Page 57 of Devious Corruption

“Things were bad for them in a few places.” I catch his stare. “Real bad.”

He pauses. “They were abused?”

I nod. “Yeah. They protected each other best they could, but there’s not much a little boy can do against a grown man. I think it was a relief for them to be placed in a home without a man.”

“I didn’t realize they weren’t your biological brothers.” He says as he continues to work.

“I was thirteen when we were placed in the same house.” I wince when he pushes harder into the wound. “Ow.”

“Almost done. Did they get into a lot of trouble there? Where you met them?”

He’s using this line of questioning to distract me as much as getting information on my brothers. I know it, but I can’t find any fault in it. Because it’s helping.

“They didn’t trust Mrs. Ingles. So they got into trouble a lot. But I helped keep them together, and with me.”

He pulls back. “Mrs. Ingles?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes. Not to be confused with the sweetwoman on the hit television show Little House on the Prairie. She left us alone for the most part, so long as we didn’t cause her any trouble and she kept getting her monthly checks. She had two biological kids, so she was busy with them. If we stayed out of their way, she stayed out of ours.”

“She was a single mom, and she took on three more kids?”

I nod. “Yeah. Looking back, I think she took in fosters as a way to make more money.” I touch his arm. “I don’t mean to make it sound like it was bad. It wasn’t. She never hurt us or abused us. We always had enough to eat and clean clothes.”

His eyebrow peeks. “Just because she didn’t hurt you doesn’t mean you weren’t harmed. Neglect is abuse, too, Maxine.”

My cheeks heat at the defensiveness in his tone. Like he’d like to hunt down Mrs. Ingles and have a chat with her.

“Well. Compared to some stories I’ve heard, we had it okay. The boys got in trouble at school a lot, though, so I helped keep them out of her hair.”

“How’d you help?” My leans back and looks me in the eye. “What did you do to keep them out trouble?”

“Oh, nothing bad. I covered for them when they missed curfew a few times.”

His eyes narrow. It’s like the man is a human lie detector. “What else?”

“Took the blame when they stole cash out of herpurse. Since I didn’t really get into trouble, she was quick to forgive me, had me do extra chores to make up for the money.”

He sighs. “What else?”

“They’d never had someone be on their side. I was their sister. I needed to help them.” I lightly touch my neck. “Did you get it?”

He drops the tweezers onto the counter and grabs a tube from the medical kit. Silently, he smears an ointment on his fingertip, then applies it to the wound.

The slight burn it causes makes me tense.

“It’s just antibiotic ointment.”

“Okay.” I relax while he finishes and puts the bandage on.

“Next time, you tell me if you’ve been injured.” He pinches my chin between his thumb and fingers, dragging me to look at him. “Understand?”

His brow wrinkles, and I’m not sure if it’s with concern or annoyance. Though he really shouldn’t be annoyed at me, it wasn’t me doing the shooting. I had been peacefully sleeping in my bed, and he woke me up.

“Yeah. If I’m ever hurt while being shot at again, I’ll be sure to tell you.”

“You’re so fucking mouthy.”

“I am.” I agree, my gaze settling on his mouth. “And you’re bossy, arrogant, and annoying. I mean if we’re going to list?—”