Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

Begin Again

The teen shrugs, tearing her eyes away from my gaze to stare down at her hands as she fumbles with them. I swear to god that for a moment it reminds me of Lizzie and I have to blink to remind myself that it's not. "Their family isn't, uh, cool about them fostering me. So they ask me to stay at home whenever they all get together. It's cool, though. I didn't want to go to their stupid family dinner anyway. They're all boring and homophobic assholes."

The girl's words tug at my heart, and I instantly turn my attention to my girlfriend, who's also frowning, complete with forehead crease and everything.

I gently nudge Lizzie, gaining her attention for a split second as she looks away from the red light we're sitting at. We share a silent conversation and it's only when the brunette gives me a small smile and nod that I turn my attention back to the teen. "Do you want to come to Thanksgiving at our place?"

Olivia's eyes snap up to meet mine, confusion written all over her features. "What? Really?"

I nod, giving the teen a small smile. "Yeah. All of our friends and family will be there, so there will be plenty of food. The band will even be there, so you can meet them if you want. You obviously don't have to say yes and we need to make sure to get it cleared with your foster parents, but the invitation is open for you, kiddo. You shouldn't have to spend Thanksgiving alone."

Olivia doesn't respond right away, and I stay silent, giving her the time she needs to obviously think it over. It's only when we're pulling into the driveway of her foster home that I hear the quiet words drifting from the backseat.

"I...I think I'd like to come."

Smiling, I slide out of the car, wrapping the teenager up in a tight hug. "Just tell your foster parents to call me and we'll try and work something out, okay?"

The teen leans into the hug, nodding her head against my shoulder, voice muffled by the fabric of my shirt. "Thank you, Y/N."

Her words, once again, tug at my heartstrings, and I make sure to keep the girl wrapped up for as long as she wants, only pulling away when she does. The teenager gives me a small smile before telling Lizzie goodbye and heading into the house. I wait until she's safely behind the front door before I let out a sigh and slide back into the passenger seat.

"You okay?"

Nodding, I give Lizzie a small smile, reaching over to take one of her hands in mine. "Yeah. Thank you for letting me invite her."

The brunette returns my smile, giving my hand a squeeze before she drops it and instead lets her own rest against my thigh as she backs out of the driveway and heads back towards the direction of our own home. "You were right. She doesn't deserve to spend Thanksgiving alone. She seems like such a good kid."

"She is. And I don't see why her foster parents can't see that. I just wish I could help her more."

As soon as the words leave my mouth an idea springs into my head, and I hesitate before I turn to look at my girlfriend in the driver's seat. "Hey, babe?"

Lizzie hums, not taking her eyes off the road and I take a deep breath before deciding to just blurt it out. "What if we foster her?"

That earns me Lizzie's attention, her eyes snapping over to look at me for a split second before she focuses back on the road. "What?"

"Hear me out, but you and I both know that she can't stay there. It's obvious they're mistreating her. And you were right, she's a great kid and I can't in good conscience just stand by without doing everything in my power to get her out of that situation. So what if we look into fostering her?"

"Honey, that is...fostering is a big deal. It's not something I can just agree to on a whim."

Letting out a sigh, I place my hand overtop of hers that's still resting on my thigh. "I'm not asking you to agree to it. We obviously will have to sit down and talk about it, I know, but I really want to do it, Liz. I see a lot of myself in Olivia, and she deserves so much better than what she's been given."

I wait, chewing on my bottom lip, until Lizzie pulls into our driveway and finally turns towards me, giving my thigh a squeeze. "We'll talk about it, okay?"

Considering that a win, I lean over the console as much as I can, trying to avoid the scars on my right side as I peck her lips. "Thank you."

Lizzie gives me a wide smile, closing the small distance between us to kiss me again, this time more insistent and slower and she only pulls away when we're both breathing heavily from a lack of oxygen. "We should probably go in and tell your mom that we have an extra dinner guest for Thursday."

Brushing her words off, I cushion her face between my hands, bringing our lips back together. Between my mother deciding to stay since Thanksgiving was right around the corner, to the construction guys that have been coming in and out of the house all weekend, we haven't really had any time alone and I'd forgotten just how good it felt to get lost in the sensation of kissing her. "In a minute."

Between kisses and lungfuls of air, Lizzie shifts in her seat, her hands tangling themselves in my hair before they drift down to my shoulders. There's an electric hum flowing between the two of us and all I can think, feel, hear, and taste is her.
Lizzie suddenly pulls away from me, hands leaving my body as she clears her throat. "We should stop."

Frowning, with my chest heaving, I watch as my girlfriend resituates herself in the driver's seat. "Why?"

Green eyes glance over at me for a moment before she lets out a sigh. "You're still healing, and I cannot control myself when you're kissing me like that."

I let out a groan, remembering that Dr. Greene had me abstain from doing anything physical- aside from walking around, for at least a month. It hadn't occurred to me that sex counted as a physical activity. Fuck me. "This sucks."

Lizzie chuckles, leaning back across the console one last time to place a quick kiss to my cheek before she moves to exit the car. "You'll survive."

Scoffing, I follow after her, semi-annoyed and still very aroused as my eyes automatically fall down and watch the way her hips sway as she walks, the sight causing me to bite down on my bottom lip to stifle any sort of noise that threatens to come out. "You're joking, right? Have you seen yourself, Liz?"

The brunette laughs, disappearing into the house and I'm left to chase her, not even the tiniest bit upset with that knowledge. Something tells me I'm going to enjoy chasing after that woman for the rest of my life.

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AND WE ARE BACK, BABY!

Honestly I didn't wanna wait, like at all, to put this story up because I'm so damn excited to be continuing it! I'll have a few more chapters out this week probably, since I have a few more days off before I go back to work. Here's the dealio, this story isn't gonna be much in terms of angst or anything. Maybe a bit here and there, but it's gonna be much more heartfelt than the first book was. I'm doing this on purpose because the third book is gonna be the one where shit actually goes down. Like what I have planned, it'll be worse than what happened in the first book. Like 10 times worse and you all will probably hate me for what I'm gonna do, but I warned you all in the beginning that I write stories that are gritty and sad, and I fully plan on doing that. Of course, we'll get a happy ending. I'm not that mean, but Y/N and Lizzie have one last huge hurdle to get over before that happens. And it's a big one!

Anyway, let me know what you guys think!

-Commander ♥️