Mr. Mitchell Billionaires' Club Book 2 - Raylin Marks Page 0,117

I’m not any of them. I’m the man who cares for you more than you know. Tell me what happened.”

“Well, I’m no saint,” she said.

“All children are products of their parents’ behaviors,” I said, trying to lighten her up some. Her expression had me concerned. “However, you mentioned that you ran away from home, so was there no parental figure in your life?”

“My mom died when I was five,” she said softly. “I guess she had that shit coming. She brought all kinds of men into the house.” Avery’s eyes filled with tears.

“They didn’t fucking touch you, did they?” I instantly grew furious out of protective instinct.

“No.” She shook her head. “My mom took them into another room. At the time, I didn’t like the noises she made. It scared me. As you can imagine, she was using her body to pay the bills.”

I watched Avery shiver, and I almost did the same as I imagined my beautiful woman as a sweet, five-year-old girl, having to deal with that horror. “Oh my God,” I said softly. “They pulled you out of that shit hole then?”

“No.” She laughed in disgust. “I found my mom unconscious on the floor. The child in me couldn’t understand why her mom wasn’t talking or waking up. I dialed 911—probably the only thing my mom had ever taught me to do, if anything were to happen—and that’s when things changed.” She exhaled. “I found out later that my mom had overdosed.”

“That’s when they put you in the care of a foster family?” Holy fucking shit, and here I thought Jacob and I had it bad growing up. “I never found my mother dead on the ground. I just was aware that she was bringing men home to fuck and feed her addiction behind my dad’s back—that’s nothing like finding your mom gone at five years old.”

“My foster family at the time was worse than living at home with my mom, bringing guys in for money. Those mother fuckers starved all of us children. They locked the cabinets and fridge, and at the time, no one came to check out the living arrangements. I just remember always being so goddamn hungry all the time.”

I tightened my lips. “And with the way my girl loves to eat, I can definitely see you fleeing the house.”

Avery didn’t laugh. I’d thrown her back in time, and I could tell she was reliving this nightmare. “The psychiatrist said that is probably the reason why I feel like I’m hungry all the time. Dr. Maxwell said that after I brought it up as a joke, but it makes sense, I guess. Anyway, after running away at ten years old and getting caught, the law dealt with those people and shut them down. That’s when I moved in with my grandma. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get past the death of her daughter after five years, and so she took her own life. Maybe it was seeing me that made her do it? I have no idea. Sometimes, when I think about it, it feels like it was my fault. I have no idea, except to state what I always say when shit goes south—my fucking life and luck it would have happened after I moved in.”

“Avery, are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, totally floored by this revelation. “Your grandmother took you in, then fucking killed herself?”

“It was all bad,” she said. “I didn’t grow up on the right side of the tracks, so the saying goes. I survived it all, though. I’m here. I have Addy, and I’m happy.” She ran her hand along my cheek. “Even before you, I found a way to be happy. I’m sure I have issues—in fact, I know I have fucking issues from all of that shit. It’s why I ran away from Jill’s and lived in Santa Cruz. At thirteen years old, I was a hellion. Anyone who was trying to lay down rules for my own good, I would flip them off, and so finally, I took off on Jill. It’s why Britney is the way she is with me too. I fucked Jill over, and Brit knew it. I lived outside of life’s reach for hurting me. That’s how it felt anyway, but the truth is that all it did was destroy me. I tried to clean my shit up, and then there was Derek. And you’re pretty much up to speed on that now.”

“I think you’re one of the most profound and strongest