Chapter One

 

Kyle

“Seven hundred and forty-two days.”

Emily’s hand squeezed mine, and I pulled her against my side without offering an explanation. It wasn’t necessary because she knew how long I’d been waiting to make her mine. We’d gotten in the habit of counting down the days over the last few months. It was hell, but I would have held on for another two years if that’s what it took because she was worth it. I’d felt drawn to Emily from the moment I laid eyes on her.

Her light brown hair had been tangled. Her pale green eyes full of sorrow. The deep purple bruises underneath them were a sharp contrast to her fair skin. She was tiny, only a couple inches over five feet. And so thin it looked like she hadn’t eaten in at least a week. But none of it took away from how pretty she was. Somehow it made her more attractive to me. She was so beautiful she made me want what I couldn’t have—my newest foster sister.

The lust was instant. For a seventeen-year-old guy, popping a boner over a hot girl was to be expected even if she was off-limits. Maybe especially because she was forbidden. But developing feelings for her came as a shock, and so did how quickly it happened.

The protectiveness came first. She was new to the system, which made her easy prey to those of us who’d been around for a while. I saw how the other boys looked at her and instead of ignoring it like I knew I should, I broke one of the cardinal rules. I got involved. I warned those fuckers away from her. Told them that if they laid a hand on her silky skin, they’d pay for it in blood. Not a single one of them wanted to cross me. At six foot and one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle, I could take any of them in a fair fight. They knew a brawl with me wouldn’t be fair—it’d be dirty and no holds barred. I’d had several bad placements before this group home, and my reputation was well-earned because I’d been forced to defend myself often back then.

The people who were in charge of the house we were staring up at weren’t like the others. They actually seemed to give a damn. They had rules they expected us to follow, but reasonable ones. The chores they assigned us were fair. They even gave us an allowance as long as we got them done. It was the unicorn of group homes—so rare none of us believed it existed until we found ourselves there.

But they didn’t tolerate any violence. When I’d decided this was as good a place as any to spend the last few years before I aged out of the system, I’d promised myself I’d keep my temper in check and wouldn’t get into any fights unless I was forced into it. Unless it was over something important. That I didn’t hesitate to threaten bodily harm and risked getting kicked out over Emily’s safety was my first clue what she’d come to mean to me.

“Am I crazy for thinking I’m going to miss this place?” she asked me.

“Not at all,” I reassured her. “It was your home for two years.”

“And what about you? Will you miss it, too? You lived here longer than me.”

“Maybe in some ways since they were good to me here.” I released her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “But I sure as shit won’t miss the way they kept us apart from each other.”

The house was set-up for eight foster kids. Four boys and four girls. There were three other houses on the property, with enough space for a total of thirty-two kids. It was run by a church organization, and each house had a married couple who supervised the home they lived in. They were strict about interactions between boys and girls, with our rooms down separate hallways that were alarmed at night in case we tried to sneak into each other’s rooms. At first, I’d watched over her from afar. Until I’d come across her crying in the backyard.

The sound of her sobs and sight of her tears ripped my heart out of my chest. I’d seen plenty of other foster kids cry before, but it was different with Emily. It was as though I felt her pain like it was my own. I couldn’t have left her there by herself. Not like that. So I dropped down on the ground next to her and tugged her head against my chest. We sat there together until her tears dried up. When she pulled out of my embrace, I tightened my hands into fists to stop myself from yanking her back. Then she offered me a watery smile.

It was the first time I’d seen her smile, and I wanted more. One without the tears. With her eyes filled with happiness. Or even better, to hear her laughter. It hit me in that moment that I wanted anything and everything Emily was willing to give me. I wanted it all. But it wasn’t possible back then. Not when the risks were too high. A relationship between us would have put our placement in jeopardy. If it were discovered, we’d be placed elsewhere. Kept apart from each other, with no guarantee we’d be able to stay in touch since cell phones were prohibited in some places and closely monitored in others.

Emily snaked her arm around my waist and rose up on her toes. Her other hand came up and tugged on the back of my neck. When my head bent low, the lids drifted down on her pretty green eyes. My mouth crashed against hers, my tongue tracing the seam of her lips until they parted. This wasn’t our first kiss. We’d had tiny ones before; rushed through because we were afraid of getting caught. Quick pecks that were over almost before they started. But this one didn’t need to be hurried, and I took full advantage of it.

As I deepened the kiss, her fingers slid up to tangle in my hair. Our tongues twisted together, and my teeth nipped at her lips. She whimpered in protest when I finally pulled away, and I dropped another hard but quick kiss against her lips. “Stop tempting me.”

“I can’t help it,” she giggled. “Not now that there’s nobody to tell us we can’t be together.”

On that fateful day we met, Emily had been barely sixteen with two more years in foster care. I was eleven months older, but there was no way in hell I was going to leave her in foster care alone when I turned eighteen. Leaving the group home would have meant we could be a couple, but Emily’s free time was so limited I’d barely be able to see her. Instead, I took advantage of the state’s extended care program to stay in the group home with her. I’d found a job stocking shelves at a local pet food store during the same hours she was at school. It’d allowed me to earn some money for our future. Not a ton since they paid me minimum wage, but with my expenses so low I’d been able to put most of it away.

More importantly, it’d kept me close to her. Just not close enough to touch. Or kiss. And definitely not close enough to fuck.

I’d lived with a perpetual case of blue balls for more than two years. Jacked off in the shower daily. Built up a mental list of all the things I wanted to do to my girl once we were free to be together. And that day had finally come.

Maybe not quite the way I’d first thought since we were moving into the dorms instead of an apartment together, but college was important to my girl. And what Emily wanted, she was going to get. It was my job to make sure of it.