guy she’d followed down there ditched her, and she said she needed some money to get by. And I told her no. I told her no because I was hurt. I wanted her to want me around, but she only asked me to visit because she wanted my money.”
