Living with the Grace Boys

Chapter 5

Rae's POV

Sometime later, Isaac walks into the room. I roll over in my bed to face to the inside of the room. I can see Isaac getting changed. He doesn't see me looking, thankfully. He has a nice 6-pack and muscly arms. He turns around to lay on his bed. He glances over to me and he notices my open eyes.

"Hey Rae."

"Hi."

"Shane told me what happened in the hallway earlier. I'm so sorry about that."

"Oh. Yeah. It's okay." No it's not. He saw me naked.

"Are you sure? I mean he saw you- ya know, naked."

"I know." It is NOT okay. Nothing about that was okay.

"Rae, I know it's bothering you. It would bother any normal human being." He sounds so serious, like he honestly cares.

"Can we just stop talking about it Isaac? Please?" I stare at him until I see his head nod up and down.

"As long as Mr. and Mrs. Pikes don't find out." His words are stern.

"Definitely. Where are they anyway?" There weren't at dinner.

His head slumps low." They are rarely ever around. Sterling takes care of us mostly. They just give us money, food, and a home. It sucks, but we stick together and get through it." I can tell that he's not as enthusiastic as he's trying to be. I nod.

"Oh. Goodnight."

"Yeah. Night."

I lay awake for a few minutes thinking about all of the things that have happened so far. It might not be as bad as I initially thought.

*************

I wake to shouts in the hallway. My first night in my new home wasn't completely terrible. I have to face Shane though, and that's not going to be a fun conversation.

I roll out of bed and realize that it's already 9 a.m. I step into the hallway and the first person I see is Shane. He can barely look me in the eyes after yesterday.

"Morning, Shane."

"Good morning." He takes a deep, long breath. "About last night. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to and it's just--"

"It's fine. How about we pretend that it never happened, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay." I turn to leave.

"Rae, wait." He pulls my arm to swing me around. I face him with barely any space between us.

"I vaguely remember us in this position before." I step back giving us more space.

"I know that you don't think it's okay. And I'm sorry."

"Shane it's okay. It was a complete accident." I realize that he inched closer to me. I'm feeling really awkward. He backed me up against the wall. I have nowhere to go.

"Rae, I just don't want you to think that I-"

"Shane. It's fine."

He leans down towards me. He plants a kiss on my lips. I shove him away and run down the nearest hallway. I can't believe what just happened. I'm still running and I don't know where I am. Great. I was just kissed by the boy who saw me naked AND I'm lost in his ginormous house. In my pjs. Nice going, Rae.

I walk around another corner trying to find my way downstairs. I hear hushed voices coming from one of the doors in the hallway. I inch closer to the door, which is ajar. I peer inside and see Mr. Pikes towering over Liam. He looks so scared. Mrs. Pikes stands behind him, but I can't tell what she's doing. I place my ear next to the door and I hear the words they are whispering.

"I told you that this hallway was off limits! And you came down it anyway! Turn around!" Liam turns; his body shaking uncontrollably.

Mr. Pikes unbuckles his belt. He raises his arm in the air and brings it down as hard as he can on Liam's bare back. He shrieks in pain. Mr. Pikes does it 3 more times before I run away.

*********

I run down so many hallways and pass so many doors that I'm officially lost. I don't know where I am or what to do. I slump against the wall and do the only thing I can think of. I cry. I'm sitting on the floor with tears streaming down my face. This day has taken a turn for the worse.

First: I get kissed by the boy who saw me naked that hasn't ever talked to me until I became his foster-sister.
Second: I'm lost in his house. I have honestly know clue where I am.
Third: I just saw my foster-parents whipping my new foster-brother for being in a hallway he wasn't supposed to be in.
Fourth: I am crying.

I sit here crying until I run out of tears to shed. I think I've been in this corner for half an hour. I finally get up and decide to figure out how to get back to the part of the house I know. I walk down three corridors and make two rights. I am about to give up. I just want to curl up in a ball and weep until I die. Why does life have to be so hard for me?

THUNK! Footsteps. I stand up and swivel around until I spot Isaac. He sees me and starts to walk over. I run to him and throw myself in his arms. I can tell that I would start crying if I had anymore tears.

"Woah. Rae, what's wrong?" He wipes the dried tears off my cheeks." What happened? You need to tell me."

"Okay. After I got up, I ran into Sha-Shane in the hallway. We were talking about what happened yesterday and then," I pause." And then he kissed me."

"He did what?" Isaac looks so furious.

"He kissed me so I pushed him off me and ran down a few hallways. I got lost. Then I stumbled upon Mr. and Mrs. Pikes. He was whipping Li-Liam. He was hurting Liam. So I kept running and got even more lost. And then you came and now I don't know what to do." The tears finally flowed down my cheeks.

"Oh my god, Rae. I'm sorry you had to go through that. We've been looking for you this entire time. You've been missing for two hours."

"Two hours? What?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter now that your hear. C'mon I'll take you to Sterling. He'll want to talk to you."

Isaac holds my hand the entire way, leading me down hallways and through doors. We get to the kitchen, somehow, where all of the boys are waiting. Shane is there with his head hung low. Liam is there and his eyes are red and puffy. Griffin has him wrapped in his arms. Sterling is standing with a menacing but understanding look on his face. I don't know why, but I'm not too nervous.