Saved by the Crush's Brother - Maggie Dallen Page 0,29

it to control Alex. He tries to control me.”

“The car,” I said, remembering what he’d told me the night before.

“That’s just one of many examples,” he said. “Alex bought into it all hook, line, and sinker, but I’d always fought back. But when it came to school…” His smile was self-deprecating. “It was one thing to reject his presents, but neither me nor my mom could afford college without his help, so…”

“So he’s paying for school,” I finished.

His expression turned bitter and hard. He morphed into a totally different person right in front of my eyes, and this new guy...it was easy to see where the rumors stemmed from. His features looked harsh when he frowned, his eyes grim. “But of course my dad had to have stipulations. Conditions…” He added that last part like a curse word. “The biggest one being that I had to major in business with the idea that I’d follow in his footsteps at his company.”

His head tipped down and he scowled at Buttercup. “I tried to make it work, but...it’s just not me.”

“So what are you going to do?”

He sighed. “I promised my mom I’d try to make him see reason, but I doubt it’ll do any good. The man doesn’t do anything out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t care if I’m miserable studying what he loves, he only cares that he’s pulling the strings.”

I studied him for a while. I should keep quiet. I should. I didn’t know the first thing about his family, other than what I knew by watching Alex for these last three years.

But I knew a thing or two about parents…

I looked down at the baby. Not that I was ready to be one. Heck no. I was rethinking ever having children thanks to little Buttercup.

But more than anything, I hated this look on Cristian’s face right now. I didn’t like this bitterness, the hardness, the anger that seemed so at odds with the Cristian I was getting to know.

Maybe it was that—or maybe it was just the fact that I was a hopeless optimist, as Max liked to point out—but I found myself playing devil’s advocate. “Maybe it’s just his way of showing he cares.”

His brows shot up like I’d just suggested his father was a werewolf or something.

“I mean it,” I said with a shrug. “Everyone has different ways of showing they care, right?”

“No offense, Avery,” he said gently. “But you don’t know my family.”

“No. You’re right,” I said. “I don’t.” I bit my lip to keep from saying more. Not my business. This is so not my business, it really isn’t—

“I heard Alex, though,” I said suddenly. “Outside earlier, I mean. Sounds like he thinks that you’re always competing with him and—”

“He’s the one competing with me,” he snapped.

I blinked a few times at the harshness in his voice. I knew it wasn’t directed at me, but still...this side of him was a totally new sight.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he asks you out tomorrow at school,” he muttered. “That’s totally what Alex would do.”

I swallowed thickly because his words hit the nerve called my three-year unrequited crush on Alex. “You think that’s the only reason he’d be interested in me? To make you mad?”

I didn’t care. I mean...I didn’t care as much as I should that Alex wasn’t into me. What hurt much more was the fact that Cristian thought Alex would only ever want me as some kind of trophy in whatever this was between them.

Cristian’s gaze met mine evenly. “Avery, that’s...not what I meant.”

I shifted, crossing my arms. “Okay, then, what did you mean?”

He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, my family isn’t like yours, alright?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

He gave me this rueful little shake of his head. “You’re just so...sweet, Avery.”

I wrinkled my nose because he made it sound terrible. LIke an insult or something. Also...he’d just accused me of not knowing anything about his family, but had the nerve to presume he knew mine?

“You have this optimism about you,” he said. He gestured toward me with the hand that wasn’t holding Buttercup. “I’d bet money that you believe in true love and happily ever afters.”

I frowned at him. I’d been through this same conversation enough times with Max that there was no way I was justifying myself again. “So?”

He tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. “So,” he said softly. “My guess is your family life is