The Darling Boys (Rose Award Winner) (#Wattys2017)

Lost In You

I stared at the cop cars surrounding my house through Robbie's window, holding Evie against my chest.

I couldn't see Sam or Mom, or even Alan. The cops had all disappeared into my house, which of course, had my heart pounding against my chest.

What if he had done something to Sam or Mom?

"Hey, Sienna." Robbie's voice came from the doorway. I glanced over my shoulder at him and tried to force myself to give him a weak smile. His eyes were on the tile beneath his feet, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm sorry. I know this is your room and-"

"It's fine. I was just wondering if you wanted to sleep over here tonight. It seems like. . ." He trailed off, letting his dark eyes flicker toward his bedroom window, a sad look crossing over his face.

"I don't have any clothes and if I take my bra off you can see through my shirt and Evie will-" I rambled on until he cut me off, shaking his head.

"You could borrow one of my shirts if you'd be more comfortable doing that. And Evie's old enough to sleep out of a crib, right?" I blinked in surprise, nodding.

"As long as there's no way she can crawl off, yeah. I. . . thanks for the offer, but that'd be weird. Maybe I could call Kay and-"

"Why would it be weird? Haven't you ever worn one of Sam's shirts before?" He pulled open one of his dresser drawers and tossed me a big, black t-shirt with his name printed on the front and back of it.

"That's different," I mumbled, "I've heard that if a girl wears a guys shirt it's some sort of boyfriend girlfriend thing." He snorted, waving his hand.

"That's a joke. Don't mind that bullshit." I clenched the shirt in my hand, then slid off the bed with Evie's baby bag and took her from the middle of the bed, walking toward Robbie's bathroom.

"What are you doing?" He called after me.

"I guess I'm changing."

*

Once I had changed Evie's diaper and slipped out of my own clothes other than my underwear, I stuffed them into Evie's bag and headed back into the bedroom, shocked when I found Robbie setting up a mattress on the floor.

"What's that for?" I nodded toward the bed he was making.

"Me to sleep on." He said it as if it were obvious.

"No. I'll sleep on that, you sleep in your bed. I shouldn't even be-"

"You're fine, Sienna. I'm all good down here." I sighed in defeat, climbing under the covers of Robbie's bed, making sure that Evie was situatied right before I laid my head down on the pillow.

"You okay?" He rested his head against the side of the bed so I was only able to see the top of his messy head and his worried dark eyes.

"No," I replied honestly, "I'm scared."

"You don't have to be afraid, I'm not-" He stopped aruptly, as if he had said something he wasn't supposed to.

"Your what?" I whispered. He hesitated for a second, then shook his head with a loud sigh.

"I'm not going to let him hurt you again." I ran my finger over my little sister's soft skin.

"You can't stop him, Robbie. He'd hurt you, he-"