Credence

But I’m not sure I should stay here with them. My parents’ death could be triggering it.

Or it could be something else.

Jake

She shouldn’t be here. This is a mistake.

I can’t do Tiernan any good. I can barely keep my own kids under control. Noah is ten seconds from packing a bag and leaving any day, and Kaleb…

Jesus, Kaleb... I’ve never been able to imagine that kid’s future, because men like him don’t live long. He makes too many enemies.

I throw off the covers, having a shitty night’s sleep despite all the space I had in bed without Jules there.

I need to start locking the doors at night. I mean, what guy doesn’t want to wake up at two a.m. to a twenty-three-year-old, naked redhead on top of him, but she’s making a habit of it.

And the sex isn’t very good.

I rub my hands over my face. I don’t know. Maybe it is good, and I’m just bored. I can’t talk to her. Or the three who came before her.

I certainly don’t have any business having another responsibility under my roof right now.

Or ever. I’m a terrible father, and I’m too old for more surprises like a teenage girl living in my house. Hannes could go fuck himself wherever he was in hell.

Sitting up, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and stand up, grabbing my jeans off the chair.

That son-of-a-bitch. I hadn’t spoken to my step-brother, or anyone in that family for over twenty years, but I’m worth a mention in his will? Was there really no one else who knew her and would’ve gladly taken her?

But no, I called her up that night, heard something in her voice that grabbed hold of me, and I spoke before I had a chance to think.

The kid has problems.

Of course, that makes her no different than my own kids, but Hannes and Amelia fucked her up. She’s so different than I thought she’d be. Quiet, rigid, afraid. I have no idea how to handle her. I’m n

ot smart enough for this. People like her, who don’t show emotion are finding other ways to release it.

So, what is it with her? Drugs? Alcohol? Cutting?

Sex?

I stop, an image of Tiernan in the backseat of some car—sweat on her face, hair sticking to her cheek, eyes closed, breathing hard—pops into my head.

I let out a breath and yank my T-shirt off the chair, tucking it into my back pocket for later. She better not. I’m not supplying this town with new pussy. I cock my neck side to side, hearing it crack a couple of times.

Hannes and Amelia should never have had a kid. I never understood what her parents saw in each other, but shit sticks together, I guess. The best thing that could’ve happened to Tiernan was to lose them, and I’m only sorry it didn’t happen sooner.

I walk to my bedroom door, open it, and cross the hall to her room.

I knock. “Tiernan.”

It’s only just after five, and I rub the sore muscles on my neck. I don’t want to wake her up, but I didn’t get a chance to apologize yesterday because she stayed in her room the rest of the damn day.

But I’m not letting her hide in here just because I was an asshole.

When there’s no answer, I knock again. “Tiernan?”

The house is silent other than the faint music Noah sleeps to drifting out from underneath his bedroom door.

Hesitantly, I crack open her door, slowly in case she freaks out, and peek my head inside.