Page 9 of Tempting the Heart

“Are his parents still living there?” I asked, genuinely curious.

The last time I’d driven by the property, it looked to be in major disrepair. Although, that was nothing new.

“Oh, yeah.” Brad nodded. “And gambling away every single penny Tyler and Paul send them.”

“Ooph,” I muttered as a shiver ran through me. “Seriously?”

Brad took a breath and nodded as his eyes settled back on mine. “Yeah. They have a serious gambling addiction.”

“Both of them?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Among other things.”

“Tyler told you that?” His words clung to my soul. “He sends them money?”

“A lot of it over the years, but it’s never gone to its intended purpose.”

An ache burned deep in my abdomen as I thought about the kid I had a crush on and how he’d turned into such a… man. Even doing something sweet for his parents, who’d never been particularly sweet to him or his brother.

“And other stuff besides gambling? He’s told you that?” I questioned, thinking back to the man I saw earlier this morning.

Brad shook his head. “No, he never outright mentioned anything other than gambling back when we were kids. His dad used to go the racetrack all the time. He’d lose his entire paycheck in one or two races and then come home raging.”

The color drained from my face. “Wow. I had no idea. You guys never told me any of this.”

“It never came up.” Brad pointed toward the counter and raised his mug. “Do you have any more coffee?”

“Sure do. Help yourself.” But I wasn’t paying attention to anything my brother was doing. All I could think about was Tyler. He'd always seemed like such a happy-go-lucky kid… until he didn’t. It was like one day, everything about him changed. He stopped coming over as much, and then I heard about his scholarship.

Before I knew it, he was gone.

I’d always kept my distance so it didn’t look like I had a crush on him, but my sisters weren’t fooled at all. It also didn’t take Brad long to figure it out, which had been my plight for the last two decades.

Everyone knew I fell too hard for my brother’s older best friend.

And now it felt like I hadn’t even known him at all.

My brother’s phone buzzed, and he put down his steaming cup of coffee on the counter. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Speak of the devil.” My brother grinned and answered the phone.

I pretended I wasn’t latching onto every word my brother said. I scooted the chairs, swept under the tables, wiped the counters, and busily organized the lower cabinet near the register when… I heard it.

“I’ll bring Mae along.”

I shot up, whacking my head on the open drawer, and squealed. “No. I’m busy.”

Brad frowned, staying on the phone while looking at me. “Mae, you never have plans.”

“I do, too.”

“Yeah? What are they tonight?”

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at my brother. “I was planning on going on a bike ride. I rode in this morning.” My hand flew to my hip, thrilled that I actually had an excuse.

Surprise dashed across his features. “Well, ride your bike another day. Tyler’s only going to be here a few days.”

Now, it was my turn to frown. “He’s your friend, not mine.”

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