“Stop it, you jerks!” Faith shouts, but we keep going.
He lands a blow to my jaw a moment before I hit him square in the nose. The taste of blood fills my mouth, but I swallow it down. When he stumbles back, I go for him again. He knocks my feet out from under me, but I don’t go down alone. I take him with me. We hit the ground hard, both of us grunting. The motherfucker knows how to fight, but so do I.
We each get a few blows in before we are being dragged apart by my dad and one of the security guards. I glance around to see where Faith is. She’s standing off to the side with tears in her eyes. I want to lunge for the guy again, but my focus is now on making sure Faith doesn't cry. Shit.
“What is wrong with you?” she huffs, coming over to me. The second her hand touches me, I relax, and my dad releases his hold on me, knowing I’m under control.
“He was touching you.”
“Actually I touched him.” I grind my teeth together.
“How would you like it if I was hugging up on some girl?”
“Well, you do it all the time with Lily,” she points out.
“That’s my little sister.”
“Well”—she turns to look over toward the guy covered in tattoos—“that happens to be my brother Knox.” It takes me a moment to process what she’s saying. “Twin brother, in fact.” What fifteen-year-old is covered in ink like he is? I swear I thought he was at least eighteen.
He’s got his arms folded over his chest, glaring at me. I can tell from his stance he is trying to keep people at bay. Not wanting anyone to come near him or confront him either. If this is Faith’s brother, then I have no doubt he did in fact end up in the foster system.
“Be a better man,” Dad says from behind me.
“I’m sorry. I’m protective of her.” To prove my point, I grab Faith, pulling her into my side. He only grunts a response.
Faith is silently begging me with her eyes to help her fix this. If he’s her brother, then he’s going to be a part of our lives. I’d bet everything Faith’s parents are already getting paperwork together to get custody of this kid.
I already know what I’m going to have to do. Knox is going to be my new best friend. Whether he likes it or not.
1
Faith
Both Ace and Knox help bring the boxes into Whitney’s and my dorm room. Neither are very happy about it. At first they tried to hide their frustration, but the façade faded away rather quickly as the reality of what was happening became more real by the second.
Ace puts down the two boxes he’s carrying beside my bed. The dorm setup is actually kind of neat. There are four bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. You have a main area that everyone shares with a living room and kitchen. I hope the other girls are cool.
“I hate this shit.” Ace pulls me into his side. “You should come home with me.”
Ace moved into his condo last weekend. It’s not far from campus. You could make the walk easily. Knox moved in next door to him. They both live off campus.
I had it in my head that I would live with Ace once I got to college, but the moms pushed for Whitney and me to have a year on our own to find ourselves. I would never tell the boys this because they’d lose their minds, but they wanted us to make sure we really wanted to be with our men. To spread our wings and experience life is what they called it.
Neither Whitney nor I have any doubts when it comes to our men, but we figured we should have a taste of living on our own. At least Whitney is my roommate. And also the love of my brother Knox’s life. She saved him from darkness.
He’s changed so much since he met her. Even Ace and Knox are a lot closer now. Knox settling down with Whitney definitely helped. I’m pretty sure they are sharing stalking tips on how to keep track of us. I’m not sure which one of them is more obsessed. But Whitney and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s only a year.” I melt into him. “And I’ll come over,” I try to reassure him. I’m sure I’ll be staying over at his place a lot.
“This is fucking bullshit,” my brother says, storming in to drop the two plastic bins in his hands down onto the ground. Whitney follows behind him, rolling her eyes. “We’ve been sharing a bed for months. And now you expect me to sleep without you?”
They have been. When our parents took Whitney in, essentially adopting her, Knox had fallen hard for her. Her almost being taken from him really ramped up his need to be in close proximity to her. Since that scary night they’ve been inseparable, even sharing a bed in our parents’ house. They didn’t even try to tell them no. Knox had been so on edge, everyone was scared he might slip into his old ways.