Hidden Away (KGI #3)(93)

She pulled away and placed the biscuits on a platter and then went to set them on the table. Garrett followed her and when she went to sit down, he put his hand over her wrist, holding her in place.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

She sighed and eased down into her chair. She picked up her fork and speared a piece of egg and then pushed it around her plate. “My life is a mess,” she said honestly. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve been in survival mode for so long, just taking it day by day, never thinking beyond the immediate. Marcus would like nothing more than to take care of me, for him to put me up somewhere where I never had to worry about money or work, but what kind of life is that? Existing, but not living. I can’t return to Boston. I wouldn’t, even if Stanley Cross got hit by a bus tomorrow.”

“It’s a pleasant enough thought,” Garrett cut in.

She smiled. “Yes, I admit it is. But I wouldn’t want him to die immediately. I’d want him to linger for several days and be in agonizing pain.”

“I love it when you get all ruthless.”

“You know what I love about you?” she said in an instant change of topic.

He blinked in surprise. “My amazing body? My ability to give you awesome orgasms?”

She laughed. “Aside from that.”

“Do tell.”

“It’s really hard to throw a pity party because you know just what to say to make me laugh and smile.”

His eyes grew serious. “I’m not making light of your situation, honey. If anyone has a reason to bitch, it’s you.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean it. Somehow it never seems quite so bad when I talk to you. I was sitting here thinking about what the hell I’m going to do after this is all over with. But then I think if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have those concerns because I’d probably be dead. And life ... it’s precious, you know? Even when it’s bad, it’s still good.”

“Just when I think I’ve got you figured out, you do or say something that just makes me realize that I haven’t even scratched the surface of the woman you are.”

Her cheeks warmed under the blatant admiration in his voice.

“You’re pretty damn special yourself, Garrett.”

His lips tightened and he looked down at his food, forking up a bite of eggs and shoveling them into his mouth.

“Tell me about you and Marcus. You were raised in foster homes and yet he’s your half brother. He seems pretty concerned about you now. Why weren’t you raised together?”

The question caught her off guard and for a moment she sat there, fork frozen midway to her mouth. She lowered it to her plate and was silent a moment.

“Marcus and I shared a father. I never knew him, but from what I’ve heard he was a real bastard. Marcus hated him because he was unfaithful to Marcus’s mom when he knocked my mom up. I would have thought that would give him reason enough to hate me. My mom wasn’t self-sufficient. She was the type of woman who floated from man to man, looking for someone to take care of her because she had no desire to be responsible or hold a job. When she got pregnant with me, I think she thought I was her meal ticket. The problem was, my father wanted nothing to do with either of us. He sent her away without a dime and told her he’d kill her if she ever tried to make trouble for him. Granted, this was my mother’s side and I was very young when she told me these stories, but Marcus did confirm that my mother did go to my father’s house when she found out she was pregnant with me and that our father threw her out.”

“Sounds like a real piece of work,” Garrett muttered.

“She died when I was eight and I went into the foster care system. You already know all that. Marcus has always felt guilty because he knew he had a half brother or sister, and he also knew our father would never accept me. After our father died, he started searching for me. When he found me, he wanted to give me things. A home. Money. Cars. I don’t know if he was trying to assuage his guilt or if just wanted the best for me. I was uncomfortable with it. I had a good job. I’d never get rich at it, but I was happy. And honestly just knowing he cared and that he’d been looking for me was enough. Suddenly I had someone when I hadn’t since I was eight. Plus ...”

“Plus what?” Garrett said as she drifted off.

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t say this to insult you because I know you work for my brother, but I know he’s not perfect. I suspect ... I suspect he’s done a lot of things. Bad things. Our father wasn’t a good man. Part of me doesn’t want to know, because I love him and he’s my only family. I feel guilty because I stick my head in the sand, but if I knew—if I really knew—that he’d done terrible things, it would crush me.”

Garrett blew out his breath. Goddamn but this sucked. He didn’t even want to respond anything because anything he said at this point would be a lie.

“I don’t think badly of you,” she said in a rush. “I mean, I know this is a job. You just work for him.”

“You aren’t just a job, Sarah. If you believe that, you’re one hundred percent wrong. I don’t give a damn about the job. What I care about is you and making damn sure Cross doesn’t get close to you.”

Pink dusted her cheeks and her eyes went soft. “Garrett, there’s something else I wanted to tell you. Something I wanted to tell you when we were in that prison and I was so afraid. I didn’t think that was the right time, and maybe it isn’t now. I just—”