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“Then where? What does it matter where it happens? I know you don’t want to be with me anymore, no matter what you said last night.”

“Mom, let me drive you home,” Emma pleads, desperately trying to calm her. “I’ll get our jackets.”

“Don’t call me that!” Rachel’s words are a door shut in Emma’s face. Disowning and disgusted.

How am I supposed to leave Emma here, drowning beneath her mother’s bottles of vodka and cruel words? Rachel may not hit her daughter, but she is hurting her.

“Please don’t leave me. I can’t lose you too.” Rachel’s quivering voice pulls my attention from Emma’s reaction.

“Let Emma drive you home,” I say without intonation. I look at Emma to be sure this is okay. She nods. “I’ll meet you there, and we’ll talk. Okay?”

I shove open the doors and am hit with the sobering winter air. I’m more clear-minded than I’ve been in a long time. Aware of the manipulation and the lies. Doesn’t matter if anything she told me is true. It doesn’t excuse her bitterness.

Now to do whatever it takes to convince Emma to move out. I can’t leave her in that house alone with this woman.

Jonathan’s pacing has picked up momentum. He pulls at his hair. I’m anxious just watching him. He’s yet to say what’s got him so upset. I haven’t seen him like this since he tried to explain how his father manipulated me.

“You can tell me. It’s okay.”

“Did you see? The bruises on his arm?” He’s still walking back and forth in front of the couch.

“Who? Ryan?”

Jonathan nods.

I think back to our day at the park after being with my family. Jonathan brought a football, and after running around, Ryan took his sweatshirt off. There was a bruise on his shoulder when his sleeve slid up. He covered it quickly. But not before we both saw.

“I did. You think—” I don’t want to say it, because I don’t want it to be true. I’d rather believe Jonathan’s being overprotective. But I have learned to never doubt him.

“Oh, I know. And I know the exact grip that caused it. Ryan’s quick temper makes sense now.” He spins to look at me, his face wrecked with rage and fear. “You should’ve seen him when I tried to talk to him about it. He was so… he put his fist through a wall!”

I close my eyes, absorbing this.

“That kind of rage only wakes up when someone’s fueling it. And we have the biggest bastard in Hollis as our father. It’s not a hard leap to make.”

“Ryan’s always been so sweet,” I say mournfully.

“Yeah. But he’s also a teen going through puberty. Figuring out who he is and pushing boundaries. My father’s a steel fortress. There’s nothing to push against. He’ll bring down the hammer. Literally.”

My mouth drops. “Did he?” Tears flood my eyes.

Jonathan kneels in front of me. “It’s in the past, love. Don’t mourn the boy I used to be. You’re the reason I’m the man I am today.”

I swallow down the emotion, but the thought of Hal striking Jonathan, at any age, doesn’t just make me mourn for his younger self—it makes me wish I could tap into my own rage and finally give Hal something to be afraid of. Even at the height of my anger, something in me still refuses violence.

“What do we do?” I ask. Because I will not sit by and allow another son of Hal Reeves to fall victim to his barbaric sense of discipline.

Jonathan’s pacing again, too much emotion to stay still. But my question brings him to a stop. “What do you mean?”

“Jonathan, we can’t leave him in that house.”

“I mean, of course not. But the we threw me off.” His face contorts with an emotion that he’s fighting to constrain.

“We—” I point between us “—are a we now. Your pain is mine. Your dreams are mine. Your brother—” I can’t finish because his lips are pressed so ferociously against mine, they dig into my teeth. My cheek warms with the tears he can’t restrain. He grips me as if he will never let me go.

“I love you so fucking much.” His hot mouth nips at my neck. The intensity of his emotion overwhelms me. He’s almost primal with passion. I pull my shirt over my head, inviting him to unleash the desire that’s overtaken him.

We don’t make it to the bed. I let him have me right here. Because in this moment, I may be the only thing keeping him from unleashing the rage building inside him. I can still feel it in each kiss, fiery and consuming. But within me, he finds peace. And I am brought to ecstasy.