Parker Simmons

"Okay," I whispered and kissed him slowly. "I can't lose you again," I whispered against his lips.

"And I can't leave you again. It was too fucking hard the first time."

"It was hard for me too... Everything was harder when you weren't there."

"I know it was. I'll never be able to make up for it."

"I know you didn't have a choice Parker. I just... I need you there." I sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty."

"It's alright. Please...don't worry about it."

"It's hard not to. And I hate feeling like that. It's just that... I'm still angry about... a lot of things. But I just love you so much. I wish you'd been the one there raising the kids with me, not Carl. He... he wasn't who everyone thought he was."

"I knew him my whole life...I knew about his tendencies. But I really thought you guys would be okay with him. That was my mistake."

"I was. And so was Raine. He never hurt us. With Quin though... he was different. I wasn't supposed to know, neither of them ever said anything but... I saw the bruises. More than once," I said quietly, laying my head on his chest.

"Did anyone step up and take care of that?"

"Charles did. I don't know how he found out. It took him beating the absolute shit out of Carl to get him to stop. At least I hope he did. I didn't see anymore bruises after that."

"I'll have to thank him later."

"I think he would like that. He was always there for the kids... even though he didn't have to. I don't think I ever really thanked him for that..."

I had lit a lantern before leaving and finally found Parker's cabin. There was a light on inside so I knocked and waited for someone to answer. 

"I wonder who that is?" I asked myself and got out of bed, pulling my pants on. I walked over and cracked the door open a little and recognized Isabelle. "Izzy? Hey, come on in." I told her and opened the door wider.

"Hey... Um... is Selma here? It's Raine, she's... she's not doing good," I said quietly, then crossed my arms over my chest, realizing just then my shirt was covered in blood still.

"Oh, shit. Yeah, she's here. I'll go get her, just have a seat." I had spotted the blood and that was going to scare the hell out of Selma. I went back into my room. "It's little Izzy, she needs to talk to you about Raine."

"Raine? What's going on?" I asked, immediately getting up and getting dressed.

"I don't know, Izzy is waiting out there though."

"Okay," I said and finished dressing. I went out there and froze when I saw her shirt. "Oh my god... what... what happened? Is Raine okay? What happened?" 



"She... she tried to... she tried to kill herself... Aunt Selma I'm so sorry, we didn't have time to run for help, Gabe helped me stitch her up and Erica and Jack are there with them," I said and finally broke, tears sliding down my cheeks.

Oh, shit. "I'll grab my shirt and take you both back." I practically ran to my room and threw my shirt back on and then laced up my boots. I came up to Selma and took her hand "She's going to be alright. Let's get you back to Erica's." I told her and we left.