Protected By All, Protecter Of One

Part 9 - Protecting Boundaries

I weakly opened my eyes. My whole body is weak and devoid of nutrients. "Hey..." Cash whispered. I looked over the seat. I'm in the back and he's in the driver's seat. "How are you feeling?"

"Bad." I whispered. "I'm weak." I slowly sat up. Cash got out of the car then got in the back with me. I rested against him.

"Right now, we're just waiting for Carter's shift to end." Cash told me. I softly nodded my head. "Hey, let's go inside." We got out of the car. I still leaned on Cash as we walked. He kept an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. We entered the orphanage. My parents are talking with some people, but stopped when they saw us.

"Raine, we have good news." Mom said. She left Dad to continue talking. "We found out that Carter had two little twin sisters. We decided to adopt all three. The girls are excited to meet their new big sister. Come on." Cash and I followed her. There's two young girls in a cafeteria. They seem to be thirteen or fourteen. One has blonde hair and the other has brown hair. "Girls." Mom said. They brightened up and ran over to us. "Girls, this is Raine and Cash. Raine, this is Lucilia and Layla. They are fourteen years old and your new baby sisters." Lucilia is the blonde and Layla is the brunette. Mom gave us all a warm smile before walking away.

"Hey, girls." I whispered.

"Sorry if she doesn't sound excited." Cash cut in quickly. "She's in desperate need of a good night's sleep." I softly nodded my head.

"How do you girls feel about this?" I asked them. We took a seat at the table.

"Well, we're excited. We didn't ever meet our parents. We were given up at birth. Carter barely remembers them." Lucilia explained to me.

"Yeah. It's going to be weird to have someone to call Mom and Dad." Layla added.

"You don't have to call them anything along those lines. It's all up to whether or not you're comfortable." I told them. They both nodded their heads in understanding. I told them about their new siblings. They seemed nervous about having so many boys.

"How do you cope with so many guys? We can barely stand Carter?" Layla said. I can see excitement and nerves in their eyes. I smiled.

"Well, I'm a pretty tough girl. Just ask Cash." I nudged the boy beside me.

"Yeah, she saved my butt one day and we've hung out since." Cash said.

"Are you guys dating?" Lucilia asked, a smirk on her face. We both just shrugged. Layla's face lit up. Lucilia followed then they took off towards the entrance. I turned to see Carter. He welcomed his sisters with open arms. They received big hugs then he came over to me.

"Why?" That was the first word to leave his mouth. "Pity? For humiliation? We were fine, Raine." I felt Cash tense beside me. I put a hand on his arm.

"I did it because you're a good kid, Carter. You helped me and I wanted to help you. You need schooling and all of that. You need so much more than an orphanage can give you." I explained.

"But I hit on you." He whispered so his sisters wouldn't hear. I rolled my eyes.

"If my brothers could hit on me, they would've." I reassured him. He gave me a light laugh. "You can say no, Carter."

"No, I can't say not. I've already agreed. I just had to know why." Carter replied. I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Welcome to the family." I held out my hand to shake, but Carter just gave me a hug instead. "Okay, I need sleep by this point." I muttered after I yawned.

"Alright, kids, let's go." Dad annouced. Cash picked me up. I snuggled against him, earning a giggle from the girls. I'm too tired to care and just close my eyes.