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I’d heard enough to know that her past wasn’t anything that I’d experienced withparents, but I’d still been affected bydealt a shitty hand at life Making both of us groay too fast The a beaten by a foster parent was unreal

To see the pain in his eyes, knowing he was trying to be strong for h so much bullshit because he was part of the syste a lawyer had to get involved with the courts to constantly change his housing environment Not that it mattered He went from one shitty situation to the next My parents wanted to adopt hih for him

My uest bedrooms into his room, just so he’d feel like he had a ho all the shit he went through He didn’t deserve it He was a good person, a great friend, someone I could count on no matter what We were seven the first time Julian showed up at our house with a bloody nose from his foster dad

At first, I didn’t understand what had happened or why it was happening to him By the tih, and I started having night terrors that he’d be beaten to death I had to go to therapy Julian didn’t know that, though My parents thought it was best, and for a while, it helped My therapist said I was suffering from associated trau

From that point forward, I made sure to do whatever I could to helpif I didn’t, I’d lose him

The sadness in Kinley’s eyesatthis need inside of me to want to be there for her in any way I could It was immediate, the desire to want to help her

Protect her

The second I saw her start walking into the woods alone, my feet moved on their own I’d developed a protective quality to watch over those I loved, and there was a gravitational pull to protect Kinley at that h to get lost in the woods He was by her side all the ti, and since ere by ourselves for the first tio, I was going to use it to e and kiss her

Be her first kiss

The longer we stood there, theI’d never experienced anything like it before Maybe that hy I wanted to kiss her, knowing that to a girl like her…

It would

The truth was I was over it notto me as well There were only so many times I could hook up with a random chick I was born and raised in this small ass tohere everyone knew each other I was almost sixteen, but felt much older Wiser

“Want to touch ?”

“So is this hoorks?” she asked with airls from assholes and then make your move?”

“Don’t entleman”

“And you are?”

“I ht, and I have a little sister I need to protect”