A Bad Boy's Brother (Book #2)

20. Kelsey

I looked at Sky, suppressing a grimace.She was laid out over my stomach, her small fluffy body stretched out over my stomach. My burns weren't on my stomach, but her paw was on the one on my right rib cage. They still bothered me a little. There were five burns in total from a couple months ago. My left shoulder, my inner right arm along my forearm, my left hip, and my left calf. The one on my right arm was the biggest, and it was scarring horribly. It would look terrible forever. I didn't regret getting it though. A few scar patches were nothing compared to Emily's life.  We had never figured out how she'd gotten it lit. 

Sky licked my nose and I snorted. "Dorky dog."

I hadn't seen Corey or Cain in two months. I hadn't even seen Emily in a month. Every time she saw me she started crying and apologizing and begging me to forgive her, even though I kept telling her it was okay. Kelsey and Aiden came over frequently and Devon and his husband, Dantez, had moved in with me "until they were sure I was okay". It was okay though, because of their baby, Xavier. I loved children. He was almost two years old now, and he babbled off nonsense to me all the time. I loved it. He and I even had a game where he would pull a little on my hair then I would ruffle his hair and mess it all up since it was so long, and he would start giggling, then he'd pull on my hair again and I would do it again. It bothered Dantez that I played that because he was always doing and fixing his hair.

Xavier was a very cute kid. He had dark tan skin and bright green eyes, and black hair. On his birth certificate it said he was Native American as his identified race.

A shrill cry went off and Dantez covered his eyes. "Ryder, did you feed Xavier?"

"Yes."

He groaned. "I wonder what he's going on about then." His slightly British accent was swirling through his tired voice and he shoved himself to his feet from where he'd been laying on the ground.

Devon sighed and watched him get up. "Love you, thanks for taking this one for me."

"Bloody Hell, I swear he gets his crying from you," he teased, smirking a little. I didn't know all that much about Dantez, but I knew he wouldn't accept thanks from Devon. Xavier cried again and he shook his head, walking in to their room where the toddler was meant to be sleeping and leaving me in the room with only Devon and Sky.

I turned back to Sky and my book and stared at the page, not really reading it. I'd be going to college. If I just up and left, I would never have to see Corey or Cain again. If I so chose, I could get them both out of my life forever. Only Corey had been frantically trying to contact me. Every day he would text me at seven, ten, twelve, five, and nine. Five times a day for two months and I still hadn't replied to him. Kelsey had warned him that he would be arrested if I had any trouble with him because of some sort of cop thing that her dad could do. I was completely apart from him if I wanted to be. I closed my eyes. Three months and everything would be over. Corey, Devon and Dantez and Xavier staying here...all of it.

Slight anger flooded through me as I remembered that Kelsey had told me my mother stopped in at the hospital. If I had died, what would it matter to her? She was a drug addict that couldn't even try to do anything for other people. Yet she had come and pretended to care about me or the fact that I was suffering. What did she know? She didn't know how much I was actually suffering. I hated her. Instead of being a mother, she chose to be a worthless druggie. Instead of comforting her child, she let her lose literally her entire family. The second my dad was gone, she was gone.

A ding on my phone came and I looked at it, half confused since it was only eight in the morning. Corey shouldn't have been texting me for another two hours. Luckily, it was Kelsey this time. I picked it up and called her as soon as I saw the message. "Kelsey? What happened? What do you mean you and Jason need me?"

"Just come here Ryder, please, we need you right now!"

She sounded like she was crying. 

I snatched up my keys and bolted for the door.

"Where are you going?" Devon called after me.

"Kelsey needs me, something happened," I managed to call over my shoulder as I flashed through the door and in to my car in a matter of seconds. One thing kept replaying in my head: 

She sounded like she was crying.

* * * * *

I launched myself at Kelsey the second I saw her and pressed my hand to her forehead. "Are you sick?" I moved my hand to her cheek. "You sounded like you were crying." A question hit me and my hand flew to her stomach. "Are you pregnant?"

Kelsey grinned at me, and Jason appeared and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

I looked up at him expectantly then back to Kelsey who was almost wiggling with excitement.

"I'm not pregnant. I'm engaged."