Page 44 of Anything for You
I took a bite of the espresso cream and shut my eyes, the texture perfect and not too crumbly and falling everywhere but my mouth like macarons often did, the flavor exploding on my tongue. “I think you’re a magician.”
When I finally opened my eyes and focused on him, I found him watching me with a pleased expression.
He pointed to himself. “Normal guy.”
I giggled and took a bite of the pumpkin one.Again.So freaking good. After a sip of tea, the heaviness of the truth about my brother settled in. I didn’t want to talk about it and risk crying again, but I also needed to process it.
“Do you think it’s a cult? The old Sego Lily place?”
He exhaled, running a hand over Bear’s head before notching his chin toward the dog’s bed. The good boy obediently moved to his spot and sank down, then sighed.
“Cult is probably a bit strong. So far, they seem like they might be doomsday preppers with a side of extreme nationalism, but who knows. They’ve messed around, but it sounds like it might be a case of the teens acting out in a situation where they’re deprived of other outlets.”
I blinked, processing his statement. “That’s very generous, considering they’ve caused you trouble.”
He tipped his head side to side. “I’m not suretroubleis right, so much as inconvenience. Frustration. Some long days dealing with their nonsense. As a recovered entitled little jerk, I don’t want to judge too harshly.”
“You were a teenage dirtbag?” It was hard to imagine him as anything but how he was now—giant and gentle and more and more irresistible. Thinking of him as a surly teen with sass made me giggle.
He chuckled low, his baritone voice pleased. “Oh, yes. It was a formative time.”
I wanted to know everything about that, but something nagged. “Sheriff Ryan said they started a fire. That’s not small.”
“True. Fire’s a real concern. Kind of a nightmare for a tree farm in a desert climate.” He made a distressed face.
An empty laugh tripped out of me. “Yeah.” I hated to remember, but he should know my concerns. “I don’t want to admit this, but based on what I know of my brother’s past, I think you are right to be worried.”
His gaze narrowed. “Can you tell me more?”
Even questioning me about my criminal brother’spossibly sketchy new “community” didn’t push him into being curt. How had I ever thought of him as grumpy?
I nodded as I chewed the last macaron, the maple flavor a surprisingly delicious morsel I’d be thinking about later. I tended to like fruitier desserts, but these were all fallish and perfect.
“That was so good, thank you,” I said, then wiped my fingers on the cocktail napkin he’d brought on the tray. “So, Hawk went to juvenile detention when he was fourteen. That was right after our parents died and he was in a rough place. I stayed on the compound for a few years, then went to live with Nan, and he…” I shook my head at the memory. “He got wrapped up with the people who’d been so influential for our mom and dad.”
Dorian waited, listening attentively. He clearly sensed there was more to come, and he was right.
I swallowed hard, then took one last drink of my tea in hopes it might settle the tightness in my throat. “So, my dad killed my mom, then himself. Hawk lost it, started acting out. I retreated in. He burned down a house and the people who were inside only barely survived. He’d had some run-ins with police before that and because of it and the fact that people had been there, he went to juvey. He also called me from jail about four years ago. He was on one of his ‘making amends’ kicks, which seem to crop up about once every five years.”
My chest ached, and I rubbed a hand over my sternum. “One of the aspects of the cult was a lot of talk about purity and obedience. Lots of women ‘obeying’ but really what that meant was men behaving badly, hurting their wives, and facing no consequences since the leadership wouldn’t step in. I’d genuinely hoped Hawk had gotten away from allthat crap, but what he said to me the other day makes me think he probably hasn’t.”
A warm hand slipped over my arm and gently squeezed my wrist. “I’m sorry. That sounds like a hard way to grow up.”
I laughed, but there was no lightness in it. “For the most part, I’ve made my peace with it. But even without Hawk calling, and now finding out he’s so close by, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way I was raised and how it’s affected me as an adult. The choices I’ve made…”
He waited, ever patient. Always listening.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit everything to him, but as though he sensed I’d hit the end of my ability to be vulnerable, he caught my eye. “As far as I’m concerned, Dove Jensen, you’re a miracle.”
And just like that, the tears came again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dorian
Dove wiped under her eyes and blinked up at the ceiling.
“See? I knew I’d cry again, and I don’t want to. You being kind shouldn’t make me cry. Me thinking about my dufus brother I haven’t really known in over half my life shouldn’t either. I don’t want to grieve a brother who has never once shown he cares about me. Someone who criticizes me as a slut when I have kissed a grand total of two people in my life? When I’m a thirty-year-old virgin? But even if I’d slept with half of Silverton, how is that his business? How does he get a say in anything about my life or partners or anything?”
