The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(82)

Eli gave her sister a long look, but said nothing. They got back into the car and ended up at a pancake house. “Yeah?” Eli asked Brynn.

“Yeah.” She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss. “Thanks.”

He slid a palm to the nape of her neck and kissed her back.

“Oh my God,” Kinsey muttered, and got out of the car, slamming the door. She strode into the restaurant.

When Eli and Brynn entered, Kinsey was nowhere to be seen.

“I’ll get her,” Brynn said. “You get us a table.” She then walked through the restaurant and checked the bathrooms. No Kinsey. She walked back through the huge place, which wasn’t overly crowded. No Kinsey. And no Eli either.

Then she heard a familiar voice in her sister’s I’m-going-to-kick-ass tone, so she headed that way, finding them in a back corner at a booth facing away from her.

Arguing.

A bad feeling came over Brynn, and she marched over there. “Okay,” she said. “Spill it. Tell me what I’m missing.”

Kinsey looked up, eyes filled with remorse and guilt.

“Goddammit.” Brynn shook her head. “No puppy eyes. I want the truth. All of it. What are you still hiding?”

“Tell her, Kins,” Eli said. “The truth, all of it this time, starting with the fact that you know who he is, and you also know where. She deserves to know.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Kinsey asked. She scrubbed a hand down her face and looked at Brynn. “I have one more secret. I held it too long, and then tried to tell you in the car, but—”

“Don’t blame this on her,” Eli said quietly.

Kinsey closed her eyes. “You’re right. This is all on me.” She opened her eyes again. “Here’s the thing. I . . . love you.”

“Uh-huh,” Brynn said. “Tell me what you’re not telling me or I walk out of here.”

“Harsh,” Kinsey said.

“Love isn’t about being gentle. Or protecting people. It’s about being there to pick up the pieces when everything falls apart. Right now, I’m not feeling loved, I’m feeling managed. Mismanaged.”

Kinsey nodded. “I know where our dad is.”

“Yeah. Because I told you.”

“No, I mean I knew before. I’ve . . . always known,” Kinsey said very softly, clearly ashamed of the words.

Brynn stared at her, then Eli, who’d clearly known as well. Gripping her purse, she considered chucking it at them both. But she loved her purse and didn’t want to get it dirty. Besides, the one funny thing was that it wasn’t anger coursing through her veins. Nope. It was hurt and betrayal, and there was nothing she could throw at them that would take away either of those things. “I asked you for one thing. The truth from here on out.”

Kinsey closed her eyes, looking exhausted and sick.

Brynn tried to harden her heart to that. “Did you give him a head’s up that we’re coming? Did the two of you have a great laugh about me butting in?”

Eli shook his head. “That’s not how it was.” He looked at Kinsey. “Tell her.”

“She won’t understand.”

“I understand plenty,” Brynn said. “And you know what? I’ve changed my mind. Don’t tell me. I wouldn’t believe you anyway.” She turned to go. Where she planned on going, she had no idea, but Eli stepped in front of her.

“Give her a minute,” he had the nerve to say to her.

Brynn shook her head. “She’s used up all her minutes with me. The meter’s empty.” She realized it wasn’t just hurt and betrayal pummeling her, but also humiliation. “Do you want to know why I jumped at the chance to live with you guys?”

“Well, ‘jumped’ is a bit of a stretch,” Kinsey muttered.

“Because I wanted to belong. For once. I never have, you know. I’ve got no idea how to be . . . normal.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Kinsey said, standing now to go nose to nose with her. “You think you’re not normal?” She spread her arms. “You don’t know the meaning of not normal!”

Brynn stared at her, once again feeling like that stupid little kid, alone and scared at summer camp, homesick, and trying to deal with the mean girl. “Why did I think you’d changed? Why the hell didn’t I remember how awful you were?”

Kinsey sighed and deflated like a birthday balloon. “Oh, you remembered,” she said quietly. “I told you I’d changed, and you believed me.”

“Well, that was stupid of me.”

“No, it was hopeful,” Kinsey said. “And I love that about you. You’re always willing to believe the best in people, and I took advantage of that because I wanted you to be in my life so badly.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Brynn asked in disbelief. “You hated that Eli brought me home. You went kicking and screaming into this so-called relationship. You wanted nothing to do with it, or me.”

Eli made a sound low in his throat—regret?—but he didn’t speak. In fact, she realized, he’d stepped back, making sure that this moment was about her and Kinsey, not him. But the look on his face was remorse and sorrow, and if she hadn’t been so upset it’d have actually stolen her breath. But she was upset, devastated actually, so much so that she could hardly even see.