Nina released her and she didn’t waste any time making her way toward Justin and his mother, who looked like she’d passed out on the gross tabletop.
George slipped in beside her and immediately felt for a pulse, sighing in relief when she found one. Taking her jacket off, she tucked it under his mother’s head. Justin sat across from them, his face bloodied and drawn.
She reached for his hand, squeezing it, and in turn, he clung to her. His pain jolted through her, slicing her veins in sharp jabs of electricity. This child had suffered at the hands of his mother’s addiction in ways only someone who’d been through the same thing could possibly understand.
The weight of caring for her was leaving him with dark thoughts; the guilt of turning her over to the authorities, knowing it was the only way to get help, had left him hopeless—helpless—desperate to get away but afraid to make a move.
Leaving this world permanently had crossed his mind more frequently as of late, and the realization sat with a sick thud in her gut. She needed to act, and she needed to act now before something horrible happened.
“The police are coming, Justin,” she said quietly.
Immediately, his eyes went wide, his face filled with fear. “No! Please, Miss Maverick, you don’t know what will happen. Please, please don’t let them take her!” he cried, his voice hoarse.
Now she gripped both of his hands and willed him to look at her. “Justin, I need you to listen to me, okay? I know you’re afraid. I know what you’ve been thinking about doing because you don’t see a way out. I’ve thought those thoughts, too…only as far back as a year or so.” She let the words sit with him for a moment, knowing he’d reject them.
As predicted, Justin stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She gripped his hands tighter and compelled him to look at her. “You do know what I mean, and I’m here to tell you, that’s not the answer, Justin. The answer is getting your mother help. It’s the only answer.”
He shook his dark head, tears falling down his pale cheeks. “They’ll take me away, Miss Maverick. They’ll put my grandma in a home and put me in foster care and they’ll put my mom in jail. I don’t want her to go to jail. She’s not a bad person. She’s just…she’s not always like this, I swear.”
George nodded with a smile of understanding. “I know you don’t want that, Justin, but remember when I asked you to listen?”
“Yeah,” he said on a shudder of a breath.
Swallowing hard, she was about to share something with this boy, something that hurt so much, she’d never told a living soul, not anyone but Gladys. “I…”
Squaring her shoulders, she sat up straight and remembered this boy, this gentle, animal-loving, tortured boy, needed a wakeup call.
“I come from an abusive home. Maybe not the same kind of abuse you come from. Abuse comes in many forms, though alcohol played a huge part in it, but my father was a horrible human being. A terrible, awful man.”
“But my mother’s not terrible, Miss Maverick. She’s not always this way! I’m telling you the truth. I swear.”
Smoothing her fingers over the back of his hand, she fought to keep him calm and centered. “I know that. We do have differences, but we have a buttload of similarities, too, Justin. My father hurt my mother—all the time. Sometimes he beat her so badly, I almost didn’t recognize her.”
A flash of a picture of her mother, bruised, swollen and battered, flitted through her mind’s eyes.
Justin gulped, but he didn’t say anything.
“And when someone called the authorities, he made me lie and say she fell.”
Justin’s face went pale and he blanched. “What…what happened to her?”
“She died, Justin.”
Because of me.
Because of me.
Chapter 18
“I’m sorry, Miss Maverick,” he whispered.
“It’s not your fault.” It’s mine. “Here’s why I’m telling you this. Maybe she could have been helped if I’d told the truth.”
His eyes searched hers. “But my mother doesn’t hit me, Miss Maverick. She just gets…she drinks…a lot.”
Her smile was one of sympathy. “The type of addiction isn’t the point, honey—not in the way you’re thinking. My father was an alcoholic, too. A violent, raging drunk. Your mother might not be violent, but what she’s doing is just as harmful to both of you. I mean, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, is it? Where she’s put herself in harm’s way because there are jerks all over the place looking to take advantage of her drunken state? This isn’t your first phone call from Lonnie.”
Looking to his mother, his eyes sad, Justin shook his head. “No. It’s not the first time.”
“The point is, if your mother doesn’t get help, she’ll end up dead, and it sucks to be the one with the burden of telling someone the truth about her, and I think I’m right when I say you desperately want to get her help, but you have to tell the truth to the authorities in order to do that, Justin. If you don’t, you’ll keep getting calls from people like Lonnie until you don’t get any more calls, or you’re not around to take the call and save her.”
God, she hated the guilt that placed on him. Hated that he had to take charge, but if he didn’t…
“None of this should be on your shoulders,” she continued. “None of it should be your responsibility, but a spade is a spade and I’m not going to lie. Only you can get the ball rolling. If it doesn’t work, that’s not on you. She has to do the work after that, and there are lots of programs and people to help you both. But the reality is, you can’t cover for her anymore. I know you do it out of love, Justin. I did, too. For a long, long time.”
For too long. Over and over, she’d covered her father’s sins for her mother. Because she’d begged George not to upset the apple cart.
Victoria Maverick had paid for those secrets with her life, and in the rubble, she’d left behind her broken, haunted daughter.
“I…I can’t tell the truth. If I do, she could serve time. I see it happen all the time with the kids in the program with Mr. Bridger. I won’t turn her in, and you can’t make me,” he protested, the stubborn tone of his voice bringing back myriad memories for her.
God, it was so unfair that he had to take on this burden. It was selfish of his mother to leave him to fend for her.
Yet, she’d said the same thing when she was ten and Houston Maverick had told her they’d take her away forever if she snitched. They’d take her away and put her in a home with people who would make her scrub floors and toilets and eat stale bread and water for dinner.
Snitches get stitches, Georgie Porgie puddin’ pie, he’d said, terrifying her, terrorizing her for years to come since that first incident when she was young and impressionable. He’d used her fear thereafter, honing it, molding it and turning it into an entity of terror that took on a life of its own.
And she’d never said a word. Not a single one. Not even on that last terrible night.
Forcing her thoughts away from her father and focusing on Justin, she found she had to fight tears while approaching this very sensitive subject. One that was a trigger for her on all levels.
“But the alternative? The one you think is the only way if you don’t tell someone what’s happening? That’s not the way out,” she whispered, pleading with her eyes. “I know you’ve thought about taking your life, Justin, but it’s not the answer. It’s not the only way out. The answer is getting your mom some help, and I can do that. I swear to you I’ll do that. I’ll do whatever it takes, but you have to help me help her. She can’t go on like this. You can’t go on like this. You can’t keep saving her and hiding her addiction, but ending your very important place in this world isn’t the way. It will never be the way. You matter, Justin. You matter to me. To Dex. To the animals at Furry Gates. You. Matter.”
“How?” Justin whispered, his voice shaking. “How did you know I was going to…?” He swallowed hard then, clos
ing his eyes as tears fell down his face.
With no warning at all, George glowed, a warm light emanating from her limbs, bathing her in hope and truth that she felt in her soul, and it gave her the strength to go on—to convince him he needed help.
“Because I know. I know because I almost did the same thing,” she whispered gently.
Justin didn’t recoil, but he did gasp. “What…what are you?”
She grinned at him reassuringly, her glow brightening, but it was softer now, softer and warmer, and that was progress. “I’d like to tell you I’m something cool like an alien, but I’m really an angel. I have wings and everything.”
“I…” he began, then he clamped his mouth shut, clearly astonished.
But George sensed Justin felt safe, even if he was a little afraid. “Don’t be afraid. I know this is a lot, Justin, but I’m here to help you. I want you to let me help your mother. It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to suck hard, but you need to let her get help. You deserve a future. A bright, happy future. You have to stop protecting her, because you’re not really saving her from more nights like this, and I know you’re at the end of your rope. I know,” she said, emphasizing how well she knew.
He looked to his mother, worn, haggard, her cheek pressed into George’s jacket, her mouth slack, and he began to cry again. “I’m…I’m afraid. I’m so afraid.”
“I know, Justin, but you’re not alone. I’m afraid, too. I’m still afraid sometimes, and I hide it in a million ways by allowing myself to be taken advantage of, by giving more of myself than others give me. But I promise you as sure as I sit in front of you, I’ll help you.”
His shoulders shook, but he remained silent.
“I’ll help your mother get help, but you have to promise me, if you ever feel like you have lately, ever again, you’ll call me. You’ll find me. You’ll remember I’m always here. Right here.” She rose from her side of the booth and squeezed in next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Please trust me to help you, Justin. Please.”
He blinked back his tears as the sirens pealed and voices could be heard outside. “Will you stay with me? Please?” he asked in such a small, vulnerable voice as he leaned into her, and she thought surely her heart would explode in her chest.
She leaned her head against his and nodded. “Of course I will. For as long as you need me.”
And then he snorted and sniffled a laugh-cry. “Crazy question?”
“Hit me.”
“Do you think I can see your wings?”
And then they both laughed.
Chapter 19
“Have I told you how proud I am of you, guardian-in-training?” Dex asked when he pulled up in Marty’s driveway to drop her off after a very long night.
Angels weren’t supposed to get tired, and while she wasn’t physically wrought, George was emotionally spent. Her heart was bruised by her confession, but uplifted by the fact that Justin was going to find the help he and his mother needed.
He’d talked to the police, and after speaking with both George and Dex, they’d agreed the best place for Justin’s mother was in the hospital, where George promised she’d make sure an intervention therapist met with her and gave her the ultimatum of rehab or jail.
Dex had taken Justin back to his place for the night, and with any luck, they’d be able to arrange something so he could stay with him until his mother made some progress.
Turning in the passenger seat of his old Chevy Nova, she nodded. “You did,” she offered softly.
Running a thumb over her cheek, Dex smiled, his face soft in the glow of the dashboard lights. “You were amazing. You said exactly what Justin needed to hear. You let yourself share your experience to help someone in need. That’s huge, George, and you know it is.”
Tears stung her eyes. She’d shared her ugliest secret with an almost complete stranger, but it had been for a good cause and she couldn’t regret that.
“If I keep this up, I won’t need a guardian angel anymore, huh?”
Dex grinned. “You’ll be an expert in no time.”
Yet, the thought left her feeling empty. A day without Dex felt wrong. Lonely. The feelings she was developing were getting sticky, and she didn’t know how to deal with them. On top of expending her innermost secrets, it was overwhelming.
“I’m glad Justin’s going to get some help. I’m glad his mother’s going to get help. I hope she sees it through, Dex. She has to see it through.”
Leaning toward her, he nodded. “I hope she does, too. But if she doesn’t, I’m going to see what I can do with CPS. Maybe I won’t just foster special-needs animals, huh?”
Cocking her head, she gazed at him and his perfect features. “You’re a good man, Dexter Bridger. A very good man.”
He smiled briefly, but his eyes held that faraway look she’d seen before. “Are you ready to have that talk I mentioned?”
She’d forgotten all about that, but she was all talked out tonight. “Would you mind if we waited until tomorrow? I’m fried. I think I need a minute or two to myself.”
He only hesitated for a moment before he said, “Sure.”
Something had been bugging her since the events with Justin’s mother, and maybe she was asking this question because of her. “Can I ask you something before I go?”
“Of course.”
“My…mother.” She swallowed hard, tears filling her eyes. “I guess dealing with Justin’s mom made me wonder… Can I…can I see my mother? I mean, I’m an angel, so maybe she is, too?” She couldn’t bear it if she wasn’t.
Dex grabbed her hand and cupped her cheek. “There are some places even angels can’t go upstairs, but I promise you, she’s happy and safe, George. I have it on good authority.”
She inhaled a deep breath, feeling almost shaky from relief. “I’m so glad,” she whispered.
He swept a tear away from her face with his thumb. “See you tomorrow?”
She grinned at him, feeling a ton lighter. “Wouldn’t miss it. Thanks for your help tonight.”
“I didn’t do anything, pretty lady. This was all you.” And then he leaned forward and kissed her, pressing his lips to hers with such tenderness, it made George close her eyes and sigh.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she clung to him, the taste of his mouth on hers so much more than she’d been able to contemplate even in her wildest dreams.
He tasted minty and fresh, his tongue soft and silky as it stroked hers, and there was nothing more she wanted to do than fall into this place where there was nothing but his lips on hers, his arms around her, and her undeniable attraction to this man.
Dex broke the kiss first on a shaky breath. “Let’s table this until we talk, okay?” he said as he pulled back, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to, believe me…”
Neither did she. “But we have other fish to fry.”
“Like someone who wants your wings, among other Effie things?” he teased.
She chuckled. “She’s keeping me up at night, Dex.”
“But someone trying to steal your wings isn’t?”
“Did you see what I did to that guy back there? I walloped him. I got this.”
“Promise you won’t ‘got this’ alone. Okay? Go nowhere alone.”
George nodded solemnly. “Promise.”
He ran a finger under her chin. “I’d better get back to Justin now. Night, George,” he said.
“G’night,” she whispered, her heart hammering in her chest as she slid out of the car.
When she looked up, she saw Nina waiting for her on the front porch. She waved to Dex as George approached, sloughing her way through the snow.
“Hey, look. It’s the featherweight champ of the world,” Nina teased, winking at her. “That was some fucking punch in that asshole’s nose. I’m impressed, Wings.”
“Do you think angels are supposed to hit people? Is that even a little angelic, Lady Vampire?”
She leaned against the d
oorframe and snickered. “You’ve still got your training wheels on. You’re allowed to fucking fall off your bike. Plus, don’t forget, you are half fucking human. Most humans would have done what you did.”
She gave Nina a playful punch on the arm, dropping down on the porch swing with a tired sigh. “Thanks for making excuses for me. I think that means we’re friends.”
Nina grinned, scooting her over to sit beside her. “It means no such fucking thing, Princess.” Clucking her tongue, she asked, “The kid and his mother settled for the night?”
Smiling tiredly, George nodded. “Yep. All tucked in for the night and hopefully on the road to getting what they both need.”
There was a small silence and then Nina tapped her on the shoulder. “So…you tried to fucking kill yourself? Can we talk about that?”
Wow. Talk about direct. Clearly, Nina and her vampire ears had heard her conversation with Justin.
But it was true. Everything she’d told Justin was true. When she’d been hanging by a thread, she’d decided to let go.
Swallowing hard, fighting a new batch of tears, George nodded wordlessly.
Without warning, the tumultuous events of the night rushed her, stealing her breath from her lungs.
But Nina wrapped her arm around George’s shoulder and pulled her close to her lean side. “Why? Why the fuck would you do that, George? I mean, I heard what you said about that fuck you called a father, but killing yourself because he abused your mother? Talk to me. Tell me. I wanna understand why someone as good as you would even think that shit was okay. Please.”
“I—” Her voice cracked, making her clear her throat and fight for composure. She wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about the details.
The vampire turned to look at George. “So check it, I googled your ass and there wasn’t anything about an attempted fucking suicide. If you believe the articles I read, your father died of a heart attack in the hospital when you were much older, and it was after he allegedly killed your mother. So you thought about that shit when they were both gone?”
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