“I’ll be there soon,” I promised. Hanging up, I eyed Nitro who I’d been talking to about bike engines again, and said, “Sorry man, I’ve gotta go help my sister out.”

“Sure, brother. We good for Saturday?” he asked, watching as I stood.

We’d planned to work on his engine. “Yeah, I’ll probably get to your place by eleven.”

He gave me a chin lift and I headed out.

When I arrived at Lina’s house twenty minutes later, she seemed even more frazzled. My brows knit together. “What’s wrong?”

“Dave just called again and said he’d be here after all.” She gave me a pained look. “Kick, I don’t want him anywhere near the kids, not when he’s drunk.”

I placed my hand on her upper arm. “I’ll take care of him, okay? I don’t want you worrying about it. You just go and do your shit and leave Dave to me.”

Tears pricked her eyes and she collapsed into my arms. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” she sobbed.

Fuck, things were worse than I realised. “What the fuck’s going on, Lina?”

She clung to me and sobbed for a good few minutes before pulling away and wiping her eyes. Sniffling, she admitted, “He does this often. And sometimes he turns up and gets aggressive with me if I won’t let him in the house.”

“Fuck, me!” I yelled, the anger punching through my body, “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t want this to happen!” she yelled back. “I wanted to try and sort it out without involving you because I knew you’d resort to violence to fix it.”

I scowled at her. “Sometimes the only thing that works is violence.”

She hung her head for a moment and then gave me her eyes again. Sad eyes. “I know you won’t get this, but I still love him. After everything he’s done, I still love him, and even though I know we aren’t good together and can never go back to what we had, I don’t want you to hurt him,” she said softly, her words pleading with me to understand.

I roughly rubbed the back of my neck. “Shit, Lina. You’re right, I don’t get it. The guy fucked around on you, he’s a shit father, and you want mercy for him? Even after he’s gotten aggressive with you?”

Her lips spread into a thin line. “Some people don’t know how to do better, Kick. For some, their best is our worst, and it’s not always their fault,” she said softly, calmly.

My eyes widened. “Don’t sprout that psych bullshit at me that you’re learning, ‘cause I’m not fuckin’ interested in excuses. How can you stand here and cry on my shoulder about him one minute and then turn around and defend him the next?”

She sighed. “If I went through life holding onto the shit people have done to me, I’d be an angry and depressed person. I have to let it go . . . for me, not them. And sometimes you can love and hate someone at the same time. I choose to let both in, to not deny my feelings and only concentrate on the bad. And as far as crying on your shoulder, yeah, I’ve reached a point where I’m feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes you just need a good cry and then you can keep going.”

I listened to everything she said, and while I didn’t agree with it, I respected her enough to try to follow her wishes. At least until that didn’t work and then we’d do things my way. Because I was sure as fuck that her way wouldn’t work. “I won’t hurt him, but I will make it clear that I’m watching him, and if he doesn’t pull his head in, I’ll be stepping in for you.”

“Thank you,” she said as she stood on her toes to kiss my cheek. “You’re a good brother, Kick.”

“We’ll see if you still think that after he fucks up again and I lose my shit at him.”

She shook her head. “You have so little faith in people.”

“It’s what happens when you’ve been fucked over by people too often, babe.”

Her face grew wistful. “We need to find you someone to love. Someone who will love you so much you might start to believe in people again.”

I ignored her and jerked my chin towards the front door. “Go. You don’t want to be late.”

She grinned at me and turned to walk away. “I’m going to start looking,” she threw over her shoulder as she left the room.

I shook my head to myself as I went in search of the kids. When my sister got an idea in her head she never let it go. She could try all she liked but I’d never be like her. She was too fucking compassionate and forgave too easily.

There’d only been two people in my life who I’d ever thought I’d be able to forgive if needed.

Turned out me and forgiveness didn’t get along well.

Chapter Seven

Evie

I slammed my front door and trudged down the hall. My efforts this afternoon to get hold of money for my father’s debt had been for nothing. No one had been able to offer me a cent and I’d run out of people to ask. Dread snaked through me at the thought of what would happen to Dad if I couldn’t find the cash for him.

The silence and heat of the house was suffocating. After spending the drive home completely in my own head, riddled with thoughts about my father, I needed music to drown them out. I dumped my bag on the kitchen counter and switched on the air conditioning and stereo before I headed to the shower. Maree would be here to pick me up in a couple of hours and I needed to clean the grime of the day off. I needed this night out tonight like I hadn’t needed one in a long time.