Wild Child (A Soul Sister Novel Book 1)

by Audrey Carlan

  “The hand?” He glanced down at the hand that was wrapped and being held by my sister.

  “Scratched up from hitting the asphalt. I’ll be good as new in a few days. Um, do you think I could see him?”

  He gave us a boy next door grin. “I think he’d like that very much. He’s been asking about you. Come on.” He led us through the group of men gathered around and opened the door.

  I walked in and my knight in shining hospital gown turned his head and smiled huge.

  My heart stopped.

  All sound disappeared.

  There was nothing but him and me in that moment.

  No machines. No hospital. No people milling about.

  Just us.

  I rushed to his form and threw my arms around him the best I could. He held onto me and pressed his chin to my neck.

  “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life. I can’t ever repay that gift.” I snuffled against his warm, alive form.

  “Hey, hey, we’re both okay. It all worked out.” He cupped the back of my neck under my hair and kissed my temple. “It all worked out.”

  For a few long moments we held one another. Me standing over his bed leaning against him, him taking my weight and holding me close.

  Eventually someone behind me cleared their throat.

  I inhaled against his neck, the woodsy and fresh linen scent even stronger, but now mixed with something inherently rich and masculine. Pulling myself together, I leaned back and wiped the stray tears from my eyes.

  “Oh, hello there. Whoa. Senator Wright?” Agent Fontaine said, clearly shocked to see my sister’s presence.

  My sister smiled softly, her entire face softening at the sight of my savior.

  “Thank you, Agent Fontaine, for saving my sister’s life. I am in your debt. If there is anything me or my office can do to assist the FBI or you with anything in the future, I am at your service.”

  “Wow. Uh, okay. Thank you for that.” He shook his head as if trying to clear it before focusing on me.

  I grabbed his hand and took the liberty of sitting on the side of his bed, not wanting to miss anything my living hero had to say. And honestly, the view was not bad. Even roughed up and on pain killers the man was possibly the most gorgeous man on the planet.

  “Do you know when you’ll be released?”

  He smiled softly and I watched his perfectly shaped lips lift and fall back into place.

  Dreamy.

  The man was incredibly good looking, and if I didn’t have so much adrenaline running through my system after all we’d been through, I would have been a puddle of goo at his feet.

  “My name’s Jonah by the way. Jonah Fontaine.”

  “Jonah.” I tried his name on for size and found I liked it very much. A little thrill of hope rippled through my already over-sensitized system.

  I trembled and he narrowed his eyes. “You need to get home. Except not your home. Since the perp absconded with your vehicle, I’m assuming your purse, phone, and address were in the car too?”

  My sister put her arm out and squeezed my shoulder. I glanced over to her.

  “You are not going home. You shouldn’t be in that tiny box anyway. You’re moving in with me,” Sonia stated flatly, going right into Big Sister Says So mode. I hated that mode and found the off switch when I turned twenty-one, but she constantly tried to flip that sucker back on and make decisions about my life.

  I shook my head. “No way. I’m going back to my house.”

  “The hell you are. I forbid it.” My overprotective older sister positively vibrated as a red flush encompassed her cheeks and chest, showing her burgeoning anger.

  “SoSo, I’m a grown woman. No, I will not go home tonight. I agree it’s too dangerous.”

  Her shoulders fell two inches and a sigh of relief escaped her perfectly painted red lips.

  I glanced back at Jonah. “Though I’m sure Agent Fontaine and his perfectly capable crew of hundreds can tell me when it’s safe to return. I will need to go there tomorrow to pick up some things at least for the next week or so depending on what they say. I’ll just stay with Mama Kerri in our old room until all this is worked out. No muss, no fuss.”

  “Damn, you’re one helluva strong woman, Simone.” Jonah ran his thumb over the top of my hand, and I felt the caress careen straight through to my heart.

  “Thank you.” I smiled. I’d never been called strong a day in my life. Resilient, yes. Strong, no. Most often people saw me as the people pleaser. The sister always willing to help out with anyone’s desires or dreams but never having any of her own. I’d been pegged as reliable but not responsible. Late but always in attendance. Hardworking but never driven. I was good at a lot of things but master of none. Unfortunately, it was all true. Except hearing this man call me strong gave me a huge sense of pride when I very rarely felt that emotion.

  “Simone, you can stay with me. The guest room can easily be transitioned into your room. You know I’d love to have you. And I’m rarely home anyway…”

  I stood up and hugged my sister, wrapping my arms around her much taller and far more fit frame. Men considered me voluptuous and on the curvy side. My sister was elegance in motion. An athletic build she worked hard to keep. Said working out cleared her mind. I found my workouts by being on my feet slinging drinks and carrying dinner trays over my head, though I enjoyed eating and drinking far more than my sister. Hence the curves.

  “You know I love you more than my own life…”

  “And I you, that’s why I think you should stay with me, in my guarded and secure apartment.” She tried again.

  “That’s not a bad idea, Simone. There’s a serial killer on the loose. And you don’t get much more guarded than an elected official, unless of course you’re the President or a celebrity,” Jonah added.

  I shook my head. “Sorry. I’d be more comfortable back at Kerrighan House. Plenty of room. Mom’s there to feed and baby me. You know how it is. When something bad happens…”

  “You just want to go home,” Sonia said the phrase that meant so much to the both of us. We’d always been one another’s safe place, but it was a bit different for me. I was only six when we arrived at Kerrighan House. She’d been twelve. It was the only home I really remembered or knew. To her, I was home. Not that she didn’t love our foster mother to pieces.

  “Besides, if I didn’t go to her house, you know Mama’d end up at yours.”

  Sonia smiled wide breaking up the tension that had built in the room. “That is true. You’re likely not going to get away from her for a while.”

  I shrugged. “Why would I want to?” My foster mother was the coolest mom ever. Everyone that met her agreed. She was one of those people you just adored being around.

  Sonia nodded. “Okay then. I’m going to talk to the men about perhaps seeing if we could secure a couple officers doing some rounds of the house during their patrols. It would make me feel safer knowing they have an eye on you and Mama Kerri.”

  “Sure,” I relented. The woman would not settle if I didn’t give her something.

  Sonia nodded. “I’ll leave you two to visit.” She turned and left.

  When I focused back on Jonah, he was opening and closing his eyes as though he were fighting a battle to stay awake.

  “I’ll take you to your house tomorrow afternoon. I don’t want you, your sister, or mother going there alone.”

  “You really have done enough already…”

  He pursed his lips and adjusted his position with a wince. “Promise me you’ll give him your information and wait for our call?”

  I patted his hand. “I promise. It’s the least I can do. What’s your favorite cookie?”

  He frowned and shook his head. Sleep trying to take over. “Chocolate chip. Why?”

  “Because I’m going to make you and the other officers that helped us some.”

  Jonah smiled. “Simone, you are something else.”

  “Like what?”

  He closed his eyes
. “I don’t know, but it will be fun finding out.”

  And that was all he said before his head fell to the side and his chest moved up and down in a deep breathing pattern, telling me he’d fallen asleep.

  I leaned over and went to kiss his forehead but in the last moment, strayed down and placed my lips feather light against his, stealing a tiny kiss from the man that saved my life. A man I wanted to get to know better. In every way that counted.

  “I’ll look forward to that,” I whispered and cupped his cheek, soaking in his dark, beautiful features one last time before I let him go and slipped out of his room.

  I couldn’t wait until tomorrow when I’d see him again.

  Circumstances be damned.

  Meeting this man, surviving what could have been a horrible tragedy, changed everything I knew in one evening.

  It was time to live for me.

  Work toward what I wanted, and grab hold with everything I had inside of me.

  And the first thing I wanted…

  To get to know my savior, FBI Agent Jonah Fontaine.

  Sleep slipped away as I felt a weight across my stomach and heat at both of my sides.

  What in the world?

  Blinking my scratchy eyes open, I came face to face with culprit number one. Her bouncy brown curls were all over the place in messy waves. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows, even in rest, gave her a sleeping beauty affect. Only this sleeping beauty was little and a spunky Latina to her core. My sister Liliana slept soundly, her face right against my wounded shoulder but not hurting me in the least. Her arm was slung over my waist holding on. Next to that arm was yet another slender limb not of my own, this one ghost white in color. Her perfectly painted nails were a startling purple and the tattoo she had down the side of her hand of a cross was prominent against her pale skin.

  Her flaming auburn hair was a flat sheet of red against the white linens. Charlotte. Better known as “Charlie,” my serial-dating bisexual foster sister let it all hang out, and often, depending on her mood.

  I lay there for several minutes held between the arms of two women I adored as if they were my very own blood relations.

  There were eight of us in total. Foster sisters. Well, me and Sonia were related by blood. The other six came from all different walks of life. One thing remained the same. We’d grown up together in Aurora Kerrighan’s house. Since we were little it had always been the nine of us.

  Me. Sonia. Addison. Blessing. Liliana. Charlotte. Genesis. Tabitha. And last but not least, Mama Kerri. She’d taken each of us in and since I was around eight, the entire house had been filled with females. From then on, we were just sisters…a family by choice. We celebrated birthdays, holidays, graduations, jobs, and everything in between just like any other family.

  Our lives weren’t normal by any stretch of the imagination, but we made it work and it was filled to the brim with love and sisterhood.

  I’d have it no other way.

  I lifted my arms and put both of them around the two women. The jostling woke them and each one stirred. Liliana smiled huge, her dark gaze twinkling.

  “Dios mio, you had us worried, hermana.” She leaned forward and kissed my bandaged shoulder, and I could have imagined it, but I believed it did take away a little of the burn.

  Sisterly magic. Worked like a charm.

  Charlie on my right lifted my bandaged hand and brought it to her cheek, pressing lightly. “Mama Kerri said you’d been shot.” Her voice cracked, and her eyes filled with tears.

  “When did you guys get here?” My voice was hoarse, and I tried to clear it of all the cotton I felt coating my throat. Pain meds did a number on the body. Damn. Everywhere felt sluggish and lethargic, not to mention the aches and throbbing at my shoulder, hip, and hand.

  “We rushed right over when Mama called,” Liliana explained. “You were asleep when we got here. We didn’t want to wake you up.”

  I tugged them close, closed my eyes, and breathed deep, allowing their presence to fill me up and give me the comfort I needed this morning.

  “Are you really okay?” Charlie asked.

  “How can I not be? I woke up warm and comfy to two of the best sisters in the entire world.” I smiled and sighed.

  “I see three little chicks cuddled up in bed,” Mama’s lilting voice came from the room’s entrance.

  The three of us glanced over where she leaned against the doorjamb, her purple fluffy robe in place, her long strawberry waves down around her shoulders. She had a pair of multicolored reading glasses on and a book tucked under her arm, a steaming yellow mug in her hand.

  She was the sun. The moon. The bringer of everything good in life.

  “Morning, Mama.” I smiled.

  “Girls, I see you couldn’t stay away even though I told you not to rouse her. She needed her sleep after the night she had.” She tsked but smiled through it.

  “We didn’t bug her, just cuddled up and crashed like old times,” Charlie stated.

  “Mmm, well come on my little chicks, let’s get some tea and cookies into you. Nothing like a sweet in the morning to wash away a bad night, eh?”

  I smiled and looked at Liliana and then Charlie. The three of us started giggling like the teenagers we once were. Every time we had a bad night, we’d wake to tea and cookies instead of eggs or oatmeal, which was normally on the menu. Mama Kerri had a firm belief that a sweet treat could solve any hurt, at least for a time.

  Seemed to work as we grew up. Definitely wouldn’t hurt now.

  She clucked her tongue and disappeared.

  The girls helped me get out of bed.

  Charlie hissed as my panty-clad form was revealed. I should say, more that the bruise on my hip came into stark view. It was hideous. Black and purple and about the size of a salad plate.

  Liliana and Charlie both studied it.

  “Does it hurt really bad?” Liliana asked, her eyes filled with worry and concern.

  I shook my head. “Not if I don’t touch it.” I grinned and she shook her head as though she were used to me blowing things off and making light of a bad situation. Part of my sparkling personality. Though I will admit yesterday took the cake for shitty days. I was more than ready to start today fresh and let go of all that came before.

  “Come on, ladies. Remember, each new day is a gift.”

  According to Sonia anyway. She’d always tell me that, especially the first couple years we lived here after our parents died.

  “Be grateful for each new day. It’s truly a gift.” She’d say that when I’d grumble about waking up, or having to go to school, or waking early on a weekend to go to my part-time job as a teenager.

  I grabbed Sonia’s old robe hanging off the back of the door, feeling instantly comforted by something that was worn by my big sis, who—knowing her—would be arriving any time now.

  The three of us did our bathroom routine, the door completely open, one peeing, one brushing her teeth, and one washing her face before we’d switch. When you lived in a house with eight girls, you learned how to share space. That didn’t change even though we were tipping the scales toward thirty.

  One by one, we each took the staircase down to the kitchen where shocker of all shockers, my sister Sonia was already sitting at the table, phone plastered to her ear. The second she noticed us coming down the stairs, she barked into her phone, “Gotta go. Simone’s awake. Yes, I’ll tell her…mmm hmm. I’ll tell Mama too. Got it.” She set her phone down and set her gaze on me. “That was Genesis. She’s freaked out to the max. Her and Rory will be here this evening. She didn’t bring her over today so Mama could focus on you.”

  Genesis was the second oldest at a whopping thirty-one, a social worker in downtown Chicago, and a single mother of Rory, aptly named Aurora after Mama Kerri. We called her three-year-old daughter Rory for short.

  “Aw, she didn’t have to do that. I would have loved hanging out with my niece.” I frowned and winced as I sat on the padded seat at the large picnic-style table in the
rectangular kitchen.

  Mama stood by the metal sink, plants dangling around the window, herbs sitting in neat little pots at perfect clipping distance, though it didn’t hold a candle to the enormous garden in the backyard.

  “That’s what I told her. Don’t keep my grandchild from me, but Gen never listens. Uses that degree in psychology and social behavior to determine that we shouldn’t have more to deal with, when our Rory is not something we deal with but enjoy to the fullest. You can tell her I said so too.” Her tone was indignant but not irritated as she poured milk in some teas, sugar in others, and both in mine because I loved most things in life. If it tasted good by itself, it likely tasted good with it all mixed in together too.

  “Anyway, how’s the arm?” Sonia asked her blue-eyed gaze running over my bandaged arm and hand as though she could see through the dressings and determine if they were healing right herself.

  “Good, good. I mean…” I canted my head from left to right. “It burns a little and the stitches pull but overall it could have been a lot worse.”

  “Yeah, as in dead worse. Simone, Mama told us that the cops think it was the Backseat Strangler.” Charlie slumped into the seat across from me.

  Just as I was about to respond, a loud bang whistled through the air and two sets of high heels raced across the hardwood floors and into the kitchen.

  The five of us stood silently, waiting for the train wreck to appear.

  “We’re here! We’re here!” Addy cried as she practically tripped through the kitchen entryway, Blessing fast on her heels. Liliana reached out to help break her fall but at the last minute, Blessing caught hold of Addy’s jeans and yanked her back toward her.

  “Lord, girl, you almost killed the sprite!” Blessing admonished and I snorted out a laugh.

  Liliana narrowed her gaze and practically stomped her foot. “I am not a sprite! I’m five foot three! Give me a break. Not all of us can be giants like you two!”

  “What are you guys doing here? Last I heard you were coming this weekend and we were going to party! You were in France just yesterday?” My tone did not hide my shock at all.

  “First flight out.” Blessing let Addy go and sat next to me, pulling me into a deep hug. “Family first and my sister was shot and almost killed by a maniac. Don’t think I wasn’t gonna hightail my ass on outta Paris so I could see she’s okay for myself. Shoot, girl, you be trippin’.” She pressed her full pink lips together and gave me some attitude.