Surviving Love (Surviving #2) Read Free

hear him, his shadow came out of the woods. The huge monster walked toward me but I couldn’t see him, he was too dark. I crawled away and tried to run but his hand landed on my shoulder—
    “Ssshh.” A hand was over my mouth as I struggled. I stared at the dark shadow in my room with wide eyes. “Come on,” he whispered, but I knew that voice. It wasn’t my dream monster, it was worse, it was Ryan . He lifted me from the bunk and carried me out of the room. He smelt funny, his breath had a horrible smell to it. Like when Grandpa drank that golden juice.
    Ryan carried me silently through the house out of the back door and into the trees near the water. He still held his hand over my mouth. I shivered when the cold night air hit me; my jammies were not warm enough to be out here without a sweater. Ryan only had a vest on so I stayed quiet because he would say I had to be a man.
    I was scared in the dark, I was scared going outside in the dark, but I was terrified going outside in the dark with Ryan. I shivered again and Ryan pulled me closer to him and wrapped his big arms around me. It felt nice but I started to cry because I didn’t want Ryan to hurt me again and I knew that was what would happen. 
    “Don’t cry, buddy, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” Ryan said softly.
    I shivered again because it was nice he said buddy but I knew Ryan wasn’t nice, so I kept crying.
    He stopped at the edge of the water and stared out into the darkness. I could hear the water lapping at the shore. Ryan lifted a bottle to his mouth and gulped his juice down. He made a coughing noise and threw the bottle into the water, making a loud splash.
    “I fucking hate it here,” he said. I gasped because that was a bad word and momma said boys should never say that word. Daddy said it all the time.
    “I thought I was helping you, I thought—” He growled like a scary animal. “It’s all been fucking pointless.” He sat down on the ground with me still in his arms. I tried not to move so he would forget I was there.
    “I didn’t want to hurt you, little man, but it was the only way I could think to get you out of here.” He let out a long smelly breath and tightened his arms around me. “I thought if I hurt you enough times, the hospital would take you away. I thought they’d say it was unsafe for you to live here with us, but they fucking believed her every time. I mean come on, how stupid are they, a kid don’t fall that many times.” He laughed but he didn’t sound happy. “I saw it, I knew the day you arrived the sick fucker would make you one of his special boys . I didn’t want that for you. I couldn’t let it happen. I tried to get you out of here. But I can’t hurt you no more, it ain’t right and I’m sorry. I don’t hate you, kid, I need you out of here. It’s fucked up what he does. I’m sorry I hurt you, buddy, but one day I hope you will see why I did it. I wanted you away from this place.” He spoke so quickly I had trouble understanding what he was saying.
    He turned to look at me in the moonlight I could see Ryan had tears rolling down his face. I leaned back, a little shocked he was crying. Men don’t cry . I lifted my hand and wiped his face with the sleeve of my jammies and he laughed.
    “I’ll try, buddy, to keep you safe, but other than killing the fucker I don’t know what to do,” he said.
    I stared at his face, his blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight. We had the same colour eyes. 
    “Will you still be mean?”
    He laughed again. “No, buddy, I won’t be mean. But you have to do as I say and never tell Dad what I say okay?”
    I nodded.
    “He’s going to try to do...stuff...to you. We need to get you out of here before that happens okay, because trust me...it fucks you up real bad.” He hugged me to him again.
    “Maybe if we got my momma to come back—”
    “Fuck me! I would love to bring your momma back for you, little man, she’d take you away and keep you safe. But that ain’t