Free Learning To Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 4) by Crystal Perkins

her life, and she’s like the big sister I always
wanted. Plus, she accepts me for me. I honestly love Candi and would
do anything for her.
    Owen, on the other
hand, is another matter. I’ve always gotten along great with him,
but now that I know how he’s hurt Luke, I really do want to punch
him. He’s been out of town working on some art for one of the
Griffin buildings but should be here any minute. I hate to ruin their
reunion, but I need to speak my mind.
    “Hey, Olivia. You
look deep in thought. What’s got you thinking so hard?” Speak of
the green-eyed devil. I look up, and Owen’s smiling at me like he
doesn’t have a care in the world. I hate to burst his bubble. No
actually, I don’t.
    “I was actually
thinking about you, Owen.”
    “Me? Oh, okay. What’s
up?”
    I stand up and go over
to him. I look him in the eye and then slap him across the face. I
decided that since I don’t really know how to punch, I might hurt
myself if I try. But I can sure as hell slap.
    “What the fuck is
going on here? Why did you just slap my man, Olivia?”
    “I’d like to know
that, too,” Owen says as he rubs his jaw.
    “That was for Luke.
How dare you date some girl who belittled him and broke his heart in
high school! And then make him feel inferior just because he doesn’t
work for the company. I want to do more than slap you, but I don’t
want to hurt myself.”
    “Hold up. High
school? The only girl I dated after him in high school was some hot
little cheerleader who told me he didn’t care if we went out since
they were over. And I don’t make him feel inferior.”
    “So you just took her
word for it and didn’t ask Luke? And you do make him feel that way.”
    “What would Luke have
said? Why would he have cared about some chick who wanted to sleep
with us both?”
    I probably shouldn’t
tell him, but I’ve gone too far, so I have to. “He would’ve
told you that he did care about her. And that at the Homecoming Dance, he heard her
telling her friends that he was a waste of the Griffin genes because
he didn’t start at the football game, and couldn’t help her with
her science homework. She said she was going after you because you
were fun and seemed interested. It broke his heart, and that’s why
he’s never had a relationship since then.”
    “Motherfucking little
bitch. She said that shit about my little brother? If she was here
now, I’d be tempted to forget she’s a girl and kick her ass.”
    “I’d do it.
Pregnant and all, I’d wipe the floor with her.” Candi reaches
over and smacks him on the head. “And you’re an idiot.”
    “Yeah. I’ve figured
that out. But we still need to talk about you saying I make him feel
bad now.”
    “You do. You got mad
about him using money to get those idiots he hung out with to leave
people alone. You said the rest of you worked hard for it. You also
didn’t stand up for him when my parents attacked him. No one in
your family did.”
    “Shit. I didn’t
mean it. I was just mad about him hanging out with those assholes.
Luke supports us all in his own way. He’s helped us all. And at the party, I just wanted to protect Candi. I don’t
think anyone realized that we didn’t stand up for him. He’s never
seemed to need it. Your parents are pretty fucked up, by the way.”
    “He does need it, Owen. And yeah, believe me, I know how bad my parents can
be.”
    “She’s right, Owe.
I didn’t want to ever say anything because it was said to me in
confidence, but Luke told me once that he feels like a failure
because the company isn’t his dream.”
    Owen drops onto a couch
and runs his hands over his face. “God. We’ve all just taken him
for granted, knowing he’d be there to help us when we needed. And
all this time, he’s been hurting, and we were too busy worrying
about ourselves to see it.” He turns to me. “Thanks for telling
me, Olivia, and I guess for slapping me, too. Tutoring must be going
well for my brother to have