Page 163 of Redeemed

Coltondisappearsintohisbedroom almost immediately after Lucas carries Haven into the bathroom. I’m browsing my phone in the loft while eating M&M’s when I realize what time it is.

Fuck.

Jumping to my feet, I hurry into our room. I knock on the bathroom door before pushing inside. “Luc, practice starts in a half hour.”

“Shit,” he mutters.

“I can take over so you can grab your stuff, and then we can head out.”

“No.” Lucas hands me the washcloth, dodging Haven when she reaches for it. “You should stay.”

“What?”

I can’t hide the hurt in my voice, and Lucas grimaces. The only times I’ve ever missed a practice were when I had a conflicting class schedule or when I was sick. I’ve been there for everything—Lucas’s slow but steady improvement, the team bonding over the past three years, and the coach’s countless angry outbursts.

I’m always there.Always.

“One second,” Lucas tells Haven before he pushes me out of the bathroom.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why don’t you want me there?”

“It’s not like that.” He rests his hands on my shoulders, and the physical touch is more reassuring than words could ever be. “I just… We know how she grew up. She agreed to all this, but I don’t want to make her feel the way she did when she was younger, you know? Like she’s only good for one thing.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.”

Growing up in church, I saw the way women were treated. There were countless young mothers who were barely holding it together. Overworked, barely getting any sleep, and with children hanging all over them. To their husbands, they were nothing but vessels for sexual pleasure, popping out babies, and cleaning from sunup until sundown.

As for the girls? Before they even hit their teenage years, they were scolded for wearing skirts that were too short. They were told it was their duty to babysit for free or to volunteer in the nursery during services. After all, they needed to know how to take care of children for when they’d inevitably become stay-at-home mothers themselves.

It was a manufactured cycle of grooming that disgusted me from the moment my eyes were opened to it. After I left the church, I watched so many of the girls I grew up with get married right out of high school and end up pregnant before they even turned nineteen.

It’s exactly why I don’t want Haven helping out with chores. She can help cook if she really wants to, but I’ll be damned if I let her wash a single dish or wipe down a counter while she’s staying with us. We’re perfectly capable of handling that shit ourselves.

Sure, we treat her like a slut and make her call herself our living, breathing fleshlight, but we shouldn’t take away her personhood. I think even Colton can acknowledge that.

“I just don’t want it to be left to only Colton,” Lucas says quietly.

“That’s probably for the best.”

Lucas doesn’t trust him all the way yet, not after what he pulled in the basement. Hell, I’m not sureItrust Colton after that. He’s showing signs of remorse, but it’s not enough. Not yet.

“All right. I’ll stay, and we’ll do some type of aftercare.”

“Thank you.” Lucas kisses me and pulls me into a hug.

I’m only a few inches shorter than he is, but his muscular body and broad shoulders dwarf mine. For the briefest second, I let myself stay wrapped up in him, inhaling the earthy, woodsy scent that will always represent home to me.

When I push him away, he lets go reluctantly. I wish I could keep him here longer, but he has to get moving or he’s going to be late.

“See you later,” he says with a kiss to my cheek.

After shooting a quick text to Colton, I step back into the bathroom to find Haven frowning at the door.

“What’s wrong?”

“Lucas—” She doesn’t continue, biting her lip instead.

“Uh uh, you’re not stopping there. Not when it’s about him.”

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