Page 37 of Beginning Fate

“You don't talk to many people other than Kylie?”

“I mean, sure I do, but a lot of the time she's there or I'm working where my hands are busy when I'm talking so I don't think about it much.”

“What do you do for work?”

She shrugged. “A bit of whatever.”

“What does that mean?”

“Currently, I waitress four mornings a week. Then in the afternoons I work at a small retail shop, and on the weekends I bartend at night. You know, whatever I have to do to pay the bills and put food on the table.”

“How old are you?”

“I don't think you’re supposed to ask a lady that.” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

“Twenty-two. You?” she finally admitted.

“Twenty-three.”

“And you haven’t graduated yet?”

“Nah. I love it here. And honestly, I still haven't quite figured out what I want to do yet, so I just keep switching majors so I don't have to.”

That sounded lame as I tried to explain it to her. What sort of mate was I going to make? How was I going to provide for her? I knew I had a decent savings account established and even had a job waiting for me back home. It was just one I didn't particularly want.

I'd never much cared what people thought of me before, but I did care about what Lauren thought. I wanted her to know that I was fully prepared to take care of her for once, because I got the impression no one really had.

“Does Kylie work a lot of jobs to help out too?”

She looked at me like I had just asked the dumbest question in the world. It would have been comical if it wasn't so sad.

“Kylie’s job is to go to school and make something of herself. She's capable of so much more. I don’t want her to have to bust her butt to make ends meet. She deserves better.”

“So do you, Lauren.”

The look on her face was filled with stubborn pride.

“I don’t have that luxury. I have responsibilities.”

“We all have responsibilities, love. But there are choices, too.”

“I don't want to talk about that right now. One thing you should know about me is that I'm a survivor.”

“And there's nothing you won't do for those you love,” I said, cutting her off. “I've already gathered that much. It's very admirable. I just worry about the toll it's taken on you. You've given up your entire childhood, and life really, to support your sister.”

Tears ran down her cheeks, and it took every ounce of personal restraint for me to stay on that bed and not cross over to hold her.

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me. I'd do it again and make the same choices every single time. She was so small and vulnerable. There were those that wanted to put her down, telling me that a deaf wolf would never survive this world. I'd already lost everything else I loved. I couldn't lose her too. I just couldn’t. So I fought every single day to keep her and prove them all wrong. Now look at her. She's an amazing young lady, and she's going to thrive here. I just know it.”

My heart ached for her.

“Spoken like a proud mama bear.”

She snorted and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

I leaned forward but stayed true to my promise just to talk.

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