The Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold

✖ Chapter 28 ✖

Monday morning came and I was sore everywhere it counted. I walked down the halls like a rusty robot and I felt like I creaked as much. Sawyer and I had been deep into painting, with a healthy distance between us, when my family came back from purchasing what should have been two key pieces of furniture and ended up being a full room's worth of junk. With papa joining the effort, we finished the walls pretty quick and moved on to begin putting together the furniture. It was close to midnight when we were done and were able to admire the results.

My throat worked with difficulty, and it wasn't just the paint fumes. The crib was in the corner, all white and pristine waiting for my baby niece or nephew. We hung an adorable mobile with shimmering stars and moons on top of it, to teach the baby to dream since the beginning. Toni's new bed was to the side, but on the opposite end we had a rocking chair where she would sit down to feed the baby and rock her or him to sleep. Next to it was the changing table, which also served as a storage unit. Mama and Toni had already begun buying toys that were carefully strewn about the room around the plush rubber carpet. Somehow they found the entire ensemble in white tones that made the room feel both unisex and angelic.

As we all gathered together to watch it, tears streaming down our cheeks while hugging each other, the Martinez Fernandez family realized for the first time that what we'd all thought of as a curse, was in reality the biggest blessing of our lives.

Sawyer left shortly after that. Mama was all too eager to see him go but for me it was the first time that I felt dread in my bones at having to say goodbye to him. New fears were taking root in my mind. Fears like what if, despite his reassurances, he did grow tired of dealing with someone as particular as me? If that happened, good riddance to him, but I didn't know how I would come out from the other side of a heartbreak. I had a feeling I would be even worse of a person than I already was, and that was the truly scary thought.

The other fear was even worse. I couldn't help but think about the bruises and cuts all over him that he'd always passed off as the results of random fights. Now that I knew the truth, I worried that one day it would be worse.

And that one... that one was the crippling fear.

I was so relieved when I saw him walk down the hallway that morning that I left the girls mid sentence to meet him halfway. Sawyer froze, staring at me and then all around as if wondering how to react.

"Are you here to talk about this week's tutoring?" he asked, loud enough for the whole school to hear.

What a save. I hadn't been thinking at all. It was almost November and people were still talking smack about Sawyer and I, and we just didn't need the extra scrutiny. I took a step back and tucked my hair behind my ears.

"Yeah, about that," I said and turned, motioning him to follow. I led him down to my locker where we stopped so I could finish putting my stuff away. In low tones, to prevent even my nearby best friends from eavesdropping, I said, "I think you're right. If I paint a mural in the baby's room it's going to be the final touch. And I have just the right idea for it."

His lips stretched into a smile that made his full charisma bloom. Sawyer didn't look like he had a care in the world, because it was his oyster. As he leaned his arm against my locker, it almost seemed like we were going to kiss and oh, how I wished I could also be without a care.

"That's great, princess," he said. "Do you want help?"

My eyebrows went up. "Well, I don't really have a lot of money to pay for your valuable painting services, you know. What little savings I have will go directly to buying the materials."

The sweetness in his smile turned into something a bit more saucy. "You could pay me in other ways."

I put my hand on his chest, intending to push him away, but somehow it just squeezed the fabric of his hoodie and pulled. As if I wanted him closer. Which I did. Except it wouldn't help abate the rumors once and for all.