I stepped back out onto the porch. Tears rolled down my face as I stumbled into a confused Ray’s arms. I feared if I spoke about that shit show of a conversation, I would loose it completely. The only thing I uttered was:

“Can I stay with you for a few days?”

At the least I would be able to spend time with him before I would be shuttled off to God-knows-where to live with a random family and must start all over.

“Sure, babe. I’m pretty sure mom and dad won’t mind,” he rubbed my back slowly as he tried his best to make my tears stop. That only served to make them fall harder. What would I do when I didn’t have anyone I trusted nearby?

Sheriff Doonan cleared her throat to bring our attention back to her. I wiped my face with the back of my hand and turned to her.

“Is Janice okay with this?”

“She said she didn’t care—ask her.”

“I will,” Doonan headed off into the house to speak with my ex-foster mother, and left us with the deputy.

“Went that bad?” Kerrie reached out to give my arm a reassuring rub.

“She’s getting rid of me,” I sputtered into a sob and hid my face in my hands.

“What? Oh babe,” Ray brought me back into his embrace and squeezed me tight. “How can she do that?”

“Easily. I put her and the boys in danger, and she doesn’t want to deal with that, anymore,” my response was muffled by my hands. “She’s just waiting for child services to find a place for me.”

“Fuck,” Kerrie muttered, and I felt her hug me from behind. She and Ray effectively cocooned me in a show of affection and solidarity.

I peeked my face out from behind my hands to see Kerrie’s uncomfortable expression right new to my face. She never got this close to Ray and I could tell it bothered her, but nonetheless I appreciated the support.

“Thanks, guys,” I sniffed and wiped my nose with the side of my hand.

“No problem. We’ll figure something out,” Kerrie smiled softly at me and took my thanks as a sign she could let go. She stepped back a few paces and was instantly bathed in the headlights of Frank’s truck.

“Oh, shit,” Ray muttered.

I wrapped my arms around Ray’s waist and settled in. I didn’t want to stand on my own just yet. Ray’s usual habit to put distance between him and I when his parents were around was thwarted for the time being.

The headlights cut off and the driver’s door opened. Frank hopped out and walked in our direction, purpose and intent in every step. His heavy brows were closely knitted together and the scowl on his face made him terrifying.

I could feel Ray shrink as his father approached, and though I never knew Frank to lay a hand on anyone, he sure looked like he was about to.

Kerrie turned just in time to see Frank’s large arm swing out. His hand hit home gently on the back of her neck as he guided her our direction. His other arm wrapped around Ray and I. Once again we were smooshed together but this time it was against Frank’s broad chest as he hugged the three of us, head bowed.

“Thank fucking Christ,” he muttered.

“Dad?” Ray’s voice came out small and scared.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again—any of you. Do you hear me?” Frank’s voice wavered.

“Yes, sir.” Our answer came in unison.

Frank sniffed once more and let the three of us go. He rubbed his nose, wiped un-shed tears from his eyes and that was that. Back to business.

“Dad, can Sophia come stay with us for a bit? Janice doesn’t want her in the house,” Ray looked up at Frank expectantly.

Frank stiffened and glared at the open door of the house.

“That fucking woman…yeah, yeah. She’s always welcome. You know that.”

“Let’s go get your stuff, Soph,” Kerrie headed off to the front door. I was glad I didn’t have to go in alone. I pulled away from Ray and went in after Kerrie.

“Hey, Sophia—send the Sherrif out, will ya?” Frank asked.

“Sure thing.”

The Sheriff was in the middle of the conversation with Janice who looked much less frazzled.

I hated her.

“Hey Sheriff Doonan, Frank wants to talk to you, he’s out front.”

“Thanks, kid. I’ll be right out,” she gave me a sad smile having probably heard my fate.

Janice wouldn’t even look my direction.

The whole upstairs reeked of the monster and as far as I was concerned, it could stay that way. Kerrie paled as the smell hit her and began to look around in the dark doorways as she tried to spot the culprit.

“You’re not going to find anything,” I told her and moved past the boy’s room into mine where the smell was at its worst.

“How are you not freaked out right now—wait, this is the smell from when I came to visit,” Kerrie burst in, hand under her nose. She looked around my room and again couldn’t find anything, so she settled for taking a seat on my bed to watch as I grabbed my duffel bag.

“This has been my life since we found Matty,” I explained blandly. There wasn’t anything else to say.

“How? How come you didn’t say anything?”

“Would you have believed me?”

“…Probably not,” she looked to her feet and sighed.

“It’s my monster,” I started. “I don’t know how but when I freaked out the night we found Matty, I created it. It shows up when I go to bed and talks to me. It tries to tell me things about people and wants me to do things…”

The concern on her face was enough to get me to stop there. I did sound insane when I spoke the truth out loud. There was no doubt about that.

“Are you still on your meds?” Kerrie asked slowly.

“Yeah…it doesn’t help,” I sighed and grabbed a week worth of jeans from my closet. If there was anything that could be said for child services, it was that they were slow as molasses when it came to doing anything. I’d spend as much of that time at the Vena’s as I could.

“Does Ray know?”

“He knows some. I only told you because, well…you kind of walked into it.”

“Why would this thing want us dead? It was chasing us along with that freak that killed Samuel and Matty!”

“No idea. Usually when it visits it, I dunno…feeds off my fear…didn’t figure it’d want me dead. Nothing to eat, then.” I shoved my jeans into one side of the duffel, I wanted to keep enough space for everything else I would need to bring.

“It what?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I gulped. I regretted opening-up to Kerrie. She had started to ask questions I didn’t think I’d be able to answer without being shipped off to the asylum.

“That bad?”

“Yeah.”

I looked through my closet and hunted down the baggiest t-shirts I could find. I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. Which also meant sweatpants. I could probably have gotten away with packing only those, since I didn’t think Frank as going to let us out, but my jeans were already in my bag. I had no energy to unpack them.

Once my shirts, over shirts, underwear and sweats were packed, I grabbed my makeup bag to bring all the basics. Eyeliner, mascara, deodorant and lipbalm. After that I took my medications and put the bottles in with my makeup before throwing the bag in the duffel.

The entire time I was doing that, I could feel Kerrie’s wary eyes on my back. I knew she was put-off by the secret I divulged, and I really couldn’t blame her for that. I’d look at someone like that if they told me they were being fed on by a monster.

“Ready,” I announced and slung the beast of a bag over my shoulder. Kerrie stood quickly and left without a word. I grimaced and followed her.

Well that was a good friendship while it lasted.

I stomped down the stairs just to be an ass to Janice, and out onto the porch. Frank and the Sheriff were deep in a discussion about what happened with Samuel. Frank wanted intel, and oddly enough she’d given him more information than what I’d seen her give any other civilian about a case. Frank was highly respected in town for his service, so I guess that had something to do with it.

Ray held out a hand for me to take. “Come on, let’s go put that in the truck.”

Hand-in-hand, and with Kerrie on Ray’s other side we went down the steep drive to the truck. Frank had parked right behind the Sheriff so when I passed into their field of view, the twins immediately called out for me.

Ray took my bag so I could say goodbye, and Kerrie followed him. I went to the twins alone, not quite sure how to say I wasn’t going to live with them anymore. We had grown quite close over the past year and a half, especially after their father had left and I wasn’t sure they could handle another ‘desertion’.

“Sophie! Can we go in yet? It’s cold,” Bruce was snuggled up with Jayden under one of the itchy wool blankets all cops seemed to have.

“Yeah, I’m tired,” Jayden echoed.

“Sorry guys, not quite yet. Mom is still talking with the sheriff,” I put a hand on either side of them and leaned in with a sad smile. “Hey, I gotta tell you guys something really quick, okay? It’s important.”

“Okay!”

“Wassup?”

I laughed at Brucey’s lack of annunciation. It drove Janice nuts, but I thought it was charming. No matter how much she told me to chastise it out of him, I never did.

“I’m going to stay with Ray for a while, okay? I’m not going to be at the house for a while. Just you and Mom. Okay?”

“Why?” Jayden’s forlorn tone broke my damn heart. He was a bit more emotionally developed than Bruce and really felt things hard when he was upset. Tears pricked in the corners of his bright hazel eyes and his chin did the scrunchy thing that happened whenever someone tried not to cry.

“Because Mom wants to spend some time with just you guys,” I said, proud of my gross over-generalization. It wasn’t an outright lie, but they didn’t need to know the gory details. I didn’t want to cause a rift between them and Janice.

“Oh, okay,” Bruce smiled.

“Why?” Jayden sounded suspicious.

I sighed.

“Your Mom was really scared by what happened tonight and just wants it to be family for a while.”

“But you are family!” Bruce insisted. He threw off his side of the blanket, and reached out his scrawny arms to wrap them around my neck.

“Don’t go, Sophie!” Jayden kept his part of the blanket on but clung to my arm. I was trapped in place by two eight-year-olds and I loved every second of it. I always wanted to know what it would be like to have siblings and now I guess I did.

It became hard to see as tears blurred my vision due to the show of affection, but I didn’t want to cry in front of the boys and make them think something was wrong. It wasn’t my place to tell them I was going to be gone for good. Janice made that bed—she could lie in it.

Another car pulled up. Its yellowed lights blinded the boys who squinted and released me so they could block their eyes. I took a step out of arms reach as the lights shut off.

“Cover back up, I’ll make sure Mom knows you’re sleepy,” I blew them both a kiss and jogged up to the house where Frank looked to have just finished up with the Sheriff.

“Hey, Sheriff Doonan? The twins are cold and exhausted. They’re asking for Janice and want to go to bed.”

“Oh shit,” the Sheriff rubbed her face and sighed deeply. “I forgot they were out there.” She walked into the house and I thought I heard her mumble something to the tune of ‘not good with kids’.

I rolled my eyes and left for the truck with Frank’s heavy hand on my shoulder. There was a bit of a commotion back by the truck bed, and as I neared, I could see why:

Birdie and the Reverend had arrived.

“—give me that, Kerrie Anne! You snuck out,” the Reverend was red in the face and the cords in his neck were popped out. Birdie just stood there meekly as Kerrie got read the riot act from her father.

“Samuel was murdered, Dad! Doesn’t that kind of trump me meeting my friends after a week of house arrest?” Kerrie glowered up at her father who was, as always, in pastor garb.

The Reverend sputtered for a few moments, caught off guard by Kerrie’s retort. His face was borderline purple, which looked off with his white hair. His usually kind eyes were ablaze with anger and wide enough I could see the whites all the way around his irises.

Finally he settled on:

“You are my child! You don’t get to turn this back on me!”

“Oh, so when I’m in trouble, I’m your child, but when you find out I also like girls, you want nothing to do with me? Great—thanks for clearing that up.” Kerrie tossed a swath of hair behind her shoulders and folded her arms.

Go Kerrie!

I tried to hide my grin at what I knew we both saw as a triumph. She had been dying to lay into her father for weeks now and finally had an excuse to do so.

“Kerrie Anne!” Birdie gasped, and yup. Pearl clutch.

“Don’t defend him,” Kerrie spat. “You’re tired of this, too. I can tell. Trying to make awkward conversations at dinner. Having to choose between spending time with me or him because he won’t be in the same room with me? This needs to stop!”

“Don’t speak to your mother like that,” the Reverend’s orders fell on deaf ears. Kerrie slid her stony gaze over to him and shook her head.

“Don’t treat me like a piece of dog crap on your shoe!”

“I don’t,” the Reverend looked to Birdie, “tell her!”

“Birdie glanced up at her husband, then to her daughter before she lowered her gaze to the ground.

That was its own answer. The Reverend swore under his breath and mumbled that he would ‘be in the car’ and stormed off to the sedan.

“Thanks, Mom,” Kerrie’s soft voice was barely audible in the still of the night.

“It’s a start,” Birdie pulled Kerrie into a hug.

Frank cleared his throat after he gave the Jeffers’ some time and spared us from a longer than necessary awkward encounter. Birdie released her daughter and looked up to Frank with an air of annoyance.

“Yes, Frank?”

“I wanted to say, we should talk about what to do about keeping the kids safe. That creep that killed Samuel and probably Matthew broke into Sophia’s house earlier this evening.”

Birdie choked back a gasp and looked around Frank at the house as if her stare would reveal the identity of the killer.

“Everyone’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, for the most part…but I really think we should talk. Not now, but tomorrow, maybe?”

“Yes. Tomorrow,” Birdie nodded frantically.

“Good. Let’s get these kids home,” Frank looked to Ray and I and motioned to the truck. “Get in the cab.”

“See ya, Kerrie,” Ray called out and went for the passenger door.

“Bye,” I smiled at Kerrie and offered her a small wave before I climbed into the back seat. It was cramped and I had to sit sideways, but it was warm.

Ray pushed the seat back and hopped in. he peered back at me between the seat and the door frame, an impish smile on his face.

“Sleep over, again?”

“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hold back the grin that desperately fought its way to the surface. As horrible as the past day had been, I was glad I was headed home with people that cared about me.

The driver’s side door opened, and Frank hopped in. he started the truck without a word and drove off through the neighborhood to the highway.

We plodded into the Vena’s foyer about ten minutes later. My ears were still ringing from the verbal reaming we’d gotten on the first leg of the way home. Frank swore up and down he would not let us off easy for scaring him and Anita to death.

The second part of the drive was just as loud. His rant about Janice and her decision to send me away was pure gold. I didn’t know there were enough swear words to fill a three-minute span of time.

He made sure I verbalized that what happened wasn’t my fault before I got out of the truck. I thought it was nice he cared enough to make sure I didn’t hold myself responsible for things outside my control.

As soon as Ray walked through the door, Anita practically flew out of the great room and launched herself at her son. Thankfully, Ray wasn’t caught too off guard and was able to easily keep them both from smashing to the floor.

“Thank the spirits you two are alright,” Anita blubbered and pulled me into a hug as well. I put an arm around her shoulders with an uneasy smile. I wasn’t used to all the hugging that had been going on tonight.

“We’re fine, Ma.”

“Don’t sass your mother,” Frank tapped the back of Ray’s head as he passed with my bag on his way upstairs.

Anita released us from the hug but kept us no more than an arm’s length away. She looked us over from head to toe and tutted at my torn dance pants and lack of a sweater.

“You should go get in the shower and get changed for bed,” she instructed and pushed me at the stairs. “I’ll make you and Ray something to eat. It’ll be ready when you get out.”

“Thanks, Anita,” I smiled sleepily at her and went upstairs to collect some sleep clothes to change into.

I caught Frank in the hall as he left the guestroom.

“Anita’s making food,” I yawned as I spoke, the full force of my exhaustion hit me all at once.

“Great,” he ruffled my already tangled hair on the way by. “Go get cleaned up, kid.”

“Yes, sir,” I entered the guest room and went for my bag that was placed neatly on the foot of my bed. I wasn’t too excited to be back in the room where I’d had my first close encounter with my monster, but I didn’t have another option.

My hands reached around and found some underwear. The softest shirt I’d packed and some heather gray sweats.

This’ll do.

Back down the hall, I locked myself in the bathroom. The wad of clean clothes was set on the edge of the vanity before I went for the shower controls. This was my least favorite part of staying at someone else’s house—figuring out the shower. It always took forever.

The knobs turned easily and though it took me a bit to figure out what mixture made the perfect scalding temperature, I finally got it and was able to sus out how to make the water stream down from the shower head instead of the faucet.

As soon as I stripped, I was under the hot water. My muscles sang with appreciation. I’d been cold for so long I swore I forgot what actual warmth felt like.

The shivers I’d been ignoring stopped and I finally felt okay to search through the bottles on the built-in ledges for shampoo. I found Anita’s green apple and pear herbal mixture and thought I’d give it a try.

My arms screamed at me as I worked every inch of my long hair into a lather. I also picked out the bits of twigs and leaves that had nestled themselves into the strands on the way through the woods. That took a while. I swore half the damn forest was in my hair.

When I was done, I washed out the lather and tended to the scrapes on my legs with body wash. I probably should have asked for Neosporin, but my legs were already having issue holding me up as is and I didn’t want to hit the stairs more than I had to.

I didn’t turn off the water until the air was so steam logged that I could barely breathe. My lungs struggled to draw a decent breath as I stepped out onto the bath mat to grab a towel and dry myself off.

For the night being as horrible as it was, I felt somewhat content as I got dressed. Other than feeling the loss of Samuel, the only cloud over my head was that this serenity I was feeling wouldn’t last, either do to a maniac with a knife, or by way of children’s services. I did my best to convince myself to deal with those when the time came and just to be happy with where I was right now.

I was safe, I was with people that cared about me, and I finally felt cleansed of the day for the most part. I wished I could share my conversation with Janice, with Samuel—he’d be sure to have some hilarious opinion on the matter.

I tried to think of what he’d say as I cracked the door for some air and towel dried my hair. I didn’t want to soak my pillows when I finally got to lay down. I hoped that would be soon.

My hunger lessened as me need for sleep grew. I knew I probably should head down and eat, but I needed to shut down more.

The floor of the hall creaked as I made my way back to my room to grab my meds so I could take them before I ate. The three pills felt heavy in my hand. I didn’t know why I took them anymore—they didn’t make what I saw or heard go away. They just made me tired all the time and gave me stomach aches in the morning.

On my way back to the stairs, I could see into Ray’s room. The desk light he kept on next to his giant bean bag was on and spotlighted a glass of water perched on the small table where it sat.

Perfect.

I veered into Ray’s room, grabbed the glass and filled my mouth with water so I could drop the pills in. I had done this enough that I could take all three at once. It lessened the chalky taste that they all had.

With that done I looked around the room while I set the glass back on the table. It was eclectic and messy as always. Almost every flat surface had stuff strewn on it and it smelled vaguely like the cologne Frank and gotten Ray for his last birthday since he was ‘becoming a man’.

It was cozy in here, a mixture of fabrics, colors, and textures. I didn’t want to leave. My legs were near the point they were going to give out again, and as much as I wanted to spend all the time I could with the Vena’s I needed to rest.

I shuffled over to the bed and pulled the patchwork quilt that Anita had made for Ray when he was a baby off the mattress and into my arms. It was one of those perfect blankets. Not too thick, or too thin, soft, and large enough to cover me while I curled up in my second favorite spot to be in here: the bean bag chair.

I didn’t think it would be fair to take Ray’s bed. the bean bag chair was just as comfortable and nearly as wide. I could fit in it without touching the floor and with the quilt it would be the perfect place to crash.

I flopped onto the black velvet and drew my legs to my chest. I spread the quilt over my body and left just my eyes out from under the blanket.

Oh God. This is what I need.

I yawned immediately. Yeah, there was no will in me to move from this spot for at least a few hours. My eyes shut firmly and left me with the flesh-toned glow of the light through my eyelids. My hand briefly left the warmth of the quilt to angle the light away from the bean bag before I tucked it back under my chin.

That’s perfect.

I drifted off quickly. It was interesting to feel myself slip further and further from consciousness. All too soon I said goodbye to the soothing sounds of Ray’s room and headed for the peaceful quiet of sleep.

It was the harsh light through the bay window that woke me up. I felt like I could have kept sleeping for years, but not with the room being as bright as it was.

I was snuggled into the bean bag, still curled into myself. there was a curious pressure against my shins. It asked to be investigated. My arm stretched out from under the quilt and down my leg to the pressure.

Soft, short hair under my fingers pulled a sleepy smile from me. I cracked open an eye, despite my distance for the sun and saw Ray laid out on the floor under his comforter.

I ran my short nails through his black hair lightly. I wanted to show my affection without waking him. His dark brows furrowed and twitched in response, so I stilled. I had no idea when he came up and found me here, so I didn’t want to wake him.

After a few moments his expression relaxed. I stroked his hair some more. It was his favorite thing I did while we relaxed and watched TV or a movie…besides making out.

Ray ‘hmmm’d and stirred again. I stilled once more and paused mid-stroke. My fingers were still wound in his slightly stiff hair, unwashed from the previous day. There was still product in it that he used to slick the longer parts back.

“Why’d you stop,” he mumbled and pushed his limbs out into a large stretch. His head lifted slightly from my legs due to the force before he relaxed again.

“I was trying not to wake you up,” I whispered back and tugged lightly on the shock of hair that was still in my grasp.

“Ship has sailed. Keep going,” his voice was raspy and thick with sleep.

“Wow, needy much?” I giggled quietly and resumed my earlier action.

“Yup,” he tented his legs and pushed himself, so his head rested on my knee. “Better,” he yawned and from his profile I could see him smile.

“Sorry I passed out last night,” I lightly raked my nails across his scalp as I spoke. “I just needed it.”

“’S okay, babe,” Ray reached a bare arm out from under his own blanket and motioned for my other hand. I pulled my arm out from under me and put my hand in his. He was warm and strong, and I could feel my body relax just that much more under his touch. “We saved a plate in the fridge for whenever you want it.”

“Cool, I yawned and squinted down at him through the sunlight. “You need some fucking curtains.”

“Well if you had passed out on the bed like a normal person, it wouldn’t be bothering you,” he chuckled.

“I didn’t want to take your bed,” I tapped the top of his head with a flat hand. “where would you have slept?”

“After my parents passed out? In my bed.” He shrugged. “There’s more than enough space.”

“And then Frank kills us when he wakes up to piss and sees us on the same mattress.”

“He knows I’m on the floor near you,” Ray tented his legs again. the comforter slipped down his bare chest, now open to the cool air of the room.

“That’s different. I’m a human cocoon and this bean bag only fits one. No ‘shenanigans’ can occur.” I rolled my eyes. There was a difference between having slept on the floor near me and the two of us cuddled up on the bed together.

“Two can fit on the bean bag.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You’re gunna lose,” I warned him, but he was already up.

Ray stood and I noticed he was just in basketball shorts. My face heated slightly as he blocked the sun from view with his upper body. He wasn’t muscular in the way Samuel was. Samuel went for bulk—Ray went for lean and compact muscle.

His mussed hair really added to the look as he cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck to get the kinks out. he stooped over me and grinned like a hungry jackal before he went in for the kill.

In just a matter of a few seconds he had lifted me from my cozy spot on the bean bag, lifted me into his arms and dropped us both back into it with him between me and the soft velvet.

The chair was so wide, that even with me sat sideways across Ray, my feet still had something to perch on, and my shoulders rested against it as well.

I looked up at Ray, wide eyed. He rarely, if ever, showed off his strength like this. He usually saved it for wrestling. I had no idea what had gotten into him this morning. He was being more forward than I was used to.

He gazed back at me, a rather wide smirk on his face. That, the tousled hair and the fact my arm was pressed up against his smooth chest caused my face to redden further.

“Told you,” he breathed.

“Huh…not too upset I was wrong.”

“What do I win?” His eyebrows lifted. I know what he wanted—what he always wanted. There was barely a month that went by that he didn’t bring it up—usually it was in a playful manner. He wanted to take things to the next level.

I knew I was going to be gone soon, and that put things in a different light. I didn’t have the time I once thought I had to work up the guts, get over my fears, and show myself to someone like that.

Now I felt like I had next to no option. I knew I wanted my first time to be with Ray—and the expiration date on our relationship was near its end. I didn’t want that choice to be taken from me, too.

“Me. Naked. Tomorrow.”

I could have laughed at the bewildered expression on his face. That was probably the last answer he was expecting. I leaned up and kissed the corner of his lips. It was the best chance to snap him out of whatever fantasy he was having and bring him back to the here and now.

“Seriously? You’re not fucking with me?” The kiss did the trick. His eyes unglazed and he scrutinized my face.

“Seriously,” I grinned.

“Holy shit,” his eyes lit up like he’d won the lottery…which I guess if I looked at myself in a certain light—he had. He leaned down and planted his thin lips to my temple. A hum of happiness erupted from him as soon as his lips made contact.

“You’re too cute,” I giggled.

“I’m not cute—I’m sexy, and fuckable, apparently.”

“That too,” I assured him.

“Why not today?”

I shrugged. I didn’t want to tell him that I felt I needed a full twenty-four hours to psych myself up for this.

“Alright, well, I’ll steal a condom from their room. I know they have them in there.”

“Why?”

“Mom doesn’t like herself when she’s on birth control, and they don’t want more kids.” Ray shrugged.

“Ahh. Lucky for us, then. I don’t think we’re getting out of here for the next few days,” I sighed. I didn’t have a way to contact Kerrie to tell her the big news. Our phones were somewhere on the forest floor.

“Yup,” Ray leaned his head back against the bean bag and closed his eyes. “Now if only I could sleep until tomorrow. The day is going to drag.”

“Sorry babe, you’ll just have to deal,” I threw the blanket off me and sat up. The chill of the room hit my arms and made me shiver.

“Where are you going?”

“Bathroom,” I responded and used his shoulders to push me up and onto my feet. “Then I think I’m going to grab some food. Maybe let jet outside.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs then,” Ray sounded slightly upset I left his lap.

“Why’re you all pouty?” I chuckled. His bottom lip stuck out and his eyes were all big and sad.

“I was comfy,” Ray shrugged the quilt off him and piled it up on the side of the bean bag. He looked down at his feet and sighed heavily.

I don’t know what possessed me to do so, but one second I nudged his calf with my foot, and the next I flashed my boobs at him when he looked up. Nothing more than a quick peek, it wasn’t like I stood there with my tits hanging out—especially when the door was cracked open. Just enough that from the shocked expression I got in return, he had seen what I intended.

“Happy, now?”

Ray nodded and gave me the stupidest beaming grin I had ever seen. If I had known it was this easy to make him happy…I don’t know. I doubt I would have promised the Full Monty any earlier, but I’d have had more fun with teases and tidbits.

“Good,” I patted him on the top of his head and went down the hall and laughed to myself quietly. It was hilarious how a simple flash of the nipple could change the mood of a sixteen-year old boy.

Samuel and Kerrie were right.

I hit the foyer about ten minutes later. I had decided to get dressed and put some makeup on. I felt weirder about being bare faced in front of Ray than I did about flashing him, which was odd. I usually kept my chest so obscured because of my feelings about my breasts that you couldn’t tell I had any at all.

Now makeup was the issue?

Christ, I’m back-asswards.

I decided to forego the flannel today since I didn’t think frank would let us leave the house and just settled for a pair of dark jeans and the tightest t-shirt I packed, which was only one size too big. No sense in hiding my boobs now. As much as the sweats would be comfier, and the shirt was one of my least worn, I wanted to keep Ray’s mind on tomorrow.

Jett met me at the entrance to the great room with a soft ‘boof’ and a tail wag. I patted the top of his head gently and ran my palm over the ridge there with a smile.

“Morning, handsome,” I gave the white stripe that ran between his eyes a kiss.

“Should I be jealous?” Ray called out from the kitchen.

“Naw, I only have eyes for you, babe.”

The microwave beeped. I skirted around Jett to make it into the kitchen as fast as possible. The scent of bacon drew me into the light, airy kitchen.

My plate was already placed on the table that sat in the breakfast nook. Ray was in the chair across from it. His leg bounced as he waited for me, still only in his shorts.

“Oh, breakfast and a show, then? Lucky me,” I grinned and took my seat. I stared at the plate of bacon, eggs and waffles. My stomach growled. I wasn’t sure this was going to be enough to sate me but from the noises upstairs, either Frank or Anita would be down soon enough.

“I aim to please,” Ray pointed to my plate. “I slaved over a hot microwave for that, ya know.”

“I can tell. It’s very toasty,” I grabbed the fork laid out next to the plate and dug in.

Breakfast fare was my favorite part of eating at the Vena’s house. Frank always said he had enough shitty powdered eggs in the Marines to last a lifetime. He always cooked things he was served often while he was in but got a kick out of doing them better.

I guess the biggest affront to cooking was the breakfast food since that’s what he mainly chose. None of us minded, though. It was always delicious and was usually followed up by the four of us chilling on the couch as we watched some stupid horror movie.

Ray smiled as he watched me eat. I wondered if that’s what love was—being so stupidly entertained as you watch your partner do something as simple as eating. If it was, then Ray loved me a lot because he never took his eyes off me. Not even when a grumbled ‘good morning’ came from across the kitchen.

“Hey Frank! Great eggs,” I covered my mouth as I spoke.

“Thanks. They were better five hours ago when they were fresh,” he chuckled. “Couldn’t make it back down?”

“Stairs would have been a problem. I took my meds and just passed out where I was standing.”

“Gotcha. Have a good night on the floor, Mr. Heart-Eyes?”

Ray finally tore his gaze off me to glare at Frank, as if it wasn’t obvious the nickname suited him.

“Yeah, it was fine,” he mumbled.

“Oh don’t be crabby,” Frank swatted the air in Ray’s direction. “Risking pain for you mate is an admirable thing.” Ray perked up at the compliment and I went back to my waffle.

“Morning, kids,” Anita bustled into the kitchen. She looked haggard for how fast she moved. Her hair was up in a giant bun and she wore a flowing skirt and coordinating t-shirt, more accurately, the same one she’d been wearing the night before.

She headed over to Frank and leaned her head on his arm.

“Coffee?”

“Working on it.” He kissed the top of her head and went back to shovel grounds into the filter. I looked at Ray and smiled. I hoped that would be us one day in the future after our careers and dreams were taken care of. Just to be happy enough in our relationship that we didn’t need anything else.

Ray smirked back at me and my stomach flipped. He had suddenly gotten good at the sexy-smile thing. Or I was just super aware of it now. I wasn’t sure, but it worked alarmingly well for him.

“So, news,” Frank announced over the newly percolating pot of coffee. “Sophia, the Sheriff and her boys found your and Kerrie’s bags and phones. We’re going to head out in a bit to go pick it up and get groceries. I figure while you’re here, we’ll make this a party.”

“Sweetness,” I beamed at Frank and Anita, genuinely excited for the next few days.

After breakfast we all collapsed in the living room on various pieces of furniture to watch a stupid Adam Sandler movie. We all agreed real life was horrific enough as is and skipped out on our tradition of a horror movie. By the time the movie was done, it was mid-afternoon and time to head down to the Sheriff’s station.

I went downstairs with Ray in tow after I grabbed a flannel from my bag for going out when we saw Anita at the open door. I could hear Frank on the porch as he yelled at someone further away from the sound of the return shouts.

“Ma?” Ray moved around me to stand next to Anita at the door and immediately the commotion outside grew louder. Multiple voices shouted Ray’s name and even a few asked for me.

Reporters. Great.

I walked up to the frosted glass and peeked my head out of the frame. I could see a news truck all the way from Salem, and some locals down at the end of the driveway as well.

Franks hulking frame blocked most of them but at least one saw me and decided to announce that to the rest of the flock.

“What the—“ Frank turned and saw Ray and I as we peeked outside and pointed to the back of the house. His eyes managed to be both wide and menacing. I wasn’t going to argue.

We walked hand-in-hand to the living room and squished onto the one sofa cushion Jett hadn’t taken up to wait and be told what-was-what. Ray looked down at the flannel in my hands and sighed:

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere.”

“Probably not,” I threw the shirt behind me at the back of the couch. There was no point to hold onto it if we were going to be stuck inside.

The front door slammed. We both jumped and froze as Frank strode into the room, his hands clenched into fists.

“I fucking hate reporters,” he growled.

Anita walked in after him and leaned against the entry to the living room. “So, what’s the plan? We need to go grocery shopping no matter what.”

“I know, I know,” Frank looked to the ceiling like it was going to tell him the answer.

“We can leave them here,” Anita suggested. “They’re sixteen. If they don’t answer the door, what’s the harm?”

Frank blinked a few times then looked back to his wife.

“You want to leave them here alone?”

“They’re good kids, and besides—Jet’ll bite the shit out of whoever steps in here,” Anita’s lips curved into a smile as she approached Frank and wrapped her slim arms around his waist.

Frank stared at us for a long moment. It was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. Its like he knew we had made the decision to have sex; like he saw into our souls.

Finally, his shoulders relaxed, and he looked down at Anita:

“You sure?”

“They’ll be fine,” she assured him, gave him a peck on the bicep and let him go. “Go start the truck, dear.”

Frank looked at the two of us again and did the whole ‘I’m watching you’ thing with his hands before he left to the truck without a word.

Anita stood there, arms folded until we all heard the front door open and close. Franks muffled yells barely made it through the thick wood. She looked at Ray and simply said:

“Remember what we talked about.”

Ray went red and nodded. I frowned and looked between the two of them. Ray did anything possibly to avoid eye contact and Anita had this creepy knowing smile, which I hesitantly returned.

When I heard the door lock behind her, I turned to Ray, a brow arched.

“What just happened?”

“Uhhh, we pretty much got permission,” he looked at the floor. his cheeks were now a stunning shade of rose.

“For?”

“To have sex while they’re gone.”

“What?” I paled. Had she heard our conversation this morning? Were we easier to read than I thought? I had so many questions and it didn’t look like Ray wanted to answer any of them.

“Yeah. She’s uhhh….she’s…yeah.”

“Did she hear us this morning?”

“No. At least I don’t think so. She’s thought this was the direction we were headed for a while, now. Remember when I disappeared the night we found Matty and Dad was talking to the other parents? I was getting an in-depth sex talk from mom.”

“Christ,” I ran a hand through my tangled hair. This was not how I had expected the day to go.

As I combed through the knots with my fingers, I began to mull over the new turn of events. Sure, this wasn’t what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Ray and I were alone, finally. I had Anita’s blessing to deflower her son and most importantly, I didn’t have to worry about being walked in on.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. My stomach did little flips as I settled on what I wanted to do.

“Meet you upstairs?” I slid my gaze over to Ray to watch his reaction go from one of painful awkwardness to sheer elation. I did my best not to laugh at the comical transition, and only let out a small ‘heh’.

“I’m going to go get ready,” I didn’t quite know what ‘getting ready’ for your first time entailed, but I would figure it out. I felt I at least needed some Chapstick and maybe a breath mint.