The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(61)

“Maybe I should go,” Kinsey said. “She’s my sister.”

“Is she really your sister if she just walked away from you for being an idiot?” Max asked.

Kinsey glared at him. Everyone did.

Max tossed up his hands. “What? Kinsey should’ve told her sooner.”

“Thank you, Einstein,” Kinsey snapped. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Eli shook his head and moved toward the door. He was going after Brynn and no one was going to stop him.

“Wait,” Kinsey said. “You’re just leaving me here?”

“Yeah, Kins. I’m going to leave you here. Your sister’s out there thinking the only reason you befriended her was for her kidney. Even you can’t be that selfish.”

“She gets that from her father,” Teresa said.

Eli gave the woman a long, hard look and then turned back to Kinsey. “I’m going to try to help her through this, for all of us.” Not completely heartless or clueless to what this was costing Kinsey, he looked at Raina. “You got her?”

She nodded and came around to put an arm around Kinsey, also handing her a tissue.

Kinsey looked shocked to find herself with tears on her face, and Eli knew why. She never cried. The woman was a rock. A grumpy, sick rock that he understood and loved with all his irritated heart.

“We’ve got you, honey,” Raina said, patting Kinsey’s back.

Teresa shifted on her feet. “I should . . . go. I’ve got a thing . . .” She looked a little surprised when Olive opened the front door for her, before she’d even finished her sentence.

Kinsey started to make a move to go too, but Olive took her hand. “Stay, baby. I’ve got the most amazing flan de queso for dessert.”

Eli watched Kinsey blink, looking touched and shocked that they’d want her to stay after what she’d done—or not done. With a grateful nod at Olive and Raina, Eli left.

Brynn had a few minutes’ head start on him. But he’d find her. Maybe he wasn’t crazy about how deep his feelings had developed for her, feelings he’d promised not to catch ever again, but that was him not wanting to get hurt. Brynn was a totally different kind of woman than he’d ever been with. She was warm and giving and open, and . . . well, everything. She didn’t deserve this.

He found her sitting on the curb a few houses down with her head on her knees, gulping in air.

It broke his heart.

She broke his heart.

He sat beside her and put a hand on her back. She was trembling. “Brynn.”

She burst into tears.

“Come here,” he whispered, pulling her against him.

“I’m not falling apart. I just cry when I’m mad,” she said, hiccupping through sobs. “And I’m really, really m-mad!”

“I know.”

She scooted a little closer and lifted her head, giving him a glimpse of her tear-ravaged face before she pressed it into the crook of his neck. “I’m mad at you too,” she said, voice muffled.

He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on her. “I know.”

“Really mad, Eli.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

She rubbed her face on his shirt, getting it wet, and then sighed. “I mean, I get why she didn’t tell me. She’s emotionally bankrupt. But you. You knew and didn’t tell me either. I didn’t see that coming.”

“She was going to tell you.”

She snorted and then—he was pretty sure—used his shirt as a tissue. When she pulled free, she gave him a little push. “When exactly was she going to do that? Back when we were teenagers and she first found out—which, bee-tee-dub, would’ve been the right choice. But she didn’t do that, which tells me that she didn’t want to be sisters. Not then, and not anytime in the years since either. Not even when I moved into the house. Which also means that on top of not wanting to be sisters, she didn’t even want to be friends. None of you did. Because you don’t do that, keep this big a secret, not even to a perfect stranger, much less a friend.”

“Brynn—”

“Don’t. Please don’t.” She shook her head. “Let me give you some facts, okay? I’m not good at this stuff, at reading cues from people, cultivating relationships, and especially at keeping them. In fact, I’m a real failure at it. I’m a failure at a lot of things, actually. But I sure as hell don’t want to talk about it, not with you.” Standing, she looked down at him, eyes red-rimmed but fierce. “I promised myself I’d change things up this time, that I’d be in the driver’s seat of my own life, that I’d choose myself if others wouldn’t. I almost forgot that, but I’m remembering now.” She turned from him, and he stood and reached for her hand.

“Don’t run, Brynn. Let me take you home.”

She pulled her hand free and crossed her arms. “Right now I don’t know where home is.”

“I’d like to think it’s still at the house with me and Kinsey and Max. We screwed up, but we can fix this.”

“Remember when you were all butthurt when you thought I lumped you in with my asshole ex? Well, guess what? You fit right in.”

“No argument,” he said softly, his chest hurting just looking at her. “Please, Brynn. Let me get you home.”