I saw her bottom lip tremble until she snapped her teeth around it to keep it still. Her fists unclenched below my palm and she curled her shaking fingers around my hand and her already husky voice rasped with even more emotion when she told me what I think I had needed to hear from her all along.

“I have always been proud that you’re my brother, Asa. Yes, there have been times in the past I would have gladly fed you to the wolves, and it’s no secret that I had to leave home because I didn’t know what to do to help you anymore, but we both made it out alive and are better people for it. I know you’re sorry for the way things went down when we were younger, but I need you to open your eyes and take some credit for the way you have turned it around to make things the way they are now. I’ve long since come to terms with the Asa from my childhood. What I want to do is love the Asa that’s here with me now. You need to let go of those boulders weighted with all the bad things from the past that are dragging you down before you get crushed under them.”

It was eerily similar to what Royal had been telling me the deeper and deeper I sank in with her. I don’t think I was ready to let any part of those stones go just yet, but a sexy redhead was slowly and surely eroding bits and pieces of the rock the more and more time I spent with her. By the time she was done, maybe she would be able to carve out something that was worthwhile, something that didn’t eviscerate me to look at.

I leaned over enough that I could kiss Ayden right on the center of her forehead between her midnight eyebrows and I felt her let out a shuddering sigh.

“I’m never going to let you down again, Ayd. That is the one and only thing in the entire world that I can promise and know it’s a promise I will keep.”

We stared at each other for a long and silent moment. The seriousness of the words I had said to her and the fact that I could see that she understood that I really, truly meant them finally worked to absolve me of some of the guilt that seemed to suffocate me whenever I thought about the things she had done to keep me safe.

We both needed a little bit of space and a little bit of air, so we were eager to get out of the car. I told Ayden she could wait on the curb if she wanted, but she just rolled her eyes at me and followed me up to the front door of the duplex. I knocked on the door and winced as it rattled in the frame. Several large flakes of peeling paint landed on the top step next to my boots, and memories of a trailer built like a tin can started to dance behind my eyes. Why Avett would stay here when her parents were so willing to give her a handout was beyond me, but something kept hounding me that there was more to the story than anyone was seeing.

Nothing happened after the first knock or the second and Ayden asked if we could just go. I contemplated actually forcing my way inside the building but figured with my luck someone would call the cops on me and I’d end up back in Royal’s squad car, this time for trespassing. It wasn’t like I actually had any proof something fishy was going on with Avett, just my gut instinct that the pink-haired hothead had somehow bit off more than she could chew with that tweaker boyfriend of hers.

Ayden had turned and was walking back to the Nova muttering under her breath about little girls not knowing what was best for them when the door suddenly cracked open. One of Avett’s hazel eyes peeked out. Even with just the sliver of her showing, I could tell she was a mess. Her dark hair was showing at the crown of her head where the pink typically lived, she looked thin and pale. There was an ugly scratch on her cheek. The hand that was gripping the door had a broken nail on each finger with cracked and scabby wounds healing on each knuckle. The girl looked like she had been in a fight; I wasn’t sure, but if she had, she didn’t look like the victor.

“What are you doing here, Opie?”

Her voice was strained, scratchy in the way one got after screaming or yelling for a long period of time. The entire picture made me frown and had my hackles rising up.

“People are worried about you. I thought I would come check on you and see if I could put their minds at ease.” No way was that happening now. Brite would lose his ever-loving mind if he saw his only child in this condition. “The druggie boyfriend do that to you?”

I crossed my arms over my chest to show her I wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry and she pulled the door open another inch. Her bottom lip was split open and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to tense up in rage when I saw the black-and-blue marks that ringed her neck like some kind of horrific necklace.

Avett moved several strands of faded pink hair out of her face and adopted a pose very similar to my own. Even bruised and battered, she was still a defiant little thing, and I had to admire her spark even if it was firing in all the wrong ways.