"Home" -Jaegan

•Mom•

Raegan's pov:

My mom and I sit on the couch in the sitting room. She puts her hand on her forehead.

"You two are close aren't you? He's been here for a while and you haven't told me hasn't he?"

"Mom I-I-"

"Tell me the truth Raegan. No hiding anything anymore." She says clearly to me. She wants the truth.

"Yes been been here for a few weeks." I sigh.

"Few weeks?!" She raises her voice. "That's why you've been so secretive and not eating at the dinner table?" She asks.

"Yes. Mom I'm sorry."

"Where did you find?" She asks.

"The woods."

"Why didn't you tell me? Is he missing? Does he have a family?" She asks.

"I don't think I should tell you." I shake my head. She looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Raegan he's a lost boy. What if his family is worried sick looking for him. You can't just keep him in our house." She says. As you can tell my mom is very protective of me and other people. She gets worried easily and gets nervous.

"It's a different story mom." I run my fingers through my hair. Fuck this is all my fault. I didn't do a good job of protecting him.

"Wait." I say and stand up. I quickly walk over back in the kitchen and see Justin just sitting there. He sees me.

"Do you want to come in the sitting room with me and my mom?" I ask him.

"But your mom?" He asks.

"It's okay. She won't do anything." He nods slowly and I go over to him. I pick his body up and he stands on one leg. I swing his arm around my shoulder.

"Can you try to walk a little on it?" He asks.

"I'll try." We start to move and he puts a little pressure on it. He quickly brings his other foot in front and whimpers.

"It hurts." He bites his lip. I bend down and pick his legs up, carrying him bridal style again. He smiles a little at me. I walk over to the sitting room again and sit down on the couch with him in my arms. I see my mom staring at us intently.

"Do you want to sit on my lap?" I whisper to him and he nods. He adjusts his legs on mine and leans against my body.

"Mom, this Is Justin." I say to her. "Justin, this is my mom." I rub his back. Justin tries his best to smile at her and he waves. She looks at him but then just looks at me.

"Raegan, I'm calling the police. He can't stay here." She says to me. Justin grabs my hand and squeezes.

"No mom. Please can I explain everything?" I ask. She takes a deep breathe.

"Give me my phone first." She holds out her hand. I take it out of my pocket and hand it to her.

"Explain." She puts her phone down and puts all her attention on me. I look up at Justin who's already looking at me.

"Can I tell her?" I whisper to him. He doesn't answer and shakes his head a little.

"I don't want to go back." He says almost inaudible. "I can't lose you."

"I promised you. I won't let anything bad happen." I whisper. He sighs and nods. I keep his hand locked with mine.

"Mom, I found Justin in the woods. And when I did, he was terrified. I did not want to leave him out there so I took him home. I gave him nicer clothes and fed him. I was going to tell you but he told me not to."

"Why didn't he want you to tell me?" I look at Justin and he just nods again. I smile a little.

"He ran away from a lab he was being texted in. He was in there for years mom. He was tortured and treated horribly. Those men who came to investigate were not real police officers. They were men who worked for the lab, Justin recognized them. I wasn't going to say anything because then they would know I have him." My eyes get glossy and I look over to see Justin looking down, tears running down his face.

"It's okay." I say to him. He glances over at me and wraps his arms around my neck. He takes shaky breathes from trying to not cry right now in front of my mom. I told his waist and keep his body close to mine.

"That's all true?" My mom asks as I see her look at Justin. He nods. He pulls his head away from my shoulder and looks at my mom.

"It's all true." He whispers to her.

"Mom, I'm sorry I lied to you. I can't lose Justin to those people again. If he ever does have to leave, it will be to someone who he trusts and knows will take good care of him." I say. "There aren't many people he does trust though." I add.

"So.." My mom starts. "You've been keeping him here for weeks. You just wanted to protect him?" She asks me.

"Of course. We got really close and he said I'm the only one he trusts now." I look and smile at Justin. His cheeks heat up.

"We can't just keep him here forever." My mom sighs. "I need to do something." She says standing up from the couch.

"Wait." Justin says quietly to my mom. She freezes and looks at him. "If I go back there, I'll never be able to leave again. They will hurt me more and make me feel like I'm nothing. Raegan is the only person who cares about me. The only one who truly loves me." My moms eyes widen at his last sentence. I blush and he smiles at me, looking away from my mom for a second.

"Raegan-"

"I do mom." I cut her off.

"Ok, how about his..." She starts sitting back down. "I will keep this a secret for now. But I can't promise that I will have to do something about this one day." Justin and I nod.

"I understand." I say.

"Me too." Justin says.

"Thanks mom." She smiles at me slightly before I stand back up with Justin in my arms.

I bring him upstairs and to my room. I put him gently down on my bed and go to shut my door. Well, not I can stop locking it. I go over and sit next to Justin on my bed. I put my head in my hands leaning for word.

"This is all my fault." I mumble.

"Nothing if your fault Raegan." He says.

"I should have done a better job of protecting you. I broke my promise because now you are in danger. My mom knows so that means anything can happen." I say quickly stumbling on my words.

"We both know I was never meant to stay here forever." I look over at him once he sees that. "But we are together now, we just need to keep moving forward." He continues. I lean down, smiling to connect our lips. He kisses back quickly and I pull away.

"I love you Justin."

"I love you too."

Oohhh dosusbdkshsb 😂 I feel like this is gonna be one of my longest books because I have many ideas ;) hope you enjoyed! It's final week for me and then summer!!!