If he did it twice, however…he wouldn’t do it twice. Karen was certain of it.

“Are you going to be all right?” Zach asked.

She’d survived her parents. She could do this. “I’ll be fine.”

He held out his hand.

She looked at it, not sure what he wanted.

“Your phone.”

She fished it out of her back pocket and handed it to him. He punched in his number and handed it back to her.

“I’m never more than ten miles away.”

A strange laugh escaped her. “This is such a freaking small town.”

He laughed with her. “Yeah. It is.”

Laughter faded and she gave him a wistful grin. “Thanks for keeping me from getting lost.”

He tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re welcome.”

Then, like a schoolgirl, she turned and walked into a parental house and closed the door. She leaned against it for several minutes before she worked her way upstairs.

She fell back onto the bed she’d been sharing with Michael for the last few days and draped an arm over her eyes.

Her mind drifted, probably because of the stress of the day, to her parents.

The pain she’d tried hard to forget for years bubbled to the surface and threatened tears. She’d be damned if she’d allow one more wasted tear on them.

Her mother had abandoned her when she needed her most.

If it wasn’t for her Aunt Edie, Karen would have gone the way of many homeless teens.

Michael and his millions were her ticket to helping others, but she wasn’t willing to sell herself out to obtain them.

In her back pocket, she felt her phone buzz. She’d considered ignoring it, but looked to see who called.

There were three missed calls from Michael with messages. She didn’t bother listening to what he had to say.

Then there was a text from Judy.

Where are u?

She didn’t need the entire Gardner family searching the small streets of Hilton looking for her. Karen tapped her chin, then texted.

Have a splitting headache. At the house.

She waited until the next buzz.

You’re FOS. Mike is frantic. Did u fight?

Judy might be several years younger than Karen, but damn if she wasn’t in tune with life.

U R right. Tell your brother to screw off.

Karen hit Send as she picked herself off the bed and walked down to the kitchen. She found a bottle of wine and pulled the cork before the buzz came in from Michael’s sister.

Ohhh, someone’s sleeping on the couch tonight!

Karen saluted Judy in an empty kitchen. “Good idea, sister.”

Karen sent one last text.

Xoxo

She sat on the sofa and waited for Michael. Because blood was thicker than water Judy would tell Michael that she was at the house, and if he held any remorse, he’d show up as fast as his feet could carry him.

When the door swung open ten minutes later, Karen kept her eyes focused on the ridiculous crocheted plant hanger that went out of style sometime in the seventies.

Michael approached her with slow steps. He sat on the coffee table in front of her when she refused to meet his gaze.

“I’m so sorry.”

She blinked. Debated what she’d say to him. Because she did love him as a friend and felt he’d violated that friendship with his own drama, she told him something she’d never uttered to another human being.

“When I was thirteen my father stepped into my room one night and kissed me as no father should ever kiss his daughter.”

Michael’s eyes grew wide. His skin paled.

“I pushed him away but he came back and forced himself on me again. When I told my mother, she called me a liar. The day after I told her, they both left. I sat in the house for almost a week before I realized they weren’t coming back.”

She refused to cry.

She met Michael’s gaze. “You crossed that line today, Michael.”

There was no reason to sugarcoat his actions, and she needed to make him understand the intensity of her feelings so he wouldn’t ever feel he had the right to do this again.

“I’m so sorry, Karen.”

He rested his forehead on her knee, but otherwise didn’t touch her.

“If you want to be my friend when this is all over, you’ll listen and agree to what I’m going to say.”

He looked up and waited.

“From today on you will not kiss me. Not touch me in any intimate way. As far as the world is concerned our irreconcilable differences began today.”

He swallowed with a nod. “I can live with that.”

She sipped her wine, set the glass to the side.

Outside she noticed the lights of cars pulling into the drive. The last thing she wanted tonight was to deal with any of the Gardner clan.

She stood and started toward the stairs. When Michael followed, she shot him a look.

“Not sure where you’re going, buddy. That couch looks mighty comfortable.”

That stopped him in his tracks.

Zach walked to the park before jumping into his truck and driving home. He was twisted in so many knots he didn’t know which way was up.

Loyalty to his brother hung over him like a suffocating blanket, and his attraction to Karen threatened to undo him every time they were in the same room. Not that he needed her to confirm what he’d already felt coming from her, but now that Karen had brought to words her desires, Zach wouldn’t be able to pretend their chemistry wasn’t there.

He was seriously screwed.

What had Karen meant when she said that Mike wouldn’t have the opportunity to hurt her again? There had been one warning bell after the other going off in Zach’s head since his trip to California. It was as if he was looking at one of those pictures within a picture and not seeing the intended image. If only he could sweep away all the garbage and peer inside Karen, he could determine what was going on.

Two blocks from his single-story two-bedroom home, he noticed Tracey’s car parked outside his driveway.

Once again, with his attention focused on Karen, he’d forgotten all about Tracey. What a bastard he turned out to be. His temples started to throb when he realized it was time to end things with her. She deserved someone’s full attention, not his half-assed consideration.

Tracey sat on one of the deck chairs on his front porch.

“Hey?” he greeted her as he walked up his drive.

She said nothing, and gave a sad smile.

“I didn’t see you at the park.”

She looked beyond him and blinked a few times. “I was there. I saw you.”

“Why didn’t you…”