I let go of the few that were in one hand so that she could take the bags from me.
She placed the bags on the counter, “Did you steal this stuff?”
“What? No. What the fuck kind of question is that.”
“A simple one. When I met you, it looked like you were living on the street.”
I rolled my eyes, “Look woman don’t question me, either eat the food or throw it out. I won’t be questioned.”
She cocked her head to the side, “You mean that shit don’t you. If it means the safety of those girls, mine or even yours, you bet I will question you. I will question everything you do. I don’t know who you were hanging out with before now but just because you speak doesn’t mean it’s the end.” She walked over to the bags on the table and picked them up to throw in the garbage.
“Wait, fuck!” I grabbed her hand. “No, I didn’t fucking steal anything. Who the hell bags up stolen goods anyway? I bought it with my money. You want the receipt?” I asked, sarcasm lacing my tone.
She relaxed and put the bags back on the floor before dropping down to examine the contents. With every item she pulled out of the bag her smiled got wider and wider.
“What the fuck is this, did Santa come?” Vida asked as she walked out of the room and into the small area that held the kitchen.
“Alex got us some food.” Mikki said while she started to put the food away.
“Oh shit, no eggs and sausage, it’s a miracle.” Then her eyes darted to the white box that was on top of the fridge. “Are they fucking donuts!” She jumped out of her chair so fast it fell to the floor.
“Did you say donuts!” Angel’s sweet high pitch voice screeched through the small space and a whirl of blond curly hair whizzed by me. Mikki moved out of the way as the both of them got a donut and stuffed it in their mouths.
Angel turned to look at me and gave me a huge smile, the only problem was the donut she chose was chocolate. Not only was the icing all over her mouth but it was on her teeth and even some on her nose, she looked ridiculous.
I tried to hold it in but I let a chuckle loose, then I looked over to Mikki who was looking at me like I had two heads. The way her eyebrows had shot up to her hairline was even more ridiculous than Angel so that made me laugh even harder.
“Err, Alex has lost his mind.” Vida said with a mouth full of donut and for some reason that made me laugh even harder. Then Mikki started laughing, then Angel, then Vida. Within a few minutes we were all belly hurt laughing for absolutely no reason besides having donuts.
New tears rolled down my face but instead of being from sadness they were from laughter, my mood changed as soon as I felt a foreign hand squeeze mine. I looked down to see Mikki grabbing my fingers and squeezing.
I looked over to her.
“Thank you.” She mouthed and gestured over to the girls with her head. I looked at them and they were both rolling on the floor, laughing, a donut in each hand. Happy. No fear, no worry, just happiness.
I let go of her hand and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.” I grabbed a donut myself and finished putting the groceries away.
The tears from laughing faded and the sadness was back. I was getting close again. I couldn’t allow myself to get attached to them, I would be gone soon and they would have to depend on someone else for protection. Not me. I didn’t deserve another family, not after I had failed my first one.
Chapter 7
That night I tried to stay as far away from all of them as possible, it was difficult. I mean where was I supposed to go, there was only one bedroom and the rest of the apartment was one small room. It was cramped to say the least. By eight the girls were so full from the food that they both fell asleep.
I watched as Mikki paced back and forth to the fridge, opening the door every so often.
“What’s the problem?” It was annoying as fuck.
“I shouldn’t have let them eat so much. We should have rationed a bit better, now when there’s no more they’re’ going to hurt more.”
The anger inside me roared to life. I bit my lip to keep it stuffed down. “What makes you think there isn’t going to be anymore?”
“Look I appreciate it but we both know this isn’t permanent.”
“Just because I don’t plan on staying here forever doesn’t mean that I am going to go back on my word, what kind of pussy do you think I am? I said I would protect you and that is what I am going to do. That means making sure that you have enough food to eat and that you have a better place to stay.”
She shook her head, “No, that isn’t possible, I know that you’ll do your best but we have to be independent as well.”
Why could she just let me make the decisions? Why can’t she just let me do what I needed to do. “Mikki..”
“No Alex, I appreciate it but no. We will accept the help that you give but we have to learn how to get by on our own as well.”
I hated that she wanted to take on everything on her own, she didn’t deserve that. Neither did those girls. They deserved the best.
“Fine, well while I’m around I will make sure that you have what you need. How about that. You going to fight me on that too?”
She gave me a
