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“Oh! Fall Out Boy! I love them.”
I’m glad she can’t see my face right now because my smile is smug as fuck.
“Did I pass?” Rain asks as I stop at the bottom of the tree house ladder to give her a hand up.
“I think I’m the one who passed.” I give her a swat on the ass as she heads up and chuckle when she yelps in surprise. “I know your song.”
“Oh, really?”
When I climb in behind her, Rain is sitting, facing me with her arms folded over her chest.
For a guy who has nothing to prove, I fucking love proving myself to this girl.
I sit with my back against the wall and strum lightly as I build my case.
“Yep. You like alternative music …” I switch to a gritty rock-’n’-roll riff and pause for a second when I realize that it’s one that I wrote years ago after finding an old Gibson acoustic in Foster Mom Number Nine’s basement. I’ve never played that song for anyone before.
I shake off the significance and keep talking, “But you also like girl-power anthems …” My notes morph into the whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh-oh part from “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé.
Rain laughs and does the little hand movement from the video, which only fuels my ego as I settle on a new tune. It’s softer and slower and definitely sadder. I’m afraid it might be too much, considering how far she’s come today, but fuck it. It’s the truth, and right now, the truth—and this guitar—is all I got.
“I think you might be a Paramore girl.”
I tell God he’d better fucking back me up on this one as my strumming gets louder. The simple, soulful melody is synchronized with every beat of my own bleeding heart as I open my mouth and sing the first line.
About a girl watching her daddy cry.
Rain clutches the blanket to her chest and listens as I tell her the story of a woman who’s afraid to get hurt after watching her parents break each other’s hearts. She tries to protect herself. She tries to avoid the pain of being left. But when she finally falls in love, she realizes that it’s worth the risk.
I hope she’s fucking right.
I can’t really see Rain’s expression in the dark, but as I let the final note fade out, I know I’m going to find tears before I even reach for her face.
“How did you do that?” She sniffles, and when she leans into my touch, I know I got her.
I shrug. “When you’re in the system, you get good at figuring people out. Fast.”
And when you’re stuck with the same bunch of assholes your whole life, like Rain, I guess you get good at hiding.
She inhales deeply and sighs. “So, what’s the name of my new favorite song?”
I place the guitar in the corner and crawl over to her. Laying her down, I take the wadded-up blanket out of her arms and set it behind her head like a pillow. “‘The Only Exception.’”
Gazing down at her, I know now that that’s exactly what she is for me. The only exception to all of my rules.
No getting attached.
Leave before you get left.
Supplies. Shelter. Self-defense.
Survival above all else.
Now, they’ve all been crossed out with a giant X, and next to them, in murderous block letters, are the words Protect Rainbow Williams. That’s all I fucking care about now. Keeping her safe. Keeping her—period.
I was afraid she would hurt me, but while I was gone, I realized that she’s the only fucking thing in my life that doesn’t hurt.
“Wes?” she asks, her voice small and shaky as she slides her fingers into my hair and pushes it away from my face. “Will you still be here when I wake up?”
