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I led her to a stone bench and dusted off the snow. I used this place for thinking and quiet time. With all the parties and roughhousing going on inside the compound, it was hard to find a place where no one else bothered you. I helped Januari sit and took up the rest of the bench beside her, straddling it so I could take in all of what made up Januari.
I kept her hand in mine, though. Hell if I knew why, but I had this insane need to touch her, and couldn’t stop.
“What do you want to know, Drake?” she asked, glancing my way.
“To hear you say my name again.”
“Drake Reed.” The smile lifting the edge of her mouth drew my eye.
For a long moment I did little more than stare into her eyes, memorizing every freckle. “How did a girl like you get here, sweetheart?” I asked gently. Last thing I wanted was to make her nervous with my booming voice. I brush her long black hair from her shoulder. Sunlight played over the dark strands and made some appear violet while others held the color of midnight.
“Your member recruited me from the nightclub.”
I rubbed the callused pad of my thumb over the backs of her knuckles which seemed to relax her. Her shoulders eased, and I took that as a sign she felt comfortable with me. “Yeah, but why? Where did he find you?”
“Well…” She swallowed hard, her throat working. “For a while I was living in the alley. Just a couple of nights. I guess that wasn’t really living. Then I got a bed in the shelter and then they found me a job with the nightclub. But I won’t be here long. I need to make it to Florida but I ran out of money and it’s not safe hitchhiking all that way?—”
I cut her off, suddenly tense. “You were on the streets, angel? Fucking hell,” I ground out. No wonder she was so good at handling her business. She’d had to fight to survive, and the thought wrenched me to the core.
She nodded, her delicate mouth pressed into a flat line. “Not for long though. I have a cousin in Florida. I just need to earn enough to get there.”
“Damn, baby. Why isn’t your cousin helping you get there?”
“She doesn’t exactly know I exist. I had a friend who let me crash on her couch back home. She worked at one of those DNA places. I asked her for a favor and she delivered Serenity’s name to me as a Christmas present.”
“Where are your parents? How long have you been on your own?”
“Two years now. My parents kicked me out.”
“For what?”
Her eyes dropped to our linked hand, but not before I caught the deep hurt flashing in her eyes. “They thought I was using drugs, but it wasn’t me. It was a friend. She hid them in my room so she didn’t have to take them home. One day my mom wanted to donate some old clothes to the goodwill.”
“And that’s when she found them.”
Januari nodded.
“Did your friend ever confess and tell your mom?”
She shook her head.
“Damn. That’s cold. And you didn’t say, did you?”
“I figured if they didn’t know me well enough to know I wouldn’t do drugs, then I was wasting my time being part of that family, so I made my own way.”
“How do you eat?”
“There are a few restaurants that give me the night’s leftovers most times after washing the dishes. But with the work at the nightclub they throw in a meal a day. That’s all I need.”
Fuck, I couldn’t stand hearing this. I enveloped her hand more completely in my grasp. “I didn’t want you to be involved with men like us here at the club, Januari.”
Her plump lips fell open on a harsh breath. “I can go. I understand?—”
“No, let me finish, angel.” I smoothed a thumb over the backs of her knuckles. “That was before I knew your story. Now I’m glad you’re here. Under my care and protection. You’ll never know a day of hunger again and there will never be a day when you are alone. Ever.” I shrugged out of my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “That sweater isn’t enough to keep you warm.”
She tucked into my jacket and I watched as she inhaled my scent. My cock went stiff and my balls drew up tight ready to finish the job of claiming her as mine.
Tears swam behind those blue eyes as she brought them to meet mine. So fucking heartbreaking that I had to swallow hard to keep from having a few tears slipping past my guard.
