Page 112 of Vengeful Rotten Casualties

“Around Micki?” I laugh. “Not a chance.”

She grumbles. “Fine, but hurry your asses up, there’s only so much fucking Paw Patrol I can take before my eyes start bleeding. Dean’s phone has been confiscated by grubby little people fingers and I doubt he’s getting it back any time soon.”

“Not my fault you showed up early,” I remind her, pinning the phone to my ear as the water in the bathroom turns on and I shuck my jeans back down my thighs as quickly as I can. “She wasn’t supposed to know you were coming.”

“What can I say, I’m impatient.” I roll my eyes. Of course she is. I should have known better.

“Let me shower and get the paperwork done,” I snap. “We’ll be right out after that. There’s a playroom near the lobby for visiting family members. You can take Rin there or something. I’m sure you can entertain her. They’ve got better choices than Paw Patrol.”

“She—”

“Gotta go,” I say, cutting her off without a second’s hesitation, and I hang up the phone before tossing it onto the bed. I march into the bathroom and straight into the shower stall that I just left fifteen minutes prior and right into the arms of a voluptuous, olive-skinned goddess.

Half an hour or so later, Micki and I are clean and towel drying off. I quickly hand her a stack of clothes and tell her to dress in the bathroom. While she does, I snatch up the rest of her clothes and the small things she wanted to bring and have with her here, shove them in a bag and run down the hall to hand one of the orderlies keys and a fifty. As he takes the shit out to my car, I quickly fill out the paperwork I’d previously asked the nurses to draft for Micki’s release this morning, filling in her information and scribbling a forgery of her signature as I do. Other places might give a fuck, but I’ve poured far more than enough money into this place for the nurses to quietly turn their head as I break a few laws and quickly shovel the papers back to them before hightailing it back to the room.

When I return, Micki is coming out of the bathroom dressed and ready to go as she pulls the long, heavy fall of her hair back into a ponytail. “Where’d you go?” she asks, frowning.

“Just checking to make sure Rin hadn’t murdered our friends,” I lie. “Avalon’s a pussy when it comes to kids. They freak her out.”

Micki chuckles. “She just doesn’t know how to deal with them,” she replies. “Rin’s a sweetheart.” I smile at that. She’s not wrong. When I’d first met the little girl that looks like a mini replica of both me and Micki, I’d wondered what the hell my father had been thinking sending her away. How could any father look at their kid and dismiss them? When I look at Marina, little Rin, I'm driven to the brink of insanity trying to understand his motives, his fucking head. Because, though I’ve only known her for a year, I’d die for her. Her and Micki. I know Micki feels the same.

I press a kiss to her temple and grab her cell phone from the nightstand. I hand it to her as I urge her out the door. My muscles are sore. My limbs lax and my head full of the pretty fucking decent night of sleep I just had. I always sleep better with Micki than I do alone, but that doesn’t make me want to linger any longer than necessary.

“Luc?” She chuckles, her brow scrunching up in the cutest way.Why the hell is everything she does so fucking adorable?“Why are you in such a hurry? Is Avalon still blowing up your phone?”

I’m in a hurry because I can’t wait to see her face when she realizes she’s done here. That it’s time for her to move on and find better things, for her to be happy. To be with me and our sister.

Instead, I distract her. “Are you laughing at me, pretty girl?” I demand, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her off kilter as we head down the hallway.

Micki sighs and tips her head back. “I’m not laughing at you,” she replies easily. “I’m just amused.”

Amused is good. It means Dr. Grainer was right. She’s healing. Maybe she’s not completely there, but even the doctor said that might never happen. She couldn’t get closure, and it’s a hard fact of life that some people never get it. Some people are left to lie in the wake of those that hurt them, but I won’t let that happen to her.

Maybe she couldn’t kill my father—her …ourabuser—but she did better than that. She survived him.

Micki smiles easier now. She laughs. Shelives.I know she still thinks about it—all the things she’s done. All the things we’ve been through. Sometimes, when I’m not here, I get reports of the nightmares she has. They never happen when I’m around, though. Something even the medical professionals of Haven Hills have noted.

She’s better with me, and she’ll only get better now with time. The worst is over. Now, it’s time to phase out of this place. To leave it behind and move on.

As we make our way out into the lobby area. We’re almost to the lobby when I get a message on my phone. Lifting up, I swipe up on the screen and quickly read the text Dean sent me, letting me know that Rin had gotten bored and they were waiting outside now. I text back and let him know we’re coming out.

“So…” Micki hedges, lifting her head and tilting it back as she eyes me with playful suspicion. “Where are we going today? Avalon said something about a waffle place? I have to be back by ten, don’t forget.”

I grin and shake my head. No more curfews for her. I step ahead of her, holding back my answer as I push the doors open, and we’re met with the laughing screams of Marina Michaels when she spots the two of us.

“Bubby! Sissy!” The smallest little six-year-old I ever did see makes a beeline from Avalon and Dean’s SUV across the lot, running full tilt with her long golden curls flying out behind her.

I laugh, reaching down and plucking her up into my arms, swinging her with the momentum she worked up until she dissolves into uncontrollable giggles. Micki grins as she steps up next to me and tucks a stray curl behind Rin’s ear.

“Hey, baby girl,” Micki says. “Did you come visit me?”

Rin and I exchange a look and she grins and shakes her head.

Micki’s brow puckers in confusion, but she keeps her tone soft. “No?”

“Nope!” Rin giggles.

Cool, soil rich eyes meet mine. “Luc?”

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