“Your call. I’m not going to tell him anything, but if he asks we’ll just tell him you were here cleaning like you always do, and you came here from Chloe’s after the prom.”

I nod gratefully. “Thanks, Tor.”

“Don’t thank me. I don’t like lying to Asher, though, so I don’t want any more shit like this going on. I’ll always help you if you need it but I don’t like keeping things about you from him.”

I nod again, knowing if I apologize it will just make him angry. I feel terrible that I put him in a bad position of having to lie to my father because that’s something he would normally never do. Tor is a good guy with strong values, especially when it comes to his family and friends, and I hate that my bad decision has now affected him.

He pauses at the door and turns to me before he leaves. “Go take a nap, Kenz. You know how you get when you’re over tired. You don’t even have to clean today if you don’t want to, and I’ll still pay you. I’ll be happy with a dinner that didn’t come out of the microwave and hasn’t been frozen for the past four years.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not letting you pay me this week. You drove three hours for me in the middle of the night. So forget it.”

He waves his hand in my direction. “Fine. I’m going. Get some sleep.”

4

Tor

Kenzi ~ age two

Toren ~ age seventeen

She’s slamming one of the kitchen cabinets open and closed while I’m trying to read a magazine. Babysitting on a Friday night isn’t exactly my idea of fun, but Ash and Ember wanted to get away for a night to see a movie. So Uncle Tor said yes and stayed home. As usual.

Slam. Slam.

“Kenzi,” I warn. “You better stop slamming that door.”

She looks over at me, giggles, and slams it again. Harder.

“I mean it, I’m gonna put you to bed early if you don’t stop.”

She looks at me, then the cabinet, then at me again.

Slam.

Pushing the chair back, I stand and she tries to toddle off, falls, and starts to cry. I kneel down and pick her up.

“Where does it hurt, Angel?” I ask, knowing she didn’t get hurt.

She holds out her palm, sniffling. “Here…”

“Should I kiss it and make it better? Do you think that’ll work?”

She nods, her hair falling over her eyes. I grab her hand and plant a big noisy kiss on her palm.

“All better now?”

Nodding, she wraps her little arms around my neck and rests her head against mine.

“Uh huh.”

All she wanted was for me to chase her and hug her. It’s what she does.

And I melt every time.

Tor

As I drive to the shop, I’m still exhausted and pissed off from the night before. Sleep never came last night, fury racing through my veins for hours along with something else I can’t find the words to explain.

That asshole put his hands on her and had the nerve to call her a cock tease. He ruined a night that was supposed to be special and memorable, and now I want to wring his skinny neck. He’s an idiot for even thinking he could ever have a girl like her, and I’m proud of her for saying no to him. If I ever cross paths with Jason again, I’m going to beat some respect into him. He’ll be wearing the imprint of my silver skull rings on his pretty boy face for a long time.

I tell myself my rage stems from some punk pawing my niece like a twenty-buck whore. I’d feel the exact same way if someone treated my little sister like that and my reaction would be the same.

But, not quite the same, right, Tor?

The feelings that surfaced later, when her hands slowly crept down my shoulders to my chest and her eyes fixated on my mouth, her own lips parting and practically begging…I don’t know what the fuck that was.

I tell myself the way our bodies melted perfectly into each other for what could only have been mere seconds, and how her voice took on a sweet, sensual wistfulness when she told me she wanted to hide me away in her box of cherished possessions, all meant nothing and were figments of exhaustion.

I lie.

I’d live in that box for the rest of my life just to make her happy.

At the next stop light, I close my eyes and lean my forehead against the steering wheel, then pull back slightly and bang my head against it. Hard. And again. And again. And again. Until blood trickles down my face.

I did not just think that. I did not feel any of that. I did not pull her closer. I did not silently beg her to never take her hands off me. I did not want to touch her face and promise her the world. I did not love seeing her in nothing but my shirt in the middle of my kitchen.