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Her voice is growing progressively louder as I stand stunned silent. What does she mean leaving her with them? We were told she followed me the night I was arrested and never came home.
Seven years earlier
“FREEZE!Everybody stop and put your hands in the air where we can see them! If you have weapons, drop them now. I won’t ask again!”
Bruised and bloody, all twelve of us do as the pissed-off looking cop says, turning around slowly with our hands in the air.
“Officer…” Rook, ever the calm and collected leader of our friend group, begins to speak, only to be cut off by a new cop.
“Save it, Beaumont. Your parents are already down at the station and demanding to see you and mister Abbott right away,” the man says, rolling his eyes.
I startle at the mention of my name. “M-me? Why do they want to see me? I need to get home before my foster parents… get worried.” I stumble over my words before trailing off, not wanting to reveal that I need to get home before they realize I snuck out and take it out on Blake.
“I don’t get paid to know the answers, kid. Let’s go, I’m not gonna cuff you as long as you cooperate, got it?”
Nodding, I step into the back of the police car for what isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last time, squished next to Rook with Achilles sliding in behind me. There wasn’t any big fanfare arriving at the station. Rook’s parents aren’t exactly the reactive type. We’re led to what looks like a small meeting room at the very back of the precinct, away from the other officers and people in the lobby.
As soon as the door closes behind us, Amy, his mom, wraps us both up in tight hugs, making me stiffen up immediately. Don’t get me wrong, I love Amy, but I’m not used to physical contact unless it’s from my Shortcake. I hope she’s okay at the house.
Connor, one of Rook’s three dads, clears his throat. “Boys, we need to talk to both of you. Will y’all sit down, please?”
Rook and I look at each other and I can tell he’s as confused as I am, so I shrug. We both move to sit at the table across from his parents and some guy who looks like he might be a lawyer, and I straighten my shoulders, prepared for the worst.
Spencer, another of the dads, pats me on the back and says, “Hades, with your permission, Amy, myself, Connor, and Aaron would like to adopt you.”
My jaw drops open as I stare at them, waiting for someone to start laughing and tell me this is a joke. But the room stays silent, and they all look at me, waiting for an answer I can’t give them.
“You… want to adopt me? I mean… I can’t. I can’t leave. I’m sorry,” I say, hanging my head in shame. These people have been nothing but kind to me and here I am, rejecting them. Just like my mom did to me. But I know I can’t leave Blake alone in that house with those horrible people.
Aaron chuckles, shocking the heck out of me. I whip my head around to stare at him with wide eyes.
He smirks. “What? Did you really think we would adopt you and not figure out a way to get Blake out, too? D, we knew you wouldn’t leave without her after hearing you talk about nothing else every time we saw you. Our best friends, the Underwoods, were never blessed with children of their own. When we told them our plans to adopt you and mentioned we wanted to find a way to bring Blake along, they offered to adopt her, given that she’s open to that.”
I can feel tears forming in my eyes and for the first time in six years, I let them fall. Amy immediately jumps out of her chair and crouches down in front of me to pull me into a hug, and this time, I sink into the comfort it brings.
Quiet enough that only Amy can hear, I whisper, “You really found a home for Blake too? You aren’t going to make me leave her?”
Pulling back and cupping my cheek in one of her small hands, she smiles at me softly. “Oh, sweet boy. No. If this girl means so much to you that you’re willing to give up being adopted just to stay with her, she must be pretty darn special. That’sthekind of girl we want to know, and the kind we want around our boys. Hades, if you love Blake, we do too because we love you. Will you let us adopt you and make you a Beaumont?”
Looking back at Rook to see how he feels, I see him with his hands held up in the prayer position, with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen him give on his face.
“Please,pleasebe my brother. I havefourolder sisters, dude. I’m literally begging you to save me.”
Looking around the room, I see everybody with huge smiles on their faces; the dads hiding laughs in their fists at Rook’s begging. Even the lawyer is smiling as he pulls a thick stack of papers out of his briefcase.
Sucking in a deep breath and wiping the last few tears away, I smile back. “Okay.”
We stayed at the Beaumonts’ hotel suite across town last night because I legally couldn’t be returned to Phil and Dianne’s. Something about having the paperwork expedited and special permission to remove Blake and I from an unsafe environment. We couldn’t go get her last night because the Underwoods didn’t get in until this morning to sign the paperwork for legal guardianship.
Pulling up outside the house I’ll never have to see again, I’m practically vibrating in my seat. Hopping out before we’re even in park. Spencer puts his hand on my shoulder, pulling me back before I can run to the door.
“Let the police officer serve the papers first, okay? We don’t know how they’ll react to having their license suspended pending investigation, and I don’t want you in the crossfire,” he murmurs in my ear.
I know he’s right, but I’m so eager to get to Blake I can barely stand still.
Dianne finally answers the door, and she looks awful. There’s a huge bruise forming on her cheek and she’s crying, and when the officer begins to speak with her, she cries harder. I look on warily as the officer calls the lawyer over, and then another two officers join them. I don’t know what’s going on, but I have an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I think I might be sick.
One officer and the lawyer walk over to Amy, Aaron, and Connor. Connor looks back, nodding to Spencer to join them. He turns back around to face me, asking me to stay where I am, and walks over to join the others. Amy is crying, and I’m starting to panic, that sick feeling growing with every passing second. Deciding I can’t wait any longer, I take off at a sprint into the house and up the stairs to our room, but Blake isn’t here.
