Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(22)

A security guard stepped up beside me. “No, ma’am. This here is Sea Breeze High’s football star. He’ll put us on the map one day. Good kid. Watch him play every Friday. This young man don’t ever cause trouble.”

I glanced over at the man beside me and recognized him as one of the security guards who worked the games. I owed him one.

“Y’all don’t know what she’s like,” the woman started up again.

“Yeah, I do. She’s the mother your son doesn’t have in you,” I replied.

The security guard beside me patted my back. “That’s good, son. Why don’t you go on back in there with the girl? We’ll oversee her momma signing the release papers.”

I shot her one more warning glare, then headed back to the room, where I found Krit watching me from the doorway.

There was surprise in his eyes. He hadn’t expected me to stand up to her. I’d show them both over and over again I wasn’t going anywhere. Trisha’s pretty face had been what attracted me to her. I had watched her for a year, wanting to be the reason she smiled, and making her beam up at me had become a goal in life. Now that I had actually gotten to know her even a little, I wanted more.

It killed me that this beautiful girl who should be cherished and loved didn’t have parents who protected and loved her. She deserved that.

“She’s signing the papers,” Krit whispered in disbelief as he watched his mother from the doorway. “You got her to f**king shut up and sign the papers,” he repeated as he turned to look at me in awe.

It was a start. I had a long way to go to win their trust. But after tonight I was done waiting on Trisha Corbin to give me a chance. If she didn’t want to, then fine. I wouldn’t make her. I’d just be the unwanted friend she couldn’t get rid of. The girl needed someone to take care of her.

“Thank you.” Her voice washed over me. She had claimed me with just a look.

“I’m taking you home. Then I’m staying there,” I informed her. “I’ll need to get my truck back to my dad for work in the morning, so I’ll get Marcus or Dewayne to help me out. But I’m staying with you until Monday morning.”

She had just started to say something when the nurse walked into the room, followed by that bitch Trisha lived with.

The nurse smiled at Trisha, then turned to me. “Will you be giving her a ride home?” the woman asked, but it sounded more like she telling me I was going to.

I smiled. “Yes ma’am. I’ll be giving her and her brother a ride home.”

“Rick is in the car waiting on me. Papers are signed. If he’s giving y’all a ride, I’ll see you at the house,” the bitch said.

“Sure thing, Mom,” Krit said with obvious annoyance.

“You drive safe with my baby in the car,” the woman told me. I nodded that I had heard her, but I didn’t give her a glance. I was too busy watching Trisha as they helped her adjust her arm sling. I saw the nurse’s frown as she watched Fandora leave without a word to Trisha.

Trisha didn’t need her stepmother. She had me. I would be enough from now on.

Trisha

When we had walked into the trailer, Fandora wasn’t there. Her car was out front, but she’d said she was with her boyfriend, Randy. So apparently he had taken her back to whatever bar they had been at when Green’s father had tracked her down. I hadn’t known Green’s dad was in the waiting room, aware of this whole mess.

“Let’s get you to the bed,” Rock said, coming in behind me. I didn’t have it in me to push him away again. He was so sweet, and he had been there through all of this and none of it had scared him away. If he just wanted in my pants, then he sure wouldn’t have faced down Fandora and stuck by me all night.

“If you need an extra pillow, you can have mine,” Krit offered, hovering around me like he was afraid I might break at any moment.

“I’ll be fine with mine,” I assured him.

“Are you sleeping in her room?” Krit asked Rock.

“She and I are going to talk about that. Why don’t you go on and get some rest. Know I’m not leaving and she’s safe,” Rock told him.

I assumed Krit would argue, but he didn’t.

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, then leaned over and kissed my head. “Rest. I need you better,” he said to me.

“I will,” I told him.

He gave Rock one last look, then turned and headed for his room.

It hadn’t taken him long to decide he trusted Rock. But then, after watching him at the hospital I was beginning to trust him too.

“Once you get comfortable I’m going to get you some water, and you need to take one of the pills the doctor sent home with you. It will help you rest easier.”

“You don’t have to stay,” I told him. He had promised that he wasn’t leaving me, but he had a life. I wasn’t his responsibility.

“No, Trisha, I don’t. But I want to stay,” he replied. “I’m going to get you some water. Time for you to take this pill.”

I didn’t respond to that. He stared down at me, waiting on me to argue, before turning and heading to the kitchen. The determined gleam in his eyes confused me. Why was he so bent on staying here? I knew from hearing Rose Mann talk in the restrooms at school that he was supposed to be with her tonight at Marcus Hardy’s party. He had also been talking to her by his locker, and I’d seen him kiss her in the hall earlier this week.