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“You're here for Raven?”
“Oh my god,you'rethe third?”
Damon chuckles. “I am.”
“I thought you were at Sofia’s holiday party because Raven was a patient, and you know her parents!Notbecause you’re the -oh my god, I'm going to have to find a new therapist! I don’t want to find a new therapist.”
Damon shakes his head. He's a handsome fucker; I'll give Raven that. Between Jonas, Maverick, and now Damon, I can see she has a type - tall, brooding brunettes. “Nonsense, I don't talk about my patients. Well, I don't talk aboutwhothey are, anyway. That's a HIPAA violation. Besides, I wouldn’t want a setback from all the progress we’ve made.”
Sabrina breathes a sigh of relief. “Is she home?”
He nods and opens the door for us to come in. “She's downstairs in the gym. I'll go get her for you.”
We stand around for a few minutes, but Raven spots us. She's covered in sweat and her lips are bruised so Iguess I know what took so long for them to come back. Her hands fly up but in Damon’s direction where he’s still standing close to her.Tell her I'd hug her but I'm disgusting.
Damon smiles then interprets.
“That’s… that’s why I’m here. I was wondering if you’d… like an extra workout partner? I’d probably be a terrible one but with the wedding coming…” She keeps using that excuse. “I just… I want to look good in my gown. The only wedding gown I’ll ever wear and… I… want to feel good about myself.”
Raven looks like she wants to cry, like she can read Sabrina like I can, but then grins and nods enthusiastically. She lifts her hands again, turning to Damon to ask if he’s busy so he can interpret for her every now and then.
But I speak up. “I can.”
She looks surprised to see I can read her hands.
I can only imagine Sabrina's wince since I’m still standing behind her before she says, “No, Parker. I… I’d like to be… alone with just Raven, please.” She lifts her gaze to Raven's. I know what she’s not saying – she doesn’t want to be seen shirtless or sweaty.She doesn’t want to be seen.
And I can't help but feel a little rejected, but I fix myself quickly. When Sabrina says, “I… I’ve been taking an ASL course online. I’m not… proficient yet, but I can… decipher most things.”
Raven's grin widens from ear to ear, and crooks her finger at my girl to follow her, asking Damon if he doesn’t mind bringing down a few more water bottles later. He nods and leads me to the living area to wait for them.But I follow him to the kitchen instead and take a seat at one of the barstools by the island.
“So, who do you know that's deaf or mute?”
“My baby sister.” It's the truth. Between the money I receive monthly from the army and my wages, it was enough to cover Rory's cochlear implant two years ago. She's in her last year of college now, but Damon doesn't need to know all of that. Let's just say my parents weren't only young when they had me, but my mother kept having children despite not being able to care for any of us. I was the oldest of six.
Going into the military was my ticket out of that small town and a meal ticket for them. The more dangerous the missions, the more my siblings ate good. I was just lucky some rich British lady was looking for a bodyguard for her daughter right as I was honorably discharged with a Purple Heart.
Now my little brother, Dayton, is a doctor due to the army paying for his education. My two youngest twin brothers, Sean and Luke, are in the Air Force. My little sister Crystal is a fighter pilot in the Navy, and my baby sister, Rory, is in school for her degree in Literature because she couldn't join the military due to her disability. They all escaped Waco, so to speak, and that's all that fucking matters.
Damon doesn't press for more, and I'm grateful for it. But I meant what I said to Maksim. Sabrina isn't like us. Had I not been thrown in Juvie after getting caught red-handed during a burglary, so I could feed my siblings, I wouldn't have been set straight.
Dad did what he could till he realized he was a twenty-three-year-old man with six fucking kids. He got a job out on the oil rigs in Galveston, and at first, the money was coming through. Then it wasn't. I was fifteen when I learned I had three more half-siblings from his actualwife. My mother somehow became the mistress.
She bled for him, that man. Had his kids, loved him from the time she was sixteen to the day she died last year. But the way she handled her heartbreak wasn't the best. When dad was home, she was perfect. Lucid. Like she'd never touched a drug a day in her life. As soon as he’d leave…
I shake the memories away, fists clutching on my knees.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Damon asks.
I shake my head, “Don't really have any,” I lie.
Damon gives one curt nod, going back to whatever he's cooking that smells fucking delicious.
I sit there for a minute, not liking that I can't watch Sabrina. What if Raven touches her and she freaks out?
‘He's right you know… I'm weak.’
I get that she doesn't want to be improper around me in a sports bra and her leggings, or for me to watch her grunt and break out in a sweat like a man, but I'm proud of her. Every step she's taken this past week, including limiting her food intake, eating healthier, and not snacking as much. I will say I kindamiss her little hums of happiness when she bites into a cupcake every night after dinner, since now she only eats one on the days she runs in the mornings with me.