Lila's Loves (Haven, Texas 1)

No! She had to stop this. It was why she left the ranch. Because of her attraction to them, to all of them, would never be reciprocated. Oh, they were nice to her and everything, she even figured that they cared about her, but they certainly didn’t feel anything more towards her than brotherly affection.

If they had given her any indication that they wanted her, then she wouldn’t be here now. She would never have left. But when she’d told them she was moving away, they helped her pack. If that wasn’t an indication they didn’t feel more anything towards her then she didn’t know what was.

She cleared her throat. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Clay’s in the hospital,” Colin told her. “We’ve come to bring you home.”

Colin watched as Lila’s face grew pale. He reached out for her, worried she was going to faint dead away.

“Easy, baby,” he murmured, picking her up and stepping inside the small apartment. She was so tiny, like a china doll. He barely felt her weight as he held her against his chest. God, had she been this tiny when she’d left?

“Is he okay? What happened?” she finally asked, her gaze full of fear. My God, she was even more gorgeous than he remembered. He knew she didn’t realize how beautiful she was, with her mass of dark brown curls and those amazing hazel-colored eyes. Her plump, pink lips captured his attention and it took every ounce of control not to lean down and kiss her.

“It’s not good, Lila,” he told her. “The doctors don’t think he’s going to last much longer.”

“W-what?” she gasped. He set her down on the mattress and sat, facing her. Taking hold of her wrist, he took her pulse. It was too fast.

Shit. Way to break it to her easy, jerk.

Trace glared at him. Yeah, he should have let Trace tell her like they’d agreed. Trace was way more tactful than he was. Colin tended to talk first think later. He took a deep breath. He had to calm down and focus on Lila.

“Okay, honey, I want you to take a couple of deep breaths and try to calm down. Can you get her a glass of water?” he asked Trace who was watching on in concern.

“Calm down? How can I calm down when Clay is…?” She swallowed heavily, her face turning gray. Scooping her up, he ran for the bathroom and held her over the toilet as she heaved.

Colin held her up as Trace crouched on the other side and held back her hair. Sobs wracked her tiny body as he supported her and his heart wrenched. They’d had over a week to get used to the idea of Clay dying and he still spent most nights fighting back tears. Clay was his father, his friend, his mentor. And he knew Gavin and Trace felt as devastated as he did.

But for Lila this was a complete shock. She’d always been such a tough little thing that he’d half-expected her to shut down her emotions in front of them. He could only remember her crying a few times. Once, when her dog, Dastardly, died. The other, when she fell out of the large oak tree by the house and broke her collarbone. God, they’d been terrified when Gavin found her lying on the ground, not moving.

As her heaving finished, Colin pulled her back and sat on the floor, holding her on his lap. Trace handed him a glass of water. Colin held it to her lips, ignoring her attempts to take it from him as he gave her a few sips.

Lila made another attempt to grab it. But he handed it back to Trace.

“Hey, I was still drinking that,” she protested hoarsely.

“I want to make sure you can keep down those few sips first,” Colin explained, resting the back of his hand on her forehead. “You feel a bit warm. Do you have a thermometer?”

She shook her head.

“Are you sick?” Trace asked her, crouching down to hand her a toothbrush with some toothpaste squirted on it.

Lila sighed. “Just a stomach virus or something, but I’m over it now.” She looked over her shoulder at Colin. “Are you going to let go of me so I can brush my teeth?”

He raised an eyebrow at her tone, which was damn well surly for her. Still, he supposed he’d be feeling pretty grouchy if he’d been woken in the middle of the night, told his foster dad was dying, then puked his guts out. He nodded at Trace who reached down and picked her up, holding her on his hip like a child.

“I can stand on my own,” she said dryly.

Trace sent her a quick smile, but didn’t answer. He set her down gently. She swayed slightly as she stood and Trace quickly grabbed her around the waist, supporting her as she brushed her teeth.

“I’ll be waiting in the other room,” Colin said. There was barely enough room in the bathroom for one person, let alone two over-sized men and one tiny female. He wandered out into the other room which obviously served as a bedroom, living room and kitchen.

He didn’t like what he saw, not at all. And if any of them had known that Lila was living in these conditions, they’d have been here a long time ago, either to move her back home where she belonged or at least to a better apartment in a safer area of the city.

He’d have come for her sooner, but they’d all promised Clay they would give her some space and time to be by herself, to grow up and experience life.

When they’d parked outside he noticed that most of the streetlights were out; the streets were dirty with graffiti and garbage. Hopefully his truck still had its tires by the time they left. He moved to the small kitchen area and looked in her cupboards, trying to find something to help settle her stomach.

Goddammit, they were practically empty. Just a couple of potatoes and some rice. Just how little money did she have? He knew Clay had often tried to give her money, but she’d always refused, saying she was doing fine.