Outpost (Razorland, #2)

by Ann Aguirre

He wouldn’t look at me, as if I had betrayed him. “Fade? Are you mad?” “Not at you.” But it seemed so. “If I hadn’t told her—” “It’s fine,” he snapped. “It’s not. What’s in your head right now?” “I probably had it coming,” he bit out. “Tegan’s fine. You’re fine. Even Stalker seems to get along with his foster dad. And I was smart-mouthed, angry, because—” He gestured between us. Because of us. Because of me. “So it probably had something to do with my attitude.” He shrugged. I was already shaking my head. “No matter what you said to him or how you said it, this wasn’t right. It was his failure, not yours. It wasn’t your fault.” He hid so much, this boy of mine. I took a step toward him and before I could move again, he did, and then he was in my arms. He couldn’t stand for anyone but me to touch him. And so, I held him carefully, wondering if I’d ever hurt him with a casual caress. Not that he would’ve shown me. He had suffered unimaginable pain already, and these scars would add to the many he’d collected over the years. Fade dropped his head just enough, resting his chin on my shoulder, and we stood that way until I heard Momma Oaks moving about in the dining room.