Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(10)

“Be still. She’s gone,” Krit said, pressing a hand to my shoulder to keep me from getting up. “She probably won’t be back tonight.”

“You sure?” I asked, then winced because I had tried to shift. The pain was there, but if I didn’t move I was okay.

Krit looked angry as he nodded. “Yeah. I hit her. I’ve never hit her. I was scared because you weren’t moving, and so damn mad that you had to deal with her shit. I just lost it.” He sighed and hung his head. “She said she was calling the cops.”

Krit had hit his mother. Exactly what I’d been trying to protect him from. He’d feel guilty about it later. And he’d question himself.

“If the cops come here and see me like this, she’ll get locked up. She isn’t calling the cops. She was trying to scare you,” I assured him.

He nodded and straightened his shoulders like he was trying to be brave. “You need to see a doctor. Your ribs look bad, Trisha.”

If I went to the hospital, they’d take us away from her and we’d be split up in foster homes or group homes. I wasn’t letting that happen. I couldn’t protect him there. He needed me.

“Not chancing that. Just help me stand up, and then I’ll need help wrapping it tight,” I told him.

He stared down at me with a frustrated frown. Then growled angrily. “I’m not a little kid anymore. When are you gonna see I can take care of myself, Trisha? Stop getting hurt for me! I can protect us both. And I want you to see a doctor.”

“They will split us up,” I reminded him.

He looked defeated. “Maybe. But at least you won’t be beat on.”

“There is no promise of that if we escaped from here. At least here I know what to expect, and I have you.”

Krit leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “One day we won’t live like this. We will have a real life. We will be free.”

Tears burned my eyes. When had my little brother become the one who comforted me?

Chapter Nine

Rock

Trisha wasn’t at school today. I’d watched her brother and his friend get off the bus, but she hadn’t been with them. The kid studied me as he walked by where I was standing. As if he was trying decide something. His blue eyes were so much like his sister’s. And there was a haunted look in them that I remembered seeing in Preston’s when we were younger.

Something was wrong.

That feeling stayed with me all day. When the last bell rang, I didn’t head to the field house. I made my way to the eighth-grade hall. I was finding her brother.

Krit was walking toward the door leading outside when I got to his side of the building.

“Krit,” I called out. There was a crowd of kids between us, and I knew if he got out that door then I’d lose him in the rush.

He turned and his eyes found me immediately. Which probably had to do with the fact that I was more than a head taller than most of these kids.

After telling his friend something, he pushed through the crowd and made his way back toward me. Thankfully, his friend continued on outside. Krit pulled his book bag up higher on his shoulder and stood up straighter, making his tall, lanky frame seem even taller. “What do you want with her? She’s not some chick you can just screw and move on from. She’d never sleep with you. She’s a good girl. She’s also got shit to deal with, and a player like you wouldn’t understand. So back off her if you’re just after her as one to add to your many.”

I was impressed. Not once did he falter in his demand. He was standing up for his sister, and he wasn’t afraid of the fact that I could snap him in two. I liked this kid.

“Not after her to sleep with her. I like her. A lot,” I assured him. “Where was she today?”

Krit frowned like he wasn’t sure he believed me. But I could see there was hope in his eyes. He wanted me to like her. “She’s hurt,” he replied slowly, and I could tell he was holding something back.

“How is she hurt?” I asked, wishing I’d not waited all damn day to figure out why she wasn’t in school.

He looked away from me and his jaw clenched. After a few too many beats of silence, I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to tell me. Finally he turned his gaze back to me, and the pain in his eyes didn’t make me feel better.

“Mom hit her. She already had messed-up ribs. And she punched her there again. I tried to help her.” He stopped, and his eyes watered as a hardness came over his face.

Shit.

“She at home with your mom?” I asked, trying not to let the horror pounding inside my chest show on my face. The kid needed me to be strong. He was about to break down, and he was fighting it.

“I . . . I, uh, hit Mom. When Trisha crumpled to the ground, I lost it and I just . . .” He looked down and I saw him swallow hard.

“Did your mom leave?” I asked him.

He nodded.

Motherf*cker. Why did her mother hit her? Sick f**ks didn’t need to reproduce. God should have made that a rule.

“Yeah. She was angry but she was bleeding. She left and wasn’t back this morning. Trisha was in a lot of pain and I convinced her to stay in bed. She needs to get better.”

“I’m taking you home,” I told him, and grabbed his arm and headed for the exit doors. I wouldn’t get any f**king sleep tonight if I didn’t see Trisha with my own eyes.