Free House of Paine - (A Romantic Suspense - Book 2) by Kylie Walker Page A

and closed it gently behind him. When he got to the living room he found Crystal standing and looking out the window.
    “Good morning,” she said when she saw him. She looked much better than she had the day before.
    “Morning. Is Roxi here?”
    “She and Jake left a bit ago. He was going to New York and she said she had a breakfast meeting in Providence. She told me to let you and Paige know she’d be at the club after that if either of you need anything.”
    “Okay,” he started to walk towards the kitchen when she said,
    “Damien...”
    He stopped and looked at her. Paige looked a lot like her mother minus the rough edges. It was apparent when you looked at Crystal that her life hadn’t been easy. Damien wanted to do all he could to make sure that Paige was able to have a normal one after all of this. “Yes?”
    “I didn’t know about you and your brother...but I did find photos of your mother when I lived with Jackson. She was a beautiful woman. When I asked Jackson who she was he told me the truth...he said that she was his first love. I never got over the loss of my husband so when Jackson told me that he’d fallen so deeply in love with her as a young man that there would always be a part of him that loved her, I understood. I asked him what happened to her and my mind keeps going back to what he said now.”
    She paused for a long time and finally Damien asked, “What did he say?”
    “He said that she was too good for him. He said that he was afraid that who he was then would taint her somehow and that was the only reason he let her go. I wish I would have realized it then...but I think he was trying to tell me what he was. That was around the time that my son was trying to tell me and I was refusing to believe him.”
    “I’m sorry...why are you telling me this?” Damien asked her.
    “I just thought that with all that is going on, it might help you to know that even Jackson with his soul as black as the night, saw the goodness in your mother. It reminds me of the way my daughter sees it in you. I wish he would have seen it in me...then maybe he would have let me go then too...”
    “Crystal, it wasn’t Jackson’s choice to let my mother go. She had to barter part of her own soul to get away from him. We all do. That’s what it’s going to take for me too, I suppose.” He walked away then and went outside. The morning air felt good in his lungs. He could taste the salt from the ocean in the air. He pulled his throwaway phone out of his pocket and dialed the number of the person he most needed to talk to today.
    “Hello?”
    “Alex, it’s me.”
    “Jesus Damien. You’ve made such a mess of things.”
    “I know. I need to see you.”
    “Fuck man. How am I supposed to do that? He’ll kill me too if he finds out I’ve been sneaking around meeting with you behind his back.”
    “Alex...remember the way we used to be. You always had my back growing up. You never let anyone mess with me. I need you. I need my brother.”
    “Shit. Meet me at the Pier in Providence at noon.”
    “You’ll be alone?”
    “I’m still your brother.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Shit.” Damien actually smiled when he hung up. Alex, like his father, can be the biggest ass in the world...but Damien knows that nobody left on this earth loves him the way that his brother does. He was taking a huge risk asking Alex to help him...but he was beginning to feel stir crazy and out of options. When he went back into the house he found Paige and her mother in the kitchen having coffee. Crystal excused herself as soon as he came inside. Damien poured himself a cup of the coffee and sat down with Paige. She smiled at him. Her smiles gave him strength.
    “How are you doing this morning?” She asked him.
    “Hanging in,” he said. The truth was that he still felt lie a complete mess inside, but Paige had her own demons to battle, he wasn’t going to keep putting his on her as well.
    “Does Jackson know...about Kevin being