Free The Doctor's Pet by Loki Renard Page B

dollars taken from them on their younger brother’s behalf?”
    Tessa groaned and slid down in the leather seat. This was the discussion she’d wanted so badly not to have. “It’s nothing,” she said.
    Kirk flicked on the indicator for his exit. “Tessa, you were punished for being financially irresponsible recently. Did that incident have anything to do with Tim?”
    “Well, not really,” she said, looking out the window. “I just paid the power bill late—or not at all. I’m such a ditz!”
    A grim silence settled over the car. She knew Kirk was not happy with her evasive answers. They drove the rest of the way to his house without speaking a word to one another. He parked in the garage and went inside, leaving her to trail after him feeling small and guilty even though she hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
    Kirk walked through to the kitchen and turned the coffee machine on. Tessa lingered awkwardly in the doorway between the hall and the kitchen/lounge, one part of her wanting to go and hug him and tell him everything; the other, more powerful part telling her it was best to keep her mouth shut.
    “So,” he said, turning toward her when she finally dared creep into his presence. “Why are people named Angus coming to your house to take large sums of money?”
    She sighed and shook her head. “This isn’t anything you have to worry about,” she explained. “It’s just Tim.”
    “I disagree. This is something I very much am worried about,” Kirk replied. “Why are you on the hook for Tim’s debts? More than that… why didn’t you tell me about the situation with Tim?”
    “Because he’s my problem, not yours.”
    Kirk crossed over to her, took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and gazed down into her eyes. “Tessa… I smacked your butt for being irresponsible—when what I should have been doing was smacking your butt for not telling me the truth.”
    “Just as long as you’ve got some reason to spank me, right,” she said somewhat bitterly. She turned away from him, hot little tears of frustration stinging her eyes.
    “Hey.” He turned her gently to face him. “You don’t have to hide your problems from me. Start from the beginning. Tell me what’s been going on.”
    “You don’t want to hear it from the beginning,” she sniffed.
    “I do,” he said, sliding his arms around her. He pulled her close against his body and ran his palm up and down her back, comforting her. “I want to know everything, Tessa, not just the things you think I want to hear.”
    She was so tired of carrying her burdens alone, and though she knew Kirk would probably not like her as much once he knew how much of a mess her life really was, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. With a great sob, she spilled it all. How her mother and father were too sick to help anymore, how Tim’s gambling kept getting more and more out of hand, how he’d ended up in the hospital more than once thanks to various gangsters who had no problem breaking bits of him if it meant they got their money. All that had done was add hospital bills to his debts.
    Kirk held her close and listened to it all, saying little aside from a few murmurs to indicate that he was hearing everything she said.
    “So now you know,” she sniffed when there was nothing left to tell. “If you get involved with me, you get involved with a whole lot of other problems.”
    Kirk made a soothing sound and picked her up in his arms. He carried her over to the couch and sat down with her in his lap, holding her close and stroking her hair.
    “I’m going to take care of this,” he said. “And you’re not going to keep anything from me again.”
    “What can you do?” Tessa gave him a look of despair. “Tim doesn’t listen to anyone. He had both his arms broken and was still placing bets. Nothing stops him. He just doesn’t care, or something, I don’t know. He’s sick.”
    “He needs someone to make sure he stops,” Kirk said. “Not a