Page 16 of Ky
I felt safe enough leaving her here with Chris, but she wasn’t his responsibility. He’d already done more than enough by giving her—well, us—a place to stay. I didn’t need to put any more of this on him. Who knew, maybe he had to work today, anyway. I wasn’t sure I should leave her alone and didn’t have the first clue how to handle this situation.
I honestly sucked at this. Figuring things out right now was making my brain stall out.
“I don’t have to be in until five tonight,” Chris said looking at me then moving his gaze to Ingram before he spoke again. “I was going to run a few errands. If you feel like getting out, you can come with me, Ingram. It’d be nice to have the company.”
“Um,” I said in an attempt to tell him that he didn’t have to go out of his way like that and all, but Ingram cut me off.
“That would be very nice.”
“Awesome,” Chris replied.
“Here,” I said, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket then snatching up my debit card. “Get some clothes and whatever you need. You didn’t bring shit with you and I imagine there are…things…that you might need and all.”
I didn’t have the first clue what I was talking about. I could only think that she would eat more than a normal woman given that she was eating for two. And then she would need clothes and all that bathroom shit chicks had to have. I didn’t want her to feel like she had to go without and I didn’t want Chris to feel like he had to do any more than he already had.
Ingram came here to find me. For whatever reason, she needed me to take care of her. We may have been estranged, but deep down she was family. I wasn’t about to leave her out in the cold without anything, no matter how much her showing up was messing with my head.
I stomped off to my bedroom without giving her a chance to protest.
After I was ready to head out, I left the safety of my room. I heard the two of them chatting while the sound of the water running let me know they were cleaning up the kitchen.
“Ingram,” I called out while I waited to flee at the front door.
“Yes?” She rounded the corner and walked my way.
“No one knows,” I said as low as possible. “Don’t…don’t say anything, okay?” I may have been pleading with my tone.
This wasn’t something I wanted to ever bring up with anyone. I’d kept it to myself for so long that it almost seemed like a distant dream.
Her eyes widened and she rolled her lips between her teeth as she nodded.
“Okay, I will not say anything.”
I gave a firm jerk of my head as if to say thanks. Then I turned the handle and tried to make my escape.
“Kynaston,” she called out, her hand landing on my arm. “I am not as sheltered as you might expect me to be. There was a boy. He…was on the outside. He showed me things.”
I jerked back like I’d been slapped in the face.
“Is this,” I pointed to her stomach, “his?”
“Oh, no.” Her head shook as her eyes dropped to the floor. “You should go to work. You would not want to be late.”
Then she stepped back and the door closed practically in my face.
I left, a bolder sitting in my gut. She was going to tell me what the fuck was going on, I’d make sure of it. I may not have wanted to know, in fact, I would put money on it, but I couldn’t let the unanswered questions go on much longer.
I had the day. Just one shift to lose myself in work and try to get my head on straight enough to handle what was ahead. Today was going to suck, I knew that fucking much.
