Chapter Twenty-Four

Bailey

I sat on my brother’s grave, the cold of the snowy ground seeping through my jeans, but I didn’t care. Tonight, I had done something I never thought I would have to do ever again. The money in my pocket burned, making my stomach ill, but I refused to throw up on my brother’s grave. I had already done enough. I had unraveled everything he had worked hard to put together.

I rubbed my wrists, avoiding looking at the red marks where I had been tied up with a rope just a couple hours ago. What did it matter anyway? The important thing was that I was close to meeting my goal. I had found a house on Broad Street which was perfect for a family of three. The twins would have to share a room, but by the time they were adolescents, I would be able to afford something better. This was just to ensure my promise to my brother was kept.

“If we die, Bailey, we don’t want that mother of mine getting her talons into my kids. I want you to raise them like I done raised you up right. Will you do it?”

I swallowed hard. “That’s a huge responsibility, bro.”

“I know so this should tell you how much I trust you.”

“I’m sorry for letting you down,” I whispered, my lips stiff and chapped from the cold weather. I brushed my fingertips over the indentation of his name in the headstone. “I know I promised you she would not get them, and I’m doing everything I possibly can to get them back. And I’m sorry I promised you I would never be that boy you took off the streets, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“How do you want to do this?” I asked the man who entered the motel room with me. I reached for my belt, just wanting to get this over with and collect for the night so I could go to sleep and forget about the way I was surviving. If I wasn’t such a coward, I’d end it all, but that would only make Mother win. I was adamant that one day she would look at me and regret not giving a shit about me.

The man frowned at me, and I couldn’t help thinking there was something about him that looked familiar. I just couldn’t put my fingers on it. I was too tired to think hard about it too. I was already suffering from an achy jaw from offering three blowjobs for the night, and my ass wasn’t about to take more than one more dick tonight. I hoped Big Jim would be satisfied with the money I made tonight because he could get downright cruel if he thought we shortchanged him. I watched the way he would hit on the others, but he never hit me. He called me his ‘golden boy’ which I hated. He only treated me nice because I made him the most money out of all his boys. I wished I had the guts to run away from Big Jim too, but on these streets, it was best to be under somebody’s protection. It was better to be controlled by one person than be passed around like a yo-yo. At least with Big Jim, there was some order.

“Listen man, the clock’s ticking,” I remarked. “Are we doing this or should I get another bloke to take your place?”

“How old are you, kid?” he asked. “You don’t look old enough to be doing this for a living.”

I scoffed at him. “Just mind your business. I don’t got to talk to you. Just let you fuck me and that’s it. So what’s it gonna be? Your dick or somebody else’s?”

I was jerked forward so suddenly I startled. I was slapped on the mouth and that shit hurt so much I cried out. “I don’t want to hear these words out of your mouth again, do you hear me?” he asked.

“You can’t—”

He shook me hard. “I said, ‘do you hear me’?”

Not knowing who the hell this guy was, I nodded, afraid of the authoritative gleam in his eyes. He released me and gestured to my pants. “Now pull up your pants, buckle up and let’s get the hell out of here.”

My hands busied at the front of my pants to do exactly that. “Who are you?” I asked him.

He frowned at me. “My name’s David. David Lancaster, and I’m your half-brother. I’ve been searching the streets for you since I found out you existed.”

I gasped because the resemblance now made sense. All the time I thought he looked familiar, he just looked like me.

“My brother?” I gasped, awed. I would have doubted his words if my mother hadn’t hurled insults at me in the past that she wished she had given me up like my brother or better yet aborted me.

“Yes, my brother,” he answered. “You’re coming home to live with me, and make no mistake, Bailey. This will be the last time you’ll ever sell your body on the streets. I’ll make sure of that.”

“Bailey! Bailey!”

Drawn from the sweet dreams of the past, I tried to open my eyes, but my whole body felt frozen.

“Jesus Christ, Bailey! Open your eyes for me, sweetheart. Open your eyes.”

I felt the warmth of hands cupping my cheeks…familiar hands. No, it couldn’t be. Not now after everything. I forced my eyes open beyond the lethargy in my bones and was surprised to find night had fallen. It was still light out when I had crawled onto my brother’s grave, but there was nothing left of the daylight. I squinted my eyes at the light shining in my face, barely managing to make out Arthur’s frantic looking features from the gleam.

“Oh, thank god!” he exclaimed. “Thank god. I’ve been searching everywhere for you.”

“Ar-Arthur?” I mumbled his name past stiff lips before I was overcome by a fit of sneezing.

“Yes, I’m here.”

I started to cry when I confirmed it was really him. If he hated me for what I did seven years ago, how would he feel about what I had done for the past two nights?

“Don’t touch me!” My cry came out hoarse as I tried to push him away. “Please, don’t touch me. Just leave me alone.”

He cupped my face and knelt into the snow by me. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I’m sorry I let you down. I was stupid, so stupid. I should have never let you and the kids go, but please, let me help you. I can help you.”

“It’s too late,” I cried. “It’s already too late.”

“No, no it’s not.”

I pushed him off and sat up, wrapping my arms around my body which shook as the warmth started to spread through me again. My teeth chattered. “Arthur, if you didn’t w-w-want m-me b-before, you d-don’t want me n-n-now.”

His silence showed he understood all too well what I meant. I tucked my face in my hands so I didn’t have to look at him and see the disappointment on his face. What I felt were his arms wrapping around me, pulling me into his tight embrace.

“Oh Bailey, I let you down, didn’t I?” he asked, squeezing me hard against him. “I don’t care what you’ve been up to these past days. I happen to know you, Bailey Haughton, and if you went back there, you thought it was your only option. I’m not going to stop loving you for that.”

At his words, I clutched the front of his coat and buried my face against his chest. I never wanted to leave the warmth of his embrace. “I’ve been stubborn,” I whispered. “The only person I let all the way in was my brother. I thought I had to handle everything by myself, so I didn’t ask for help. I should have asked for help, but I was so afraid of being told no and confirming I was truly alone. That no one really cares.”

“I care. The kids care. And I’m sure your friends back in Louisiana care.”

I shook my head. “They don’t know about the things I’ve done. Not even Ollie.”

He tugged my head back and cupped my cheeks. “Listen to me, Bailey. You’ve had a tough life. You’ve done what you could to survive it. And screw me and anyone else who can’t understand that. I can’t judge you because I’ve never been in that place where I’ve had no options. And if your friends care about you the way you’ve convinced me they do, then they don’t give a damn about your past.”

“But it’s not just my past anymore.”

“I still don’t give a damn, Bailey Haughton.” He smashed his lips to mine, and I moaned from the pleasure and pain of my stiff, chapped lips rubbing against his. “I love you, Bailey, and I’m not going to lie. I’ve said those words a lot to different men over the years. But right here, in this graveyard, sitting here against your brother’s headstone, I’ve never been sincere about it the way I am now. I’ll never stop loving you.”

I couldn’t believe my luck in being loved as much as I was beginning to believe Arthur loved me.

“I love you too,” I told him. “The kids asked about you so much. They hate me, Arthur. They think I chose to leave them.”

He shook his head and stood, pulling me to my feet. “Remember what I told you on the ship when you were mad at me for buying the kids all those presents? I told you the kids would always be yours, even if we take everything away. I’m sure the kids still love you. They are probably waiting right now for you to come and get them. That’s exactly what we are going to do, Bailey. We are going to get your kids back.”

“How?”

“Don’t worry about the how. Just trust me. I have my lawyer working on it.”

“But tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve,” I mumbled. “We’ll never get them back until the New Year.”

He caressed my cheek. “Didn’t I say not to worry about it? You no longer have to do this alone. Now come on. I have something to show you.”