Page 30 of Flare

“Only that she’s in prison. Come over here.” I led him to the couch and away from any flapping ears at the top of the stairs.

He slumped at one end with a sigh. “Serena’s a couple of years younger than me. Six months ago she was sentenced to five years for stealing tens of thousands from her employer. She has a gambling addiction. Now she’s incarcerated at Hills prison. That’s why Jack’s with me, so he can see her regularly. And that phone call was to say she’s been involved in a fight and has lost her visitation privileges for a week. She wasn’t one of the instigators, so she got off lightly, just a week. Still, it’s a week Jack won’t see her. We go most Saturdays.”

“Oh, shit.” I slipped onto the couch next to him, our thighs touching. It just seemed right. “Did you know about the gambling?”

“Dad knew, although not how bad.” Beck shook his head. “I should’ve known, but we’d drifted apart since I moved up here—Jack was right about that. Serena has always had problems with money. She lived from pay cheque to pay cheque. I knew she liked to play the pokies, but I had no idea how deep she was in.”

“It’s not your fault. You know that, right?” I leaned against him and he leaned back, big and warm down the length of my body. “Jack’s lucky he has you.”

Beck snorted and gave a half shrug. “Yeah, and a great job I’m doing at that. Almost saw him arrested for bloody shoplifting.”

“Hey.” I ducked my head to see his face better, then rested my hand over his on his thigh. “He made his own decisions about that.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t help having a mother in prison and having to move schools. It’s really fucked him up. But he needed to be with me if he was going to see his mum. There wasn’t a choice. I had to take him.”

“But therewasa choice.” I held his gaze so he’d know. “And you made a tough one. Taking on a teenager under these circumstances is hard, nephew or not. You upended your whole life, Beck. It’s easy to see he’s hurting, but so are you. You did a good thing, but that doesn’t mean it was going to be easy.”

His attention dropped to where our hands touched, and for a second, he just stared. Then he flipped his over and threaded our fingers together, his thumb drawing circles on the back of my hand. And like the idiot I was, I let him. Let him, and simply tightened my grip.

“I know he’s hurting. Hurting, angry, lashing out.” His thumb kept up a relentless circle of heat. “It’s like living with a lanky wolverine. I never know when he’s going to suddenly turn and take a chunk out of me or anyone else in the general vicinity. One minute he’s an annoying but pretty standard smart-mouthed teenager, and the next he’s...well, you saw for yourself.”

“I saw someone in pain.Twopeople in pain.”

Beck’s eyes filled. “After the shoplifting thing, I made a decision to get him into therapy no matter what, but the first appointment isn’t until next month and I’m hanging on to that like a lifeline.”

“Well, Jack’s good with us, so that means something, right?” I reluctantly let go of his hand.

“I hope so. He’s been better this week, until now. But he meant what he said. He won’t talk to Serena tomorrow. It’ll be his way of punishing her, and then I’ll have to deal with her tears as well.” He ran his palms down his thighs and got to his feet. “Anyway, enough of my problems. I should let you get home.”

I took the hint and went to collect my jacket and the plastic bag holding my dirty shirt. I reached for something profound to say, something to ease his pain, anything, but nothing brilliant came to mind. And on that note of failure, I slid my arms into my jacket and Beck surprised the hell out of me by winding my scarf around my neck, putting us face to face and too damn close. Had anyone ever done that for me, bar my mother?

Nope. Another Beck first. Three in a week. The man was killing me.

“It’s freezing,” he said, as if that explained it, but there was no hiding the flush above his beard line, and I was still staring when he turned and headed down the hall. He came to a stop with his hand poised on the door handle, and I finally got my shit together and followed.

“Thanks for the... plumbing tutorial.” His eyes glowed amber in the soft light of the hall and I was pleased to see the tug of a tiny smile. “And for dropping Jack home.”

I searched his face for a glimpse of something more, but he was carefully shuttered down. “Well, thankyoufor dinner.I’ll make sure to tell my mother she has competition.”

He actually laughed and then leaned in, and for an alarming second, I thought he might just kiss me. For another two, I tried to fathom exactly how I’d feel about that.Happy.The answer shocked me.

But instead of following through, Beck stepped back and opened the door, and all I felt was disappointment. “Have a good weekend, Rhys.” He smiled almost shyly.

I stepped onto the veranda and turned back. “You too, although I guess you’ve got some bridges to build.” I flicked a glance upstairs. “Thanks again for dinner. See you Monday?”

He nodded. “Monday.” His gaze lingered.

Leave. Leave.

But I didn’t. Instead, suffering under the influence of what could only have been a monumental brain explosion, I lifted up on my toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. And if I fisted that fucking flannel shirt for purchase, that was between me and the damn shirt. The sturdy material had a use after all.

Beck gasped and immediately cupped my cheek, holding me in place as he brushed his lips back over mine, the softest of sensations going straight to my balls.

I dropped down to my soles and tried to make sense of the feelings rushing like a warm wind through my body. And before I gave in to my instinct to shove him against the wall of that beautiful hallway and kiss him like I wanted to, I turned and fled to my car without even a glance over my shoulder, a feat worthy of a fucking gold medal.

Lordy, lordy, I was in trouble. Six-foot-six whiskery bear, sexy-as-hell trouble.

I hadn’t even cleared his street when a text arrived on my phone, and I took one look and groaned.

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