Being Their Baby by Korey Mae Johnson Read Free Book Online

her ass off for so many days now that she’d almost forgotten what a long, hot shower could do. She’d never used expensive soaps, shampoos, conditioners, cleansers, deodorants, or toothpaste, but that’s what had been given to her. She hadn’t even owned a loofa before, but she could say for sure that she was probably cleaner now than she’d ever been in her life; every pore had been purified, and it left her smelling like strawberries until she put her flower-scented clothing on.
    Brushing her teeth had been quite strenuous; that place on her mouth where her stepfather got a particularly hard punch in was even sensitive toward the soft bristles of her new pink toothbrush.
    She knew she’d been told to go downstairs, but she couldn’t make herself do it. She was feeling particularly low, despite her cleanliness. She felt like she was receiving charity that she simply didn’t deserve. The only reason she was lying down on an amazing mattress in a first-rate accommodations was because she’d accidentally gone right up to an undercover cop the other night and offered to let him bust her cherry for five hundred bucks. It hadn’t been the classiest thing she’d ever done, particularly because it took a lot of cheap booze to get her courage up to even stand on that street corner in the first place.
    Guilt swarmed her mind, giving her a headache. She pulled a pillow over her head and tried to block out everything around her.
    Eventually, she heard the doorknob to her room turn quietly and the tap-tap of Elizabeth’s stilettos upon the polished hardwood floor. “Sophia?” she asked softly, as if testing to see she was awake.
    Sophie crunched a little more into a ball in response, rather than staying still like a good liar who wanted Elizabeth to think she was actually sleeping.
    Elizabeth came closer and Sophie felt the mattress shift as Elizabeth sat down on the far end of the bed and then scooted over until she was next to Sophie’s head. Liz lifted the pillow, and Sophie squinted her eyes in response, balling up a little more.
    “Such a pretty girl,” Elizabeth cooed, lacing her fingers through Sophie’s damp, blonde tresses. She stroked her fingers against Sophie’s forehead and ears, and Sophie hated how good that felt. She hadn’t gotten a friendly touch from anyone in so many years, that now it made her feel a little sorry for herself.
    “Sophia,” Elizabeth began softly. “I’m sorry I scolded you so much today… I just get a little maternal sometimes. Especially,” she added, “with you. You’re so young, and so small, and so cute that it hurts when I see you don’t have anyone else appreciating that about you. You should have someone protecting you; instead it’s just you braving this really hard world. It’s got to feel like someone tied weights to your feet and cast you into the ocean to drown, and you’re floundering just to keep your lips above the waterline.”
    Sophie swallowed; Elizabeth put it perfectly. Sometimes, Sophie just felt like she was drowning. But that didn’t mean she wanted to bother anyone into rescuing her. “Miss Button,” she sighed. “I’m not that vulnerable. I’m really not. I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”
    “I’m not saying you can’t manage, sweetie. I’m sure you could struggle and scratch out a living for yourself. You can’t thrive , though. I promise that if you just let me help you, let me take care of you, then you can actually blossom and accomplish any dream you’ve ever had. You have so much potential. But you can’t grow if everyone’s kicking dirt on you.”
    “ Let me take care of you ”rang in Sophie’s ears. It almost pushed her to tears. She so, so badly wanted that, to let Elizabeth do that for her… but the fact was that she wasn’t anything to Elizabeth. She would just be the weight tied to Elizabeth’s neck. She didn’t want to be that for anyone.
    Elizabeth was a goddess to her; her idol. The last thing she