Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Michael

My gaze slides to Lara again, unable to look away for too long.

She looks small and fragile in Kaleb's arms. My girl is trying to hide it, but her exhaustion is clear. Her eyelids drop every few seconds, and she literally can't lean any closer to my brother, but at least her shivering has almost stopped.

Jealousy stirs in my stomach, but I know I can't be what she needs right now. The panic and pain I felt when she hit me in the car robbed me of this moment. Thank fuck my brother is here to help.

My fingers twitch to touch her. Rubbing my thumb over my fingertips, I shiver at the memory of her soft, wet cheek .

The thought of why she cried makes my anger rise.

Fucking Samantha.

Clearly, Kaleb hasn't been strict enough these last few years while he's been dealing with her. Perhaps, it's time for either myself or Daniel to step in. A fight for another day.

Who am I kidding? We're just as soft with her.

Looking back at the two approaching the house, my chest cracks open as Lara lays her head against Kaleb's chest, her eyes flittering closed.

It should be me.

Me she trusts, me holding her, and me warming her.

A new level of hatred for my biological parents fills me, and for the first time in the twelve years since Daniel killed them, I wish I had been the one to shove that screwdriver in. Instead, I had stood and watched, fascinated and grateful that my big brother was still looking out for me and more than willing to do what we needed to find peace.

And after a fashion, we had until Daniel needed that again . . . and again.

I breathe easier knowing that the man who sired us is gone, but now it's my turn to be what Daniel needs and make sure we never get caught.

It doesn't hurt that killing is fun.

Kaleb and Lara join me at the front door.

"You okay, bro? "

"No," I answer honestly. Something tells me I'll never be okay while I can't have her.

I reach out, running the back of my fingers over her cheek. It's still cold.

"She's warmer than she was." Kaleb tries to reassure me, reading my thoughts.

"How does a nice hot bath and lots of blankets sound, baby?"

Lara sleepily blinks up at me, all drowsy and cute. "I'm okay. You worry too much," she chastises.

"That's kind of my job in this family."

"I'm not family."

Her words punch me in the gut because in another life, a less screwed-up life, she would be.

Bath and blankets . I nod to myself.

Opening the front door, I stop short. The anger I felt earlier doesn't compare to the rage that bubbles up at the sight in front of me. Samantha is smiling on the lazy chair, a hot drink clutched in her hands, and our parents are snuggled on the sofa.

Lara's foot connects with my back as Kaleb fails to see I'm not moving, and the way my body naturally arches away from the contact, mixed with the pain that sizzles over my skin, pushes me over the edge that I've been standing on since the first day I saw Lara at Duke's.

"What the fuck is the matter with you, little girl?" My question roars across the room. Everyone freezes for just a second, stunned at my outburst, and that somehow pisses me off more .

"Well, I'm glad you can sit here all cozy and warm with your fucking hot chocolate, Samantha, while Lara's outside catching hypo-fucking-thermia." I throw my arm behind me, where Kaleb and my girl are still trapped in the doorway.

Finally, I move enough that they can slip inside to the wood-fire heated room.

My sister's eyes widen at the sight of Lara in Kaleb's arms, as do our parents. Her surprised look turns to a frown, showing their reactions are for two entirely different reasons. It just adds fuel to my fucking fire.

"Get that look off your face," I snarl.

"Hey, now," our father interrupts, his arms out as if banning us to a time-out in the corners of a ring. "Let's calm things down. We don't shout in this house."

"Maybe that's the problem. You baby her. When was the last time Sam actually took a punishment?"

Kaleb shifts beside me.

"Yeah, because shit's always my fault," Sam sasses.

"This fucking is!"

Mom crosses the room when sobs sound around the room, squeezing onto the chair with her baby girl.

But this is one fight Samantha isn't going to cry her way out of.

Kaleb lowers Lara until she stands on one leg like a damn flamingo, forced to lean on the empty couch opposite my parents for support. When she starts to tilt, his hands shoot to her hips to balance her .

I didn't think I could get wound up any further, but I was wrong.

And unfortunately for Sam, she's my target.

"Okay, enough." My father demands, "Sam told us you saw her on a night out and sent her home. As much as it kills me, she is twenty-one years old and can go out with friends. Now, who is this young lady?"

Kaleb laughs at our dad's description of what happened.

"Samantha was caught in the middle of a booty call at the college housing, stole my car, kidnapped Michael's girl, and then had the nerve to leave Fawn outside out in the cold, too injured to come in here," Kaleb explains for me.

My mom's hands still, her eyes rounding at Kaleb's words. My father stands taller as he looks over at Sam.

"Samantha?" he asks, his tone sharp.

"What? Like I don't get to have a sex life." She huffs. "She could have walked in instead of all the dramatics and climbing all over Kaleb."

"She can't walk," I boom, startling her.

Dad closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "We will deal with your sister."

"Did I mention she hit a fucking tree with his car?" I need them to understand the severity of what happened tonight.

With a raised brow, he repeats, "Your mother and I will deal with Samantha. "

"Oh, her ass is mine about that car." Kaleb sneers.

"Fuck you," Sam spits out angrily, tears coming fast and hard, but one look from the normally gentle Helen Cromwell, and she settles back into the corner of the chair, tugging her cover higher. "And fuck her," she mumbles quietly, glaring at Lara.