Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“He kicked you out,” Zach said softly.

I nodded.

“And your mom?”

“She chased after me when I left,” I murmured. “I actually thought she was coming after me to tell me she’d chosen me.”

“What happened?” Zach asked quietly. I thought I felt his palm smooth over my back for a moment, but I wasn’t sure.

“She just wanted her key back,” I responded. “You want to know why she named me Lucky?” I blurted before I could stop myself.

Zach didn’t respond but I hadn’t really expected him to. My lungs felt strained and my throat closed up as I said, “She said I was lucky that she hadn’t realized she was pregnant earlier because by the time she did, it was too late to get rid of me.”

I could practically hear Zach’s disapproval but before he could shower me with pity, I said, “It wasn’t all bad. She was young when she had me. No diploma or anything. So when my dad left early on, she was on her own with a baby. She did her best, I guess. Got a job cleaning hotel rooms and stuff. Sometimes she’d take on extra jobs cleaning those tourist boats in the harbor.”

My fingers continued to pull the twig through the sand. “And when I was old enough, I’d help too. Well, as much as I could. Sometimes we lived with other folks in an apartment, sometimes we squatted in empty buildings or houses. I guess I was around ten when I realized she was using.”

I took a breath. “The drugs meant she couldn’t hold a job, so then there’d be strings of boyfriends, or guys I thought were boyfriends. Jerry started hanging around all the time and he hated me. He was mean as hell too, but only when she wasn’t around. I didn’t dare tell her since he brought us food and stuff. It was hard to focus on school. I started feeling like I should help us out by getting a job or something. But I didn’t even get the chance. Jerry kicked me out and that was that. I had no money, no relatives, no place to go. No one wanted me.”

I shrugged my shoulders like I didn’t really care. “That’s when I met Bennett. He found me eating out of a dumpster and offered to buy me dinner. I figured he wanted the same thing all the other guys did when they offered to buy me food or get me a motel room for the night. I never accepted any of those offers, of course, but something about Bennett was different. He felt safer somehow.”

I thought I heard Zach draw in a sharp breath but I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the look of disgust in his eyes. “I ate so much at that little diner he took me to that I was sure I was going to puke. I waited for him to tell me I owed him, but instead we just sat in that diner all night talking. When it was morning, he bought me breakfast. He convinced me to let him help me get into a good foster situation.”

“How did you end up living with Bennett and Xander?”

I hesitated, then merely said, “There are a lot of good foster homes out there… and a lot of bad ones.”

Since I had no desire to tell Zach any of the details about the bad foster care situations I’d been in, I didn’t say anything else.

“Bennett’s a good guy,” Zach said. “So is Xander.”

I smiled, thinking of the two men and how goofy they were with me and each other. “Yeah. The best. I think about my life today compared to what it would have been without them. At best, I’d be bussing tables or sweeping floors. At worst, I would have ended up just like my mom. But look at me now. I’m a certified flight paramedic. Even if I didn’t get the advanced alpine SAR certifications, I’d still be able to find good employment and benefits anywhere in the country with the education I already have. I’m one year away from my college degree. I have friends and family who love me. A home in Colorado waiting for me. A new sister and brother.” I laughed and shook my head. “Hell, even the clothes I’m wearing right now are a dream come true compared to the life I had in the city.”

I kicked the heels of my running shoes together. “These puppies probably cost more than my mom used to pay in rent.”

I’d meant it as a joke, but Zach reached out and squeezed my forearm. “You’re an amazing man, Lucky Reed. Your fathers are so damn proud of you already and they’ll be even more so when you’re ready to tell them about the path you’ve chosen for yourself.”