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My fingers hit my contact list, and I punched in Phoe’s number. Wandering back to my hammock, my peace of mind ruined, I explained to Phoe what I’d witnessed and listened to her advice.
???
“Harper, I’m hungry. And she’s in a bad mood.”
“I know, Isla, but I tried sneaking some food, and she caught me. And now we’re in serious trouble,” Harper replied.
“My stomach hurts,” Isla whined.
“Probably because we’ve not eaten since yesterday morning,” Harper whispered sadly.
I nearly fell out of the hammock at those words. What the fuck?
“She’s mad because the man wouldn’t speak to her,” Isla continued.
That bitch was taking her bad mood out on the kids? Because I’d not flirted with her? Was she fuckin’ serious? Temper kicking in, I stomped towards the fence and peered over.
Harper and Isla both released a startled cry.
“Shh, you hungry?” I asked.
“Yes,” Isla replied, her bottle lip trembling.
Oh shit, that got me when Eddie and Davy did it, or Amelia and Aria. This little girl put them to shame.
“Don’t speak,” Harper hissed.
“Harper, my name is Jesse, and I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m worried someone is hurting you,” I said calmly.
Phoe’s advice rang in my ears.
“We’re not allowed to say,” Harper replied.
“Is that your mom?” I asked, trying to find some common ground so the kids would trust me.
“No!” Isla exclaimed. “Angela’s the mean lady who looks after us while Mommy works.”
Well, that was one weight off my shoulders. At least it wasn’t the parent abusing them. Why hadn’t the mother noticed? I guessed she was too involved in her career to worry about who had her kids.
“Does Mommy know what Angela is doing?” I pressed.
Both little girls shook their heads.
“Mommy thinks Angela is feeding us, but Angela takes the food home if we don’t eat it and makes it seem like we’re being greedy,” Harper explained.
A muscle twitched in my jaw. That was another thing I hated: deceit.
“Well, I’ve got food, too much, and I don’t want to waste it,” I mused, laying the foundation to feed these kids.
“At school, they talk about too much waste. My teacher says it’s wrong to throw things away that can be eaten,” Harper said, and I nodded.
Whatever it took to get Isla and Harper over my side of the fence and safely away from that cunt. Viciously starving kids because a guy wouldn’t flirt with her. Fuckin’ bitch. Anger was welling up, but something inside me told me to bite it back hard. A wariness in their eyes gave me an inkling of how they’d react to my fury, and it wouldn’t be positively.
“Well, come on over. Here, I’ll reach over. You little monkeys grab hold of my arm, and I’ll lift you over,” I suggested.
Isla and Harper exchanged glances again. Then Isla’s stomach grumbled, and she winced, and that made up Harper’s mind. She shoved her younger sister forward, and Isla reached up, and I grabbed her and lifted her over.
I repeated the action with Harper and then led them both towards my kitchen. Aware of having kids in my house without a parent and the connotations of a single man, I sat them on the patio in front of my security camera.
