Dangers of Love (The Scottish Billionaires #5) - M. S. Parker Page 0,2

of herself. Right now, she needs us even more.”

I remembered thinking something similar about Aline when I’d first met her, but those circumstances had been crazy. Besides, I wasn’t her sister. I couldn’t imagine one of my siblings treating me that way. Or me treating any of them like that. My sisters would castrate me if I ever implied they weren’t completely competent adults.

Maybe that was why I felt the need to say something. “She’s twenty-two, not a child.”

“You know what,” Freedom took a step toward me, “if you’d just kept your dick in your pants, none of this would be happening. Aline would be at home with us where she belongs and not out doing who knows what.”

She was right…but I couldn’t take all the blame for it. Aline would probably still be at her parents’ house if Freedom had just minded her own business too.

But I wasn’t crazy enough to say it. Freedom had that ‘castrating the bastard’ look I’d seen in my sisters’ eyes at various times growing up. I liked my balls right where they were.

Fortunately, Cain intervened.

“We’ll look for her,” he said. “No charge, of course. We’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“Don’t bother.” She shook her head. “If you don’t know where she is now, then I don’t want anyone in this room near her.” She pointed at me. “Especially you.”

And then she was gone.

Two

Aline

Until I’d walked out of my parents’ house earlier this week, I hadn’t realized just how many of ‘my’ friends were actually Freedom’s or our parents’ friends who’d simply become mine by default. They liked me well enough, I didn’t doubt that, but their loyalty wasn’t to me.

In school, I’d been so much younger than everyone else that we hadn’t shared interests until my junior and senior years, and by then, everyone had already chosen their friends. Then I’d gotten to college, and Freedom already had a group of people for us both to spend time with.

Aside from the fact that I hadn’t wanted to put anyone in a position where they’d feel as if they’d need to take sides, I honestly hadn’t been sure if any of them would’ve chosen me. I’d only been able to think of one person who’d take me in and not feel obligated to tell my family.

Martina Chavez and I had grown up next to each other and had actually attended kindergarten and first grade together. Even after I skipped two grades, we’d stayed friends. Her mom had been the live-in nanny for our next-door neighbors, so they’d moved after the kids had grown up, and I hadn’t been able to see her as often as I once had, but we still kept in touch.

Between my move to Stanford and her going from high school to cosmetology school, our visits had been less and less frequent, but we had a unique bond that, whenever we were able to speak or spend time together, we picked up wherever we left off. I’d last seen her in June when we’d taken a trip to Vegas, but Sunday morning, I hadn’t hesitated to take a bus to the high-end boutique where she worked. She’d simply given me her apartment key and said I could fill her in later.

I’d been grateful for her help, but I hadn’t told her anything more than I was tired of being treated like a child. Each day, she’d asked what’d happened to finally motivate me into action, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to form the words. Twenty minutes ago, she texted to say that she was picking up Thai on her way home, and I knew that meant she wasn’t going to accept my succinct answer this time. She wanted to hear the whole thing.

Some women had ice cream or chocolate – or both – as their comfort food, but with Martina and me, it’d always been Thai. It was what she’d brought me when I was fourteen, and I’d overheard two senior boys making fun of the outfit I’d worn to school that day. Or, rather, they’d been making fun of the fact that I hadn’t been able to fill it out any better than a fourteen-year-old boy would have.

I’d called Martina in tears, and she’d come over with sesame chicken. A few months later, I’d taken the same dish to her when her boyfriend had dumped her two days before the big spring dance.

I had to admit, she’d been beyond patient with me, letting me sleep in her guestroom