“Why? Because I’m a kid? I’ve heard worse. Dad swears all the time. And every time that Dad says something that Mom doesn’t believe she says I call bullshit.”
I heaved a sigh and turned my attention back to the ring. I wished that I was old enough to make my own decisions. I would choose to stay here and fight. Maybe Cap would hire me and I could make my own money.
“I heard Florrie and Alec talking,” I said after a minute. “The social worker called. I guess they set a court date for my custody trial.”
“Does that mean that they’ll move out here?”
“No, idiot, that means that I’ll be shipped off to Utah. I’ll never see any of you again.”
I didn’t mean to yell at her or be so mean, but I was angry and I didn’t know what else to do. But instead of getting mad at me like I thought she would, she slipped her hand into mine and gave it a squeeze. I jerked at her touch, but when I looked at her, I didn’t see what I expected. I saw sadness. Like she was going to miss me, and that made me feel really good.
“I could run away with you,” she suggested.
I laughed, shaking my head. She was just like her mom. I had heard stories about how her mom met her dad. They were pretty funny.
“Thanks, but I don’t think we’d get very far, and then your dad would be even more pissed at me.”
“Why is my dad pissed at you?”
“Well, he’s not yet, but he will be when he finds out I’ve been kissing you. Alec said I can’t go around kissing girls.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. I didn’t really understand it myself.
“I like kissing you,” she said boldly. “And I think we should keep doing it.”
The problem was, I really liked kissing Caitlin, but it was more than that. Caitlin and I started talking about a lot of stuff now, and I really liked having her around. I knew that I was going to have to leave soon, and I didn’t like the idea of leaving Caitlin behind. But my time here was almost up and when I left, I would miss her even more.
“I guess we could. For practice,” I added quickly. She nodded and closed her eyes, leaning forward. I leaned into her and pressed my lips against hers, closing my eyes. Her soft lips pressed against mine felt more and more right every time it happened, and in that moment I wondered what would happen if I had to move away and I could never kiss her again.
When she opened her eyes and smiled at me, I knew I was in deep trouble, because the moment they made me go live with someone else, I knew my life would never be the same again.
CHAPTER SIXTEENAlec
“They’re at it again,” Craig said as he walked up to me. “Do they ever stop?”
I shook my head. “Not since we got the call about the court date. If we’re not out on a job or training, I never fucking see her. She spends every minute she can in the ring with Reid.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me, crossing his arms over his chest. “You sound a little resentful there.”
“My dick hasn’t been serviced in weeks. I was this close,” I said, pinching my fingers together. “And then he banged on the fucking door and she was gone.”
“What about at night?”
I scoffed. “She wears herself out in the ring with him. It’s like this every fucking day. She gets to bed and she’s too tired. And that’s not all. Every conversation we have anymore is about Reid and this fucking trial. We agreed that we needed to keep things as normal as possible around him, but she’s fucking losing it. She’s pulling away from me.”
“Yeah, but you guys could lose him. Doesn’t that worry you?”
“It fucking terrifies me,” I said honestly. “I love that kid like he’s my own, but I feel like I’m losing Florrie more and more every day. And I…” I shook my head. God, I was so ashamed for the way I was feeling right now, and I didn’t know if I could voice those concerns to Craig without looking like a total douchebag.
“What?”
“I feel like I have to choose between having Florrie or having Reid.”
“I’m not following.”
I sighed and ran my hand across my scruff. “Before Reid came along, it was just her and me. We knew that we most likely wouldn’t have kids, and we were good with that. Then Reid came along and it seemed to change things between us. Not in a bad way, but it was like we finally had something we had been missing. And it was fucking great, but I think I always knew that we were on borrowed time. You know, the courts didn’t grant us permanent custody, so we’ve always known that he could get taken away from us. I don’t think Florrie ever really accepted that that could happen. Now she’s determined to keep him, and I just don’t think it’s gonna happen. So, I feel like I have to choose between doing what’s best for Reid or trying to keep Florrie happy. I just don’t think there’s any way to have both.”
“We won’t let him get taken away,” Craig said fiercely.
“Yeah? And how are you going to stop it? Craig, this isn’t something to fuck around on. That kid has never been mine to keep, and he has family out there. We know that now, and we can’t ignore it. Someone out there wants that kid and they have every right to get custody of him.”
“Man, it sounds like you’re giving up on him. What the fuck?”
“He was never really mine,” I said quietly. “Fuck, I wanted him to be, but he wasn’t. We snatched him off the streets and decided he was ours, and I’ll never regret that, but we’re about to pay the price.”
“You don’t know that
