Chapter3

#Chapter3

Everybody lied.

Stryker knew that better than anybody.

He knew that the sweet, honey-dipped words that fell from people's lips were nothing more than glitter and magic when compared to their actions, or better yet, their hearts.

Blossom Hill was a liar. A good one, almost a perfect one, but Stryker saw through her charade. She claimed to be a good person; she was, but only when it benefited her.

Tall, thin and holding more venom than any snake ever could, he was- if he wanted to be dramatic- her enemy. It was a one-way affair. She spent her free time obsessing over how to make him miserable. Stryker often liked to repay her by pretending that she didn't exist.

With long flowing, curly red hair that reached her waist and a sneer that distorted her face, corrupting her face into a trollop-like cast, she rounded on him the second he stepped through the threshold of Kernal and Maddy's living room.

/"You can't seriously think that letting him near any of these poor kids is a good idea./"

/"Blossom,/" Kernal warned, stepping into the room after Stryker. /"Don't start./"

Maddy prided himself on his home. It was always immaculate. Now, he suspected that Maddy was doing everything he could to stop heart failure. The sofa's had been pushed out of the way, shoved into the corners of the room and lining the room in two little rows of six were travel cribs. Inside, bodies sat; thin and malnourished, teens who were a lot smaller than they probably should have been. The two rows of six formed a little walkway. Blossom was at the end, standing next to an empty crib. In her arms, being smothered against her chest, was a dot of a girl with wild hair and eyes that seemed to swallow her face, rimmed with terror.

/"You know in Of Mice and Men?/" Stryker drawled, eyeing the duo. /"When the big guy ends up killing the puppy... in this metaphor, the kids the puppy./"

/"Kernal,/" Blossom hissed, her green eyes burning with loathing as they settled on Stryker. /"He can't even look after himself./"

Stryker said nothing. Maybe in the mild hope that Blossom's words would make Kernal see reason; Stryker wasn't the man for the job. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to be there. He didn't care about any one of them.

He just owed Kernal.

Some of the littles watched him. Their faces pressed up against the netting of the cribs, watching the exchange. Some cowered away.

Stryker had never seen the appeal of owning one. They always seemed like they would have been more effort than they were worth.

/"Stryker,/" Kernal breathed, getting his hopes up for a minute. /"They need love and support. I know that's not really your strong suit but I trust you. Just... have a look. Nobody is forcing you to do this and I'm really grateful that you're giving it a chance./"

Stryker scowled but said nothing, his gaze sweeping over the bunch. They were all boys beside the girl that Blossom was all but smothering. She had lowered herself to the floor and the little girl was now sat in her lap, her arms wrapped around Blossom and her face hidden in the crease of her neck.

Most of the boys were blond; there was a big market for them. Blond hair, blue eyes, they were a popular favourite. Stryker ruled them out instantly. There was no way that he wanted anything in his home that would remind him of Maddy.

There was one boy with bright ginger hair. Stryker ruled him out on account of him possibly reminding him of Blossom. That left three other boys, all dark-haired.

/"What's wrong with him?/" Stryker asked as he eyed the kid in the crib furthest from him. The other two dark haired boys watched him through the netting. The other did not. He sat curled in a ball, his arms wrapped around his head as he rocked back and forth.

/"Maybe he's just scared that you're going to pick him,/" Blossom bitched.

Stryker turned to Kernal with a nasty smile. /"I think that she's still bitter that no man would ever pick her./"

/"Knock it off!/" Kernal warned. Stryker was six-foot-one and though Kernal was taller than him by a few inches, he made those inches seem drastic. There was something about the way the other man carried himself that made him seem bigger than he was. Yet, the kindness in his brown eyes was unmissable and a smile was never too far from his lips. Kernal toyed with the goatee that surrounded his mouth; the only sign he was showing about how unsure he was of the situation. /"Come on. Just... put your differences aside. Just for today./"

Stryker gave a curt nod but made no promises. He moved towards the rocking boy, grimacing at the state of him. He sat, like the others, in only a white vest that snapped at the crotch. It offered Stryker a clear view of the dark bruise and wounds that specked his flesh.

/"Maddy and I managed to get them all bathed. They were absolutely filthy. We've cleaned up most of their wounds but we're recommended getting them checked out by a doctor./"

Stryker poked the kid.

It recoiled with a soft whimper, causing Blossom to make a smug sound and reel off to Kernal another million reasons as to why Stryker was not worthy of being in the same room as them.

/"Hey, kid,/" Stryker muttered, bracing his arms on the railing of the crib. The boy trembled; he couldn't tell if it was from fear or being cold. /"Does her voice irritate you as well?/"

For a split second the boy glanced up. His hair was long. So long that the front fell down to his nose, but in the movement parted it, giving way to a pair of grey eyes. Stryker swallowed hard; the emotion that built up in their depths was both fascinating and terrifying. It was like lighting crackled in them and the harsh waves of the ocean raged restlessly. His lip trembled and then the head ducked again.

/"I'll take him./"

Three words. They silenced the room. He felt Kernal's surprised gaze and could practically taste Blossom's shock.

Hell, he could taste his own. He hadn't meant to say it. Hadn't meant for the words to fall from his lips the way that they had. Discomfort twisted in his chest, causing him to shift backwards as that little boy glanced up at him once more. Stryker couldn't see his eyes this time but he could feel the intense burn of them on him.

He shouldn't have said it, he realized, but part of him felt like it was too late to take it back.

So he didn't. He stood there awkwardly until Kernal recovered enough to clear his throat and nod. /"Are you sure, Stryker?/" he asked.

Of course he wasn't. His brain and mouth were enemies. His brain thought and his mouth would blurt them out. If he had a filter in between, then he was convinced that it was broken.

/"Whatever,/" he muttered. The boy dropped his head again.

/"Okay,/" Kernal said quietly. /"Blossom, Maddy has some clothes for them over there in that pile. Would you get Jamie dressed while I talk to Stryker, please?/"

Stryker didn't hear her retort. He knew by the sneer that graced her face that it wasn't a nice one. He followed Kernal out of the room almost numbly, heading down the long stretch of hall to Kernal's office.

It wasn't so much of an office as it was a miniature library. The four walls were hidden beneath bookshelves and besides the claw-footed desk in the far back corner, lost beneath a computer monitor and open books, there wasn't much evidence that the room was used for anything besides reading. Stryker couldn't blame him. If he lived with Maddy, he would have needed a place to escape to, too.