Boots & Slippers

Chapter fourteen

Rubin's POV

Having the little cutie help, me wash wasn't as bad as I expected, he was really respectful and kind. He's going to be a good friend to me I can tell. He's open and honest but man alive can he talk about his boyfriend. He is so in love, that much is obvious and I'm happy for him. We laugh and talk while I dress but I know that something serious is coming. Just one look at the sexy beast that is Bru will tell you that much. "You ready to go down? Look can I just say something?" I only nod in answer to his questions. "I don't know what his problem is but I will be here for you. If you feel like leaving after he explains, don't. I will come up here with you. We can chill and calm down. If it's too much just let me know and we'll come straight up. I don't want to see you like I did this morning, lying in a hospital bed, ever again, okay."

Jeeze, he thinks I'm a flight risk, poor guy. I'm not, not anymore, not ever again. I've learned my lesson the hard way. I'd seen things on those streets that would haunt the sanest of minds. Sure it could've been worse, I could have been that man under the bridge that three other homeless people beat and robbed. I could've been that young girl in the middle of the street bent at the waist, passed out, bruised and covered in trace marks. I know I was only out there for a short few weeks but it was enough to see the horrors that some unfortunate people have to face everyday.

"I can promise you now I'm not going anywhere until I have a safe place to go to. I can, no, I won't go home ever again. So you have my word that I'll be here for a while. Now let's go see what the brute has to say. Get it Bru the brute" he laughs softly but rolls his eyes at my stupid attemp at a joke.

Shortly after we enter the living room a serious looking pair of best friends follow. Uh oh. Bru sits across from me and takes a breath before he begins "My first and most important question is, do you remember Janet?" He's deadly serious here so I instantly become the same. I think but I cannot recall anyone of that name. "No" is my honest reply. He stares at me intensely as if he's trying to see through my eyes if I'm telling him the truth or not.

After a tense few minutes he breathes, what can only be described, as a huge sigh of relief. What the fuck is he talking about, I don't like being confused and he's confusing the fuck out of me here. "Who is she? What are you on about?" I ask because sitting and staring at me tells me nothing.

He looks to Markus who nods in encouragement and he begins "I believe you". Okkkk. Didn't know I was being judged. He looks so relieved it's unreal. "Janet was your sister. Wait hear me out before you lose it. I need you to listen please. I can't repeat this story without feeling so emotionally wrecked I want to collapse, so please let me get this out" he says in a desperate voice so I comply "ok".

"Thank you. Now she wasn't biologically your mothers child but she was your fathers. Her mother left him and her when she found out about his affair with your mother. Janet was only ten. Her mother hadn't got the money or means to take care of her poor, heartbroken daughter. Janet moved in with your mother and she was a tyrant. She hated 'your seed' as she nearly always called her whilst talking to your father. She mistreated her and made sure she knew she wasn't wanted or needed by anyone. Now anyone would think her father would step in and stop this behavior but he was a weak snake of a man. All he wanted was to be left alone to enjoy whatever whore he had that week or whatever bet he had on. So this left Janet stranded" he wipes at the side of his eye as I sit stunned.

What the... I don't get to process the thought because he's off again "your mother took sick satisfaction the day she told, the now twelve year old girl, that her mother was dead. She cruelly described how her mother had been found in her horrible little hostel room hanging from the rafters. Poor Janet had endured so much. But that wasn't the end. You were soon born and like a beacon of light, you were gifted in the art of dance. Pushed aside and ignored Janet's life only became a shell of itself. The little interaction she'd had before from maids or nanny's was pushed onto you. By the time you were four and your mother discovered you were so talented that you could enter the circuit, it was time up for Janet. Your mother shipped her off to the system." He again takes a deep breath whilst shaking his head.

"That's when I met her. I too was in the system" again he looks to his best friend who nods solemnly this time "me and Mar." This earns a gasp from Enzo, looks like I wasn't the only one not in the know. "We were in a rat infested, hell hole of an orphanage and all we had was each other. I don't think either of us will forget the gaunt, horrified look in that girls eyes as she took in her surroundings that day. She was a broken girl of sixteen. Painfully shy and so full of self loathing. We approached her but it was only me she took to. Mar tried but she just couldn't give enough of herself so I shared my time between both of them. We became best friends and she told me everything, all about her parents and then about your mother. She was a tortured soul that needed love"

"As soon as she turned eighteen they kicked her out. I couldn't go with her because I was only sixteen. It ruined her. The only place she'd ever had a companion since her mother left had tossed her out and she was alone. I tried to make her see that I would take care of her as soon as I could but, well, the streets got her" instantly my mind went back to that passed out girl and I want to puke. My poor sister.

"Drugs, whoring for money, you name it and she did it. I was lost. I couldn't stop her or help her in anyway" by now the tears he was trying to hide are free flowing. "They found her, two weeks before my birthday, exactly like her poor tortured mother before her, hanging in a dingy hotel room. I'll never get over the loss of my non biological sister but my sister nonetheless in my mind. That is why I was so angry at you. Indirectly your birth got her kicked out of her home, not the best home but still somewhere to lay her head safely at least. Your talent led her to be put in the system which eventually led to her death. I followed your career. I've seen you dance but my hatred was never directed at you, only your useless, horrible, parents. I was shocked when you of all people entered my home as you can imagine. I think, and don't laugh, but I think it was fate and Janet's way of letting me get my turn at helping someone escape the clutches of your parents. And I will. I am so sorry for taking my anger out on you. Please forgive me. And please let me help you like I couldn't help her" Well shit! What do I say to that?