Page 57 of Blood Ties

?Chapter Twenty-Nine

Riley

My heart surges asKai comes down the stairs, but when I see his face, I immediately knows it’s bad news.

“Sorry,” he says, avoiding my gaze. “I checked his room. He must’ve trashed it.”

It was always a long shot, but it still stings. “That’s okay. Thanks for trying.”

I wonder if he realizes how clearly his emotions are written on his face. The way his eyes soften when he looks at me. “I wish I could do more...”

I don’t want to push him too hard, especially after I just asked for a favor, but this is important. “You could go the store and buy me something...”

He shakes his head. “I don’t have money. Or a car.”

“Right.” I hesitate, wondering if I should suggest that he could steal both, but I pause as I study him. His shoulders are braced like he’s expecting a blow for disappointing me.

I’ve seen the bruises on him before. Even on that very first night when we all drank together, I noticed the way Knox would push him around. His dad is probably worse.

It’s obvious that Kai has been abused... and kept entirely dependent on his abusers. Nobody even taught him how to fuckingread. He’s almost as trapped in this house as I am.

But he’s not the one in the basement with a shackle on his wrist. He could leave if he really wanted to. Just like he could find a way to let me go if he wanted me to be free.

I need to remember that I have a plan to survive, and it doesn’t involve feeling sympathetic toward one of my captors. I’m going to use him. I can’t let feelings get in the way.

Yet I don’t push him to steal for me. It could get him hurt, but more importantly, he might pull away from me if I ask too much too soon. I get the feeling that looking in his brother’s room was a big step as it is. I need him to trust me before I ask for more. Or better yet, I need him to love me.

I’s dangerously easy to soften my voice as I say, “Come sit with me. I promised a reading lesson.”

He glances at me, his head still low, his shoulders braced. “But I didn’t get what you wanted.”

“You tried.” I smile at him, pat the mattress beside me. “C’mon. Please. I could use the distraction.”

He hesitantly comes to sit beside me. I can feel his eyes on me as I dig into my backpack to pull out a book:The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobeby C.S. Lewis.

Kai eyes the cover. “That looks like a kid’s book.”

“It is, technically. It’s also one of my favorites.”

“Really?” he asks, skeptical. I can see how wary he is, his shoulders and jaw set, just waiting for me to make a dig at him. Like he suspects me offering up a kid’s book is a joke at his expense.

“Seriously.” I smile and nudge him with my shoulder, trying to put him at ease. “Why do you think I brought it? It wasn’t like I was expecting to...” I trail off. What was I even going to say?To end up trapped in a basement teaching someone how to read?“Expecting anyone to see it, I mean.” I run my fingers over the worn cover and dog-eared pages. “I reread it all the time.”

“Why?”

I shrug. “I find it comforting, I guess. It’s an escape from real life.”

“How?” He studies the book in my hands. “It’s just paper. Just words.”