Tainted Forever (Tainted Knights 5)

“No more than I’m looking for a girlfriend. But we’re going to be family, so that means you are important, little niece. I have two ears that hear perfectly, and my shoulders are strong enough for you to cry on without breaking me.”

My heart clenched when he said I was important, and I suddenly found myself putting my hand in his.

“I only have one ear I can hear out of,” I confessed as we walked out of the club.

He glanced down at me in surprise. “Really? Is that something you were born with?”

“No. I had a lot of ear infections when I was a toddler, but apparently, I never cried or did anything to alert my mom to the fact that I was in pain. By the time she realized what was wrong with me, I’d already lost hearing in my right ear.”

Derrick handed over the valet ticket to the attendant before turning his full attention back to me. “You’re totally deaf in that ear? A hearing aid wouldn’t help?”

“It’s completely gone.”

“Want to know something weird about Shannon?” I lifted a brow, waiting for him to answer. “She had webbed toes when she was a kid. Both her big toes were connected to the second toe with this weird membrane thing. It was really gross, and it freaked me out to look at her feet. When she decided to get into acting, she had surgery to get rid of it, but I still can’t look at her feet without shuddering.”

His confession about his sister was so unexpected, I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound surprised me even more because it was so natural.

“That is a really pretty sound,” Derrick murmured, stepping closer to me, his eyes scanning my face. “I’ll have to remember to make you laugh more often.”

I gulped as a blush filled my cheeks. Quickly, I averted my gaze.

Derrick cleared his throat. “Tell me about your dad and his soon-to-be ex-wife,” he said, changing the subject.

“I can’t really help you with that,” I told him.

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t,” I affirmed, and for some reason, I was sorry I couldn’t help him. “I didn’t grow up with Scott. After he broke up with my mom, we moved to Virginia, and he stayed here to continue his career. When she died, I was forced to move in with him and Jillian, but he was always on set in Canada or wherever.”

“I take it you didn’t get along with your stepmother?”

“Every Disney movie that portrays the poor little stepdaughter and the big, bad stepmother?” His brows arched. “They didn’t get it completely wrong. Although, Maleficent seems pretty tame compared to Jillian.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Jillian is consumed with wanting to be famous. With my mother’s death and my arrival on the West Coast, I was suddenly in the spotlight, and she wanted it on her. She hated me for it and because I wouldn’t use my new friends to make her oldest daughter just as famous.” I grimaced, remembering the time in my life when it felt like I was never going to be free of that house, wishing I had someone in my corner who cared.

But I did have people who were and did, though, I reminded myself.

It was just the person I really wanted there hadn’t been.

Scott.

Whatever. I was over it; there was no reason to even go down that road again.

“Do you think she’s going to make trouble for Shannon?” he asked with concern as the attendant pulled up a white Jaguar in front of us and Derrick moved forward to open the passenger door.

“Honestly?” I asked once we were in the car and he was pulling into traffic. “Probably. Celeb divorces are always publicized as much as possible, and Jillian will be in the spotlight the way she craves. She’s going to milk that for everything it is worth. If that means making it ugly for everyone involved, she won’t care. Any attention, good or bad, is still attention in her eyes.”

His jaw clenched. “Yeah, I was afraid of that.”

--

The drive to my apartment in West Hollywood passed with comfortable conversation. It was easy to talk to Derrick, and as he’d said, he was a really good listener.

When he pulled into the parking lot outside my apartment, I wasn’t ready to go in, but I still reached for the door handle.

“You never did vent,” Derrick said, making me pause before I had the door open. “You should do that. Get it all out of your system. It will be good for you, help you move on.”