Page 49 of Laila Manning (Shadeport Crew #3)

It seemed like he liked the two different therapists he worked with in tandem, and I was happy if he was comfortable and happy.

“You ready?” I asked, standing up to throw my purse strap over my head.

“Yep.” Kade said with a confident nod. “I’m starving.”

We walked out the front door to my car, “Well, lucky for you, Zeke’s buying, so you can get whatever you want. ”

“Fuck yes!” He fist-pumped and then his shoulders rose to his ears as he sank into his seat. “I mean, heck yes.”

I rolled my eyes, chuckling to myself. “How was your session?” I asked, turning out into traffic and heading towards the restaurant I picked and texted Zeke to meet us at earlier.

“I don’t know.” Kade said, looking out the window. “I don’t know what to say all the time.” He sighed, and I peeked over at him. “Turns out I’m fucked up from more than just the—” He didn’t say the words, but I knew he meant the kidnapping. “Life fucked me over far before all that.”

“Hey,” I reached over and took his hand, “Same.”

He looked at me and gave me a gentle smile. The day I found him in Zeke’s arms, crying his little eyes out, I gave him a condensed and mostly child-safe explanation of what I’d been through. I told him of my parent’s death, and my own kidnapping and exploitation.

I told him how Zeke, Jed, and Ryker rescued me. I even told him that Diesel and the Reapers were there too, just how they were for his own rescue.

I needed him to know that he was understood, even if he didn’t understand what he felt and thought, and that Zeke and I were a safe place for him to talk when he wanted to, and a safe place to simply exist when he didn’t.

To say we bonded through that would be an unjust description of the feelings that happened. It was like we linked up, an invisible force binding us together like the links of a chain, welded together into an unbreakable promise.

Nothing would scare me away. Nothing would turn Zeke away.

We were there for him, in ways he didn’t know he’d need until that time came .

“The journaling helps.” He said after a while, letting me into his brain a little more.

What a gift it was to be let in, too. I stayed silent as he expanded, “I don’t always know how to put my thoughts into words in the moment, but when I do, I write them down, so when I go back, I have them to read to Andy.

I think it makes it easier to talk too, like reading them doesn’t feel as awkward. ”

“Good.” I smiled at him, pulling into the parking lot and looking for Zeke.

It seemed we had beaten him. “I’m glad you’re finding a way to communicate with your team.

And me.” I winked at him as we got out of the car.

When we started walking up to the restaurant, I went on, “I like having you around, kid.”

He snorted with the same sarcastic class clown attitude he had when I first met him. “Duh, I’m cool.”

“Yeah,” I ruffled his hair as he groaned and tried to fix it. “And I’m the weirdo still following you around.”

“Meh,” He shrugged, “You’re not half bad.”

He walked up to the host and told them we wanted to sit outside, and I paused, taken aback by the smallest little compliment he threw my way without a second thought.

There was no way that a preteen kid knew what those words meant to someone like me, but I’d hold on to them either way.

In a way, we were healing each other just by existing.

“She said there’s a ten-minute wait.” Kade said, coming back to meet me. “Cool with you?”

“Yeah,” I looked around the downtown scene, “Zeke will be here soon, anyway.” I pulled my phone out to make sure he hadn’t texted me or anything when I heard someone come around the building like they were in a rush.

“Kade!” A voice hissed, and Kade whipped around as an older woman grabbed his arm. “Where have you been? ”

“Whoa.” I grabbed her hand and pulled it off Kade’s arm without even thinking. “Don’t touch him.”

“Excuse you!” The woman snapped, scowling at me as she glared my way. “Stay out of it.”

Kade slid in front of me, hardly blocking me at all from the woman’s vile glare, but I recognized it for what it was—his attempt to protect me from it.

Jesus Christ, my heart almost ripped in two. I needed to get my silly feelings in check; I couldn’t melt every time he did something that made me feel like he didn’t hate my guts anymore. I was too damn old to be silly.

“Stop it.” Kade bit back with menace. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” The woman’s eyes were rounded with shock before they darkened with anger. “You haven’t shown up with my money. I have bills to pay!”

“Okay,” I shook my head, pulling Kade backward. “I don’t know who you are, but you need to go away. Now. We’re not doing this.”

She turned her glare my way again as I pulled Kade back another step, but she followed us.

We were on the edge of the brick restaurant, thankfully away from the guests, so we weren’t causing a scene.

It didn’t take me long to realize the woman was a junkie; she had scabs on her arms and hollowed-out cheeks and wild eyes.

That was a look all too familiar to me from my years dealing with addicted girls falling victim to more than just drugs.

“Damnit, bitch, try to pull my son away from me again, and I’ll cut you!” The woman hissed, pulling a short pocketknife from her pants and flashing it at me. My stomach dropped as I eyed the dirty blade in the middle of the bustling city.

“Mom, stop!” Kade groaned, once again pushing himself between me and the woman.

There was no way she was his mom. She looked way too old, but I couldn’t tell if it was an illusion from the drugs or the dirt caking her skin.

The moment my brain caught up though, I recognized the icy hue of her blue eyes behind layers of caked on black eye makeup and God knew what else.

“I’m not working right now.” Kade hissed, “I don’t have any money. ”

“You got money to be at a restaurant, boy!” She yelled, getting irate. “Don’t lie to me!”

“He’s not.” I argued. “I’m paying for his food. And his shelter. And his life, since you’re clearly incapable of caring for him as his biological mother!” I snapped, anger radiating through my body at the injustice of it all. “And you dare to demand money from him? He’s twelve!”

“It ain’t your business, bitch!” She exploded, taking a menacing step forward with the knife still clutched in her bony fingers.

“Enough.” A menacing voice snapped, seconds before her wrist twisted and the knife fell to the ground, clinking off the cement. Zeke pressed his body in front of Kade and me as he stared the woman down. “You need to leave.”

I pulled Kade back further as Zeke went into boogeyman mode, and he let me. I thought he would have fought me, but he didn’t, he simply stayed behind me and watched it all unfold.

“That’s my kid!” the woman spat out, shooting her arm out around Zeke. “You don’t get to tell me what to do with my damn kid! He owes me money!”

“You’re wrong.” Zeke slapped her hand away, “He’s my kid now.

You didn’t deserve him. You didn’t love him.

You didn’t care for him. Therefore, you’ve lost your claim to him and anything else you manipulated him into giving you over the years.

It’s done. It stops here. If you ever come near him again, I’ll slit your fucking throat and let you bleed out in the streets, I don’t care.

You fucked up your chance time and time again.

And now he’s going to be loved and cared for by us, so leave.

Before I lose my patience and make an example out of you, proving to everyone just how fucking tired the Shadeport Crew is of deadbeat parents fucking their kids up like they’re not the most precious thing on this Earth. ”

My heart beat wildly in my chest as the woman sputtered in indignation, no doubt ignoring everything that Zeke said to her. But I didn’t.

And neither did Kade. He stared up at Zeke with eyes so full of wonder and awe as the man claimed him as his own. As ours. I knew Kade was before that moment, but we hadn’t openly told him about our intentions for the long term.

I was glad it was out there though, so he knew how serious we were about keeping him and making a family out of our own messed up little dynamic. I threaded my fingers into Kade’s ice-cold ones, and he squeezed me back instantly, looking at me with questioning eyes.

“He’s right—every word. You’re home.”

The woman stumbled backward as Zeke advanced on her, proving how serious he was, and then she glared at Kade before I pulled him behind me completely, squaring up to her.

She hissed at the boy, “You always were useless to me, anyway! Good for nothing ungrateful little shit who ran his mouth more than his feet!”

“Get out of here!” I snapped, cutting off any other things she could have said to the innocent kid. I turned and held him in a hug. “She’s wrong.”

“I know.” He wrapped his arms around my stomach and held on to me with a sigh. “I just really hate her.”

“I’m sorry.” I hugged him tight as Zeke stood at my back and ran his big hand over Kade’s hair .

“She’s gone.” He said powerfully, with that dominance I leaned into so often.

“Thanks.” Kade muttered, pulling back to look up at Zeke. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t.” Zeke cut him off and gave him a one-sided smile, but there was something so dark raging behind his gaze. “She doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.” Kade nodded and then he peeked at me. “Will you be mad if I don’t want to stay for dinner anymore?”

“Never.” I shook my head, saddened for him. I hated that five minutes ago he was young and carefree, excited to eat and have a nice meal together, almost as a family, and now that woman ruined it all.

His mom.

What a fucking privilege she didn’t deserve.

“Let’s go home.” Zeke led us back toward the parking lot, with Kade between us. “Leave your car here, and I’ll have someone pick it up and drop it off later.”