Toxic Rose Thorns - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Freaking out? Me? I think so. I don't know why I feel safe here. The circumstances of our arrival were not even a little bit okay. But the way Maria Blake addressed me back in my office and how she reacted to the kids, tells me she cares about them.
That was the most terrifying thing I've ever gone through and I used to be a military brat. There were times when my dad would wake us up in the middle of the night because we needed to get out of the house.
I'm not sure why it surprises me when Knightly leads me to his room. It's almost as big as my living room and kitchen put together. This place looks like a huge lodge on a very wealthy ranch.
The inside is decorated as such. There's a massive bed framed with beautiful dark wood. The bedding is an assortment of blues, grays, and blacks. There's a lot of space and not a lot of furniture, yet the room doesn't feel empty. It's comfy if I have to put a word on it. I set their things down on the bed and take a moment to clear my head.
"Are we sleeping over?" Aizen asks.
"Yes," I nod.
"Are we going bathtime here?" Ayrie asks. She hasn't let go of Knightly and he doesn't seem to mind.
"Yes,"
"Do we have bubbles?"
"I brought bubbles," I nod knowing that no matter where we ended up, this would calm them. Although, now that they're older they're a lot more restless.
"Yes," they both laugh.
"You have a tub, right?" I ask Knightly.
"A very big tub. It wouldn't be safe to fill it all the way," he confirms.
The twins gasp. Knightly sets Ayrie down and he points at the door. The two of them run over to it. Aizen gets it open and runs inside to find the light switch. Ayrie could never. Like me, she's mildly afraid of the dark. My entire apartment is lined with neon lights that turn on when the ceiling lights are turned off.
"Whoa!" the two of them beam when the light comes on. I take their backpacks with me as I get up to see what's going on.
"It's like a pool," Aizen looks back at his sister excitedly.
"The biggest-biggest cereal bowl," Ayrie squeals and runs inside.
Knightly's not wrong, it wouldn't be safe for them to fill the tub all the way. Especially not with bubbles. Near the giant glass sliding doors at the end of the room is a giant tub that in fact looks like the biggest-biggest cereal bowl to ever exist. On the rim is a golden rod that holds up the spray faucet. He goes over to it and starts the water. The twins love that it looks like rain.
"It's warm," he says. I reach up to test the water. I nod and he presses the latch for the tub to fill. I pour some of the bubble soap in.
"Come so I can help you out of your clothes," I say and pour some of the bubble bath soap that might have just saved our lives into the big cereal bowl.
"Would you like some help?" Knightly offers.
I look down at my kids and a part of me wants me to tell him to fuck off, but I can't. He didn't hesitate to come for us. Granted he's the reason why we were in that situation. I'm hoping he can give me some answers.
"Sure," I agree.
I help Ayrie out of her clothes and place her in the tub. The bottom is rough with some kind of stone. He helps Aizen. My son doesn't say anything as he moves the bubbles around. I fold their clothes while they play in the water.
"It's not slippery like ours," Azien says.
"It's safer," Knightly tells him.
"It's not as fun," Ayrie rolls her eyes at him and he seems to have taken that personally. He sits back to scratch the back of his neck. "You're a cereal," she splashes Aizen. "Aizen Pebbles,"
"You're a cereal," he splashes her back. "Crispy Ayrie,"
They both burst into giggles. I look over at Knightly to see he's completely enthralled with them. He looks scared, as if he blinked for too long they might disappear. I've been there. Every time I slow down to look at them, a part of me has been scared that he'd show up and take them from me. I've convinced myself that I was doing the right thing, that he was some kind of monster. But I never took the chance to actually look. I don't know what's going on, but he's not what I thought he would be. It's still too early to cry wolf.
"It's weird, huh?" I break the silence. He glances at me but his eyes go back to them immediately.
"They're so small," he whispers.
"The first time I took them a bath, I was so scared. They still had their little belly button things," I feel my face heat up. "I was so stressed out, I wasn't able to breastfeed them for too long and it took me a bit to find the right formula. Keeping them clean was a struggle,"
"How did you do this all alone?" he looks up at me frightened.
"I didn't really have a choice and it wasn't all bad. They're extra cute when they're super tiny," I laugh. "All I wanted to do was hold them. All day and all night. It was so hard to put them down. And they smell so good.
"However, I am so happy that they can tell me when something hurts now and when they don't like something. That's hard to figure out when they don't stop crying and you're just a selfish twenty-four-year-old way in over your head,"