Read Online Love Resisted (Entwined Hearts #2) by Maria Macdonald - Free Book Online
Authors: Maria Macdonald
Ads: Link
last night. He grabs my hand. “Your face said everything. It told me you were shocked to see that he was still there. It told me you were still in love with him…and it told me that when he walked out with her, it broke you. That face, the one you had last night? That was the last look I saw from Elizabeth. I broke her.” He drops my hand, but I don’t let him lose the connection instead grabbing his hand in mine.
“Dane…he didn’t break me. You can’t break a girl who’s already broken,” I whisper.
He stares at me while working his jaw and squeezes my hand. I don’t want this to become about me, so I speak quickly.
“Tell me about her,” I command in as soft a voice as possible.
Dane closes his eyes and swallows a couple of times and I want to wrap him in a hug, but sensing he needs to compose himself to continue, I give him a minute.
“I was a foster kid,” he starts, his eyes still closed. “And so was she…Elizabeth.” His eyes open and then glaze over while he stares straight ahead. He relays the story to me almost in a trance.
“When I was fourteen, I was moved into my seventh new foster home. It was a shithole. I mean to the outside world it wasn’t. Outwardly it was run by a loving couple who were a middle-income family in a middle-class neighbourhood and who had been fostering for years. For me…from the inside, it wasn’t great. The dad, Kurtis, was a lazy shit. He didn’t work, instead relying on the income he made from fostering and from his wife, Shelly, who worked as a cleaner.”
He stops and shakes his head, still not looking at me.
“Only she wasn’t a cleaner, she was a prostitute.”
I still and wonder what he’s going to say next.
“She was out most of the time, so Kurtis looked after us.” He clenches his fists, his knuckles turning white. “I use that term loosely, it was more like he put us to work. There were three of us at that point. All boys. Mikey was younger than me by a year, and Ryan was a year older. We cleaned, and cooked. They also took in work that they could do at home. Like making hundreds of boxes. Only they didn’t do the work, we did. If we made a mistake, we got a slap, or a punch…sometimes a kick.”
I gasp and slam my hand over my mouth. Dane glances at me and smiles, but it looks more like a grimace.
“It was always in places that would never be noticed, like the ribs. He wasn’t stupid, he’d obviously been doing this for years. We could go to school and do work at home. That was pretty much my life for six months. Then, Mikey, the younger boy was adopted by his aunt. Apparently, she had been trying to get him for years. I don’t know what the issue was, I was only a kid so I didn’t pay attention. But that meant they had a gap for someone else. They had always preferred boys because they were stronger, you know, to do any work they needed to be done…at least that’s what I thought.” He stops and grinds his teeth.
“What is it?” I whisper, almost not wanting to know.
“I think the choice to have only boys came from Shelly. I don’t know what happened, but they took in a girl this time.” He furrows his brow and clicks his neck from side to side.
“Elizabeth arrived.” He shakes his head, but he’s smiling now, really smiling and his eyes sparkle.
“She blew into my life and took over. She captured me from the first moment I saw her, scrawny and messy, big blue eyes, and brown hair sticking out in every direction. I think I loved her the very moment I met her. She was so bubbly and happy and a few days shy of her fourteenth birthday and I had just turned fifteen. I’d shot up and filled out nicely and had been going to an after school club at the gym which helped. Of course, because it was a school club, Kurtis couldn’t stop me. He punished me at home though with more chores and abuse, but it was worth it for that hour long release I got three times a week. I felt all my aggression and sorrow flow out of me
“Dane…he didn’t break me. You can’t break a girl who’s already broken,” I whisper.
He stares at me while working his jaw and squeezes my hand. I don’t want this to become about me, so I speak quickly.
“Tell me about her,” I command in as soft a voice as possible.
Dane closes his eyes and swallows a couple of times and I want to wrap him in a hug, but sensing he needs to compose himself to continue, I give him a minute.
“I was a foster kid,” he starts, his eyes still closed. “And so was she…Elizabeth.” His eyes open and then glaze over while he stares straight ahead. He relays the story to me almost in a trance.
“When I was fourteen, I was moved into my seventh new foster home. It was a shithole. I mean to the outside world it wasn’t. Outwardly it was run by a loving couple who were a middle-income family in a middle-class neighbourhood and who had been fostering for years. For me…from the inside, it wasn’t great. The dad, Kurtis, was a lazy shit. He didn’t work, instead relying on the income he made from fostering and from his wife, Shelly, who worked as a cleaner.”
He stops and shakes his head, still not looking at me.
“Only she wasn’t a cleaner, she was a prostitute.”
I still and wonder what he’s going to say next.
“She was out most of the time, so Kurtis looked after us.” He clenches his fists, his knuckles turning white. “I use that term loosely, it was more like he put us to work. There were three of us at that point. All boys. Mikey was younger than me by a year, and Ryan was a year older. We cleaned, and cooked. They also took in work that they could do at home. Like making hundreds of boxes. Only they didn’t do the work, we did. If we made a mistake, we got a slap, or a punch…sometimes a kick.”
I gasp and slam my hand over my mouth. Dane glances at me and smiles, but it looks more like a grimace.
“It was always in places that would never be noticed, like the ribs. He wasn’t stupid, he’d obviously been doing this for years. We could go to school and do work at home. That was pretty much my life for six months. Then, Mikey, the younger boy was adopted by his aunt. Apparently, she had been trying to get him for years. I don’t know what the issue was, I was only a kid so I didn’t pay attention. But that meant they had a gap for someone else. They had always preferred boys because they were stronger, you know, to do any work they needed to be done…at least that’s what I thought.” He stops and grinds his teeth.
“What is it?” I whisper, almost not wanting to know.
“I think the choice to have only boys came from Shelly. I don’t know what happened, but they took in a girl this time.” He furrows his brow and clicks his neck from side to side.
“Elizabeth arrived.” He shakes his head, but he’s smiling now, really smiling and his eyes sparkle.
“She blew into my life and took over. She captured me from the first moment I saw her, scrawny and messy, big blue eyes, and brown hair sticking out in every direction. I think I loved her the very moment I met her. She was so bubbly and happy and a few days shy of her fourteenth birthday and I had just turned fifteen. I’d shot up and filled out nicely and had been going to an after school club at the gym which helped. Of course, because it was a school club, Kurtis couldn’t stop me. He punished me at home though with more chores and abuse, but it was worth it for that hour long release I got three times a week. I felt all my aggression and sorrow flow out of me
Similar Books
