Free The Billionaire Boyfriend Proposal: A Kavanagh Family Novel by Kendra Little Page B

to
get him through, nothing more. He was a good kid. He deserved
better than Skull for a brother.
    "Tell me about your parents," I said as we
drove home a few minutes before five. Blake had called me just ten
minutes earlier to say he was already at my place. It was safe to
return.
    "There's nothing to tell in the case of my
father. I never knew him. Mom said he was a rock star, but she was
always making stuff up. Could have been anyone."
    "And your Mom?"
    "She left."
    "Do you know why?"
    "Nope." It was a brush off if ever I heard
one.
    "So Skull brought you up in the last few
years?"
    "Kind of."
    "Then why are you such a good guy and
he's…not?"
    He stared out his side window so long that I
thought he wasn't going to answer me. "He's not so bad," he said
eventually. "It was tough for him, protecting himself as well as
me. That first year after Mom left, it was hard. We had to vacate
our house because we couldn't pay the rent so we lived on the
street. We joined a gang of other kids. It's safer in a group than
on your own. But we had to prove ourselves, not just once but lots
of times. I didn't like the things we had to do so Skull sometimes
did my share. It hardened him, changed him. Then once he became
leader there were other pressures and after that there was no going
back." He ran his hand through his hair and seemed surprised that
most of it had been cut off. It wasn't as short as Blake's but was
much shorter than the shag he'd sported before. "If it weren't for
him, I wouldn't be here today. I'd be dead or in jail."
    "I like your version of Skull better than the
one I've seen. I'll try to be more tolerant next time we cross
paths."
    He sighed. "I hope he doesn't come by again.
I really don't. But thanks, Cassie. You and Blake…" He shook his
head. "There's no way I can repay you for what you're doing."
    "We don't want you to repay us."
    "Maybe, but I don't want to be a charity case
either."
    "I know. Nobody does. But maybe one day
you'll be in a position to help out someone who needs it and that
can be your way of repaying us."
    "Like karma?"
    "I guess."
    We traveled in silence and reached the bridge
that crossed the Serendipity River and led us into the outer
reaches of the suburb of Serendipity Bend. I always liked crossing
that bridge. It signaled home was near.
    Home. It wasn't mine anymore. Reece may be
letting me live there, but for how long? My rent was way too low
for what a property that size in that location was worth. How long
would it be before he increased the rent or sold it off?
    "What about your parents?" Robbie asked.
    His question jolted me out of my thoughts.
"They died in a car accident when I was thirteen. My sister was in
the car too and saw them die."
    "Wow. Harsh."
    "Yeah. She never got over it. It affected her
for years."
    "What happened to her?"
    I swallowed and stared hard out the
windscreen. My fingers began to hurt and I loosened my grip on the
steering wheel. "She died." I drew in a deep breath and let it out
slowly. "Suicide."
    "Shit. Um, sorry. I shouldn't have
asked."
    "It's okay. I can talk about it." I didn't like talking about it, but he'd been candid with me and I
should show him the same courtesy. "She was never the same after
they died. She worried all the time and got depressed easily. There
was really only one thing that made her happy in the months before
her death. One person, actually. Reece Kavanagh. They had a thing
going, but he ended it and she killed herself."
    His silence had me taking my eyes off the
road to glance at him. He was staring at me. "I'm just trying to
process that," he said. "Poor guy to have that happen."
    "Poor Reece? She was my sister."
    "Oh, yeah, I know. It's a crap thing to have
happen to you. So is that why you don't like the Kavanaghs?"
    "What makes you say that?"
    "Just a couple of things you've said and the
way you treat Blake."
    "How do I treat him?"
    "Like you love him but don't at the same
time."
    I laughed, but it sounded hollow.