How to Fall in Love (91 page)

Slowly, like it’s all she’s ever known, Jaybelle lowers herself to her knees. Anger builds in my chest as I rush over. I drop to my knees beside her, clutching her hands.

“Look at me, Jaybelle.”

“Oh look,” the man smirks. “Two of them.”

I hear a loud crack and jerk my head up to see Genevieve driving her fist into the man’s face. He roars and stumbles backwards. Pride fills my chest and I turn my attention back to Jaybelle. “Look at me,” I whisper again.

She lifts her head, her eyes filled with tears. I reach my hand out and slowly she takes it.

“Don’t you ever get on your knees for anyone again.”

I raise her up and with her comes her spirits and her hopes.

I’ll not let anyone treat her that way again. I vow it.

I
t’s been four weeks.

I can’t breathe without them.

I’ve failed.

~*~*~*~

“I
can’t explain it to you,” Mary whispers to the police officer. “I wish I could but I can’t. He’s done for them what years of therapy couldn’t do. Somehow, he’s healed something in them. They trust him. They
need
him.”

I’m standing in the hall, waiting to speak with Mary. I can hear her talking and my heart hammers as her words sink in. We
need
him. I could have told them that a month ago.

“We’ve got nothing, the case is empty,” the officer says. “There’s no more we can do. The girls are free to go.”

I turn and rush down the halls and into the room where all the girls are waiting. We were called in this morning and now I know why.

“We...we...we...” I stammer.

“What is it?” Ryleigh asks.

“We’re free,” I rasp.

Their faces light up. Their moods shift. By the time the officer comes in and lets us know that the investigation is closed and we’re free to go, we’re already on our feet, waiting by the door. We rush outside, our hearts pounding, our bodies alive for the first time in a month.

Then we realize we’re alone.

We all stop, our faces dropping. What do we do? Where do we go? We have no homes. No jobs. Poor families. We’re alone in the world and like a brick - it hits us all.

“What do we do?” Jaybelle whispers.

“They said we can stay in the house until we get on our feet,” Ellie says.

“I don’t want to stay there,” Reign mumbles.

I turn to them all and my heart hammers as the words tumble from my lips. “I say we go back.”

“Go back?” Genevieve says, her eyes wide.

“To William.”

They all stare at me, like it isn’t something they thought we could do. I take the moment of silence to speak.

“He was like our family, he saved our lives. We can stay out here and we can be alone in the world, or we can go back to him and have the chance to make our lives whole again.”

“What if he doesn’t want us?” Jaybelle asks.

“Do you really believe that?” I say, meeting her gaze.

She shakes her head.

“He was taking care of us,” Peta suddenly says, her voice soft. “He was protecting us from all that is bad.”

“He taught us to be better people,” Reign whispers.

“I don’t have a life to go to,” Ellie croaks.

“I say we go back,” Genevieve suddenly announces.

We all turn to her, our mouths agape. She is the last person I thought would agree to going back. She’s the one who struggled with him the most.

“
You
think it’s a good idea?” I gasp.

“Yes, I think we should go back. He saved us. He gave us a chance to live again. I don’t want to become a prostitute; I don’t want to spend my life running and feeling scared. I want to get myself together, maybe get a decent job, hell, maybe meet someone. I don’t have the means to do that here, but with him, with his guidance, I do.”

I turn slowly to the group of girls. “Raise your hands if you want to return to him?”

Slowly, twelve tiny, fragile hands rise into the air.

My heart swells.

We’re going home.

“S
ir,” George says, walking into my room.

It’s been four long weeks without the girls, and in that four weeks my life feels like it’s gone, disappeared into nothing. I can’t feel anything. I can’t function. My family betrayed me. My girls were taken from me. My name was slandered. It would be all worth it though, if they were here with me.

Ben’s been with me each day, I’m grateful to him for that. My father, on the other hand, cut me off from his business entirely. That’s okay; I’ve been building up my side of it enough for the past ten years, ensuring I have enough financial stability to keep myself afloat for a long time. It doesn’t make it better, though. The person who was meant to give me his loyalty disowned me.

It seems nothing is worth fighting for.

“Sir?”

I snap my head up, staring at him. “What is it, George?”

“You have a visitor.”

“I’m not interested,” I grumble, staring at my desk again.

“Sir, you want to see them.”

Them?

I lift my head, staring into his eyes. They’re bright. I slowly get to my feet, and my knees seem unsteady as I walk towards the door. George follows me as I walk down the halls, feeling as though my heart is about to be ripped from my chest. It can’t be them. They wouldn’t come back, would they? I reach out when I get to the front door, and I shakily take it and pull it open.

Tears burn in my eyes as I see them.

Twelve girls, hand in hand, standing on my front lawn.

~*~*~*~

S
eeing him, seeing his face, it breaks my heart. Tears tumble down my cheeks as I let go of Jaybelle’s hand, and I walk on shaky legs towards William. When I reach him, his finger slides out and he runs it down my cheek. Like he believes I’m not real. His eyes are glassy and his hand is trembling slightly. I reach up, cupping his cheeks and making a strangled, sobbing sound.

“You came back?” he rasps.

“How could you ever think we wouldn’t?”

He shakes his head, and brings my face closer to his, pressing his lips over mine. I kiss him long and hard, feeling my world coming together. The last four weeks, they have felt empty, like there’s nothing out there for us. Our worlds are here. With him. He pulls away and looks down at me, giving me that expression that’s so incredibly powerful.

“You told me you loved me once, Emelyn,” he begins his voice soft. “I didn’t tell you anything back. I spent my time pushing you away, telling you a lover was all I needed. I thought it was, until the day you were ripped from my life, and I realized that I’d spent so long teaching you to be a kind, and loyal person, but I forgot to teach myself. You taught me that. Even through all your pain, you taught me how to live again. You made me what I am, Emelyn, and you showed me what a good person really is.”

I sob loudly, and my fingers curl into his shirt.

“A good man isn’t a controlling one, it’s an
understanding
one. A good man isn’t the one who has a lover, it’s the one who
loves
. A good man isn’t the one who punishes, it’s the one who
explains
. I wasn’t a good man; I was just a man. Now I’m everything a good person should be because of you.” He lifts his head, staring at the girls. “And them.”

I turn to the girls, smiling through my tears. William steps down, staring at them all, his face full of pride when I let my eyes travel over it.

“You all had a hard life before me. You all came from such lonely places. I don’t know that I gave you everything I could, but I know you gave me everything you
are.
My life is incomplete without all of you in it, so I’m telling, no, I’m
asking
you to be a part of this with me.”

The girls all step forward, their hands clasped, their eyes relieved and full of appreciation for the man in front of them. Slowly, they all lower themselves until they’re on their knees. William makes a strangled sound because he knows as well as I do that these girls are giving themselves over to him. They’re putting their lives back in his hands.

They’re letting him be their somebody.

I turn to him, and he strokes a finger over my cheek. “I never said it, but I’m saying it now. I love you, Emelyn. I will give you everything I am.”

I stare at the damaged, beautiful man in front of me, and I know he’s finally healed. Not just from the trauma he’s endured in his life, but from the pain he carries in his heart. I let go of his hand with a smile, and I walk back to the girls, slowly lowering myself to my knees—giving him the final piece of me.

I started off as Emelyn, the girl who lived with guilt and pain because of the life she lived. I am no longer that girl. I am no longer the one who has to fight to breathe each day. I am no longer the one who has a broken future and an empty heart. No, I am the girl who belongs to William. I am the girl who has become something out of nothing. I am the girl who changed the way her life was meant to go.

I’m no longer Emelyn. I stopped being Emelyn the day William took me into his life. I stopped being Emelyn the day I let him into my heart. I stopped being Emelyn the day my world was stolen from me. No, that girl isn’t me anymore. That girl died a long time ago with the demons of her past.

From this day forward, I am the only thing I have fought for. I am mine. I am his.

I am Number Thirteen.

THE END