Page 20 of To Hold and Protect

“Too late,” Tristan said. “Cat’s out of the bag.”

“That’s Harper and Skylar,” Kade said as he studied the painting.

“Very good, brother. I would be a poor artist if you didn’t recognize your girlfriend’s face.”

Parker eyed the canvas. The two women were standing in front of a window looking out at a winter wonderland. The ground was covered in snow, as were the evergreen branches. A flock of cardinals perched in one of the trees, the red birds and the green branches the only colors in the landscape outside the window. Inside, a fire burned in the fireplace, the mantel was decorated for Christmas, and Jellybean was curled up on a rug in front of the fire. Skylar wore a red sweater to contrast with her blond hair, and Harper’s sweater was a summer sky blue, a color that complemented her highlighted brown hair.

“I call dibs on it,” Kade said.

Tristan shook his head. “It goes over the fireplace.”

“Y’all can flip a coin or arm wrestle for it.” He’d known they’d both want it. It would go in the show but wouldn’t be for sale. “I don’t suppose you two will go away and let me paint?”

“Nope,” they said in unison.

“Was afraid of that.” He knew how they were going to react, the reason he’d never told them what he was about to. Why had he opened his damn mouth?

Chapter Ten

Parker needed fortifying for this conversation. He walked to the mini kitchen and took down a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet. After pouring the liquor into three glasses, he handed his brothers theirs, then took the last one for himself. He moved to the wall, leaned back against it, and then slid down to sit on the floor. Kade sat next to him, and Tristan settled on the daybed.

“That comment about our aunt slipped out,” he said. “I never had any intention to tell you any of this.”

“Was it that big of a deal?” Tristan asked.

“Yeah, but only because Aunt Francine made it one.” He’d been four, the baby, when their mother dumped them on their aunt. He remembered staring out the window for hours on end, watching for Mom to come back. She never did.

“If she was an artist, how come we never saw her paint?” Kade said. “I can’t remember ever seeing anything she painted.”

“Because she didn’t. She sketched. There’s a box of her sketch pads in the attic.”

Tristan, the brother who’d raised him and Kade, frowned. “Why was that a secret?”

“Because...” He closed his eyes. He’d never wanted to have this conversation.

Kade’s hand landed on his leg. “Parker, you can tell us anything.”

He knew that, and he should have told them when it was happening. He opened his eyes and spilled his secret. “Our aunt only sketched male nudes.”

Tristan, who’d just taken a drink of his whiskey, choked. “Say what now?”

“Jesus,” Kade said.

“Wait a minute.” Tristan leaned forward, his eyes on Parker, as suspicion dawned in them. “What male nudes?”

Parker pressed his head back against the wall.Here it comes. Their reaction and the reason he hadn’t told his brothers what had been going on under their noses. Even as a young boy, he’d understood that if he told them, they would have gone ballistic, and then where would they have ended up? Because of him, they would have had no place to live.

“Parker, what male nudes?” said the man who’d made himself responsible for his two younger brothers at an age when the only thing he should have been worrying about was if the girl he was crushing on liked him, too, and would he make the football team.

“Any male who caught her attention.”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Including you?”

“Yep, including me.”

“I’m going to dig her up and crush her fucking bones to pieces,” Kade said, venom dripping in his words, his deadly voice sounding like the warrior he was.

Tristan stood, grabbed the whiskey, and topped each of them off. “I might have to get drunk for this. Start at the beginning.”

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