Page 104 of Ransom

In the end, all I can give him is the truth.

"It might have been a cool experience, but I'm not all broken up about it either."

His brow furrows. "You still could have kids."

I don’t try and suppress the whole body shudder that idea gives me. "Are you fucking kidding? I'm forty-three years old. Even if we put biology aside, if I had a kid tomorrow, I'd be over sixty when they graduated. No thank you."

That crease between his eyes eases. "You sound pretty sure."

"I am. I will take Max on when it's time because I love him. But if I had my way, I'd stay the fun aunt. I could be there for all the important stuff, but I wouldn't have the responsibility. Maybe that's selfish, but I'm too old to pretend to be someone I'm not."

A slow grin curves his lips. "Being the fun uncle is pretty great. I get sleepovers and sticky fingers. But then they go home to their parents, and I get to relax."

"With your hamster."

He grins, those lines at the corner of his eyes crinkling. "Sometimes, yeah."

"Can you explain that one? How did you end up with a hamster roaming around your place? You know that's weird, right?"

He shrugs, like his bar for weird is set a little higher than most, then guides us into the diner. Macy, the owner, waves at us, and I steer us to a booth in the back. When we're settled, I rest my elbows on the table and cock an eyebrow. I want this story. "Hamster," I prompt.

"When my sister-in-law Evie came to stay at the tower with us, we got a little excited." His face scrunches up adorably, those blue eyes crinkling at the corners. "Wait. I need to back up."

"It's Saturday. I don't have any plans. Take your time." I lean back against the vinyl booth, genuinely curious. I want to hear all about him. His family. His life. Everything that's happened in the years we've been apart. There's so much I've missed, and each little glimpse feels like uncovering treasure. Matt could probably use a hand at the garage this morning. Saturday’s are reserved for oil changes and basic maintenance, but there’s always something more than comes in.

But I’m not going. That’s one of the perks of being the boss.

"Our original garage, the one I won, is Knight Street. Up until two years ago, my brother Kade was trying to run it by himself. He was a bit of a micromanager. The problem was, Brash Group needed all of his attention. He was burning out. So one night, along comes Becca. Her car broke down, and she decided to sleep in it, in the garage driveway, until morning. A few hours later, Kade had given her the office manager job and keys to the apartment above the garage."

"That's fast!" It sounds exactly like the kind of impulsive decision that could go horribly wrong.

"Right! That's what I thought. Kade is all heart. And he had a history of letting women take advantage of him. So I wasn't a fan of this idea at all." His expression darkens slightly at the memory.

"Did you intervene?" I can totally picture him going all big brother, scaring away the woman. I’m sure he could be very intimidating if he needed to be. The poor woman probably wouldn’t have stood a chance.

"I wanted to. So bad. But I didn't want to risk pushing him away. So I just watched and waited. I figured I'd have to pick upthe pieces at some point." He shifts in his seat, and I can see the tension in his shoulders from just remembering it.

"But you didn't?"

"No. I didn't. Becca is…" He drifts off, a mixture of exasperation and affection on his face. "More than a handful. She's tough and knows who she is. She didn't really need rescuing. She was the first of the women. Kade fell for her hard, and thankfully got his head out of his ass before it was too late."

So not easily intimidated then. "You like her."

He laughs. "I do. She's amazing. But I'm never going to tell her that. She knows it, but our relationship is built on sarcasm and annoying each other. It works for us."

"Sounds pretty great."

"It is, actually. Some of the other women need me to be soft for them, but not her, not usually. She's actually scary tough. She's got all kinds of black belts in martial arts. And she runs a self-defense class for women. That's where she met Holly. Holly is a doll of a woman. Five-foot nothing. But she had this air of fragility about her. Becca had Holly take over her job as office manager so she could teach martial arts full-time. The second my brother, Micah—he does restorations at Knight Street—got a look at her, he was a goner."

"What was her story?"

"A very bad, very violent ex. She got away, but not without scars. That's where Evie comes in, actually." I love the way his face lights up when he's talking about his family. "Evie was a nurse at the hospital Holly volunteered at while she was still married. Evie noticed bruises… and well, she helped Holly escape to safety. And she paid a really steep price for it."

"What kind of price?"

"Holly's husband had friends on the police force. And Evie ended up losing her job, and losing custody of her little girl for a few months. It was all fucking lies, but she went from awell-respected NICU nurse to a janitor making a quarter of the money. When we found out what had happened to her, well, there was no way we weren't going to help."

That’s pretty telling about the kind of man he is. A lot of people wouldn’t get involved. "So what did you do?"