Well, until now. I was a guy after all.
Shaking my thoughts away, I focused on the back of her head as I stepped onto the dock. “We used to bring Dylan down here a lot when he was younger. He loved playing in the water.”
“You came with your parents?” Estella asked, turning her head and watching me carefully.
“No, we don’t have parents.” My tone was harsh but I didn’t really care. It was the truth.
Estella’s eyes grew wide and she chewed on her bottom lip. “Oh, but Dylan said something about your mom leaving…”
“Our mom is a good-for-nothing whore who doesn’t give a damn about any one of us. She slept around with a bunch of guys but somehow managed to have the three of us with one guy. Dylan’s dad is someone else.” I sounded a lot angrier than I’d meant to. “Ryder raised us; he’s the only parent we’ve ever known.”
Instead of shrinking away like I’d expected her to, Estella’s expression softened and she moved closer to me. “I’m so sorry, Vincent.” Her tone was gentle as she laid a hand on my forearm. “I know what that’s like. My mother left us too. Being abandoned makes you feel like somehow you’re not good enough, but that’s not true. The ones who left aren’t good enough.”
I was frozen; I couldn’t move. The way she studied me made me feel like I could tell her everything and she would know how to fix it all. Just that small gesture of placing her hand on my arm suddenly made me feel weightless, like somehow she was taking away all the negatives in my life.
No girl had ever looked past more than just my looks or wanted to have more than a quick thrill of being with a Madden. Why was Estella so different? Why was she nothing like I’d ever experienced before?
“Ryder’s your eldest brother?” she asked when I didn’t say anything.
I hadn’t even realized I’d been silent for so long. “Yeah, he stepped up and took care of us. Now I’m trying to do the same for Dylan.”
Estella moved away from me, and I was once again left feeling disappointed. She moved towards the edge of the dock, peering over the edge at the water. “I can tell how much you care about him. He absolutely adores y-aaah!” Estella let out a shriek as her foot sank right through a rotten plank, and she began to topple over.
With lightning reflexes, I reached out and grabbed her firmly by the waist with both hands before she could fall over and twist her ankle. On instinct, she grabbed a fistful of my shirt to stabilize herself.
“Oh my gosh!” Estella released my shirt and opened up her hand to show me two buttons resting in her palm. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to break your buttons off! I feel awful! I can sew them back for you if you have a sewing kit.”
But I wasn’t even listening to her as I pulled her to me, my hands still wrapped tightly around her waist. That’s when she noticed the embrace; that’s when her eyes fluttered to my face and then to my lips, and when her entire face turned pink again.
My breath hitched as I felt her pulse speed up. The silence grew between us as my eyes wandered over the long waves of her hair that I wanted to tangle my fingers up in, to the amber eyes that I wanted to look into for hours, and then finally to those pink lips that I wanted to taste so bad.
Every single part of me wanted to entangle itself with Estella, and I could tell from the way her body was tensed against mine that she wanted me just as much. Her lips were parted, as though waiting for me to make a move, and there was nothing stopping me from leaning in a few inches and tasting that pretty mouth of hers.
But all of a sudden, Estella pulled away and her eyes darted away from mine. My stomach unclenched and I felt like I could breathe again.
What the hell was wrong with me? I’d almost kissed Estella when I’d been determined to put distance between us. I was losing my damn mind!
Estella’s face was still bright pink and she began to scratch at her left arm. “Um, do you have a, uh, sewing kit?”
I shook my head because words weren’t forming right now.
“Okay, well, I’ll just, um, go back to the house now. Dylan’s probably wondering where we are.”
Without another word, Estella moved past me and left me standing alone. It was pretty clear she couldn’t wait to get away from me. I couldn’t blame her. I wanted to get away from myself too.
Chapter Eleven
Estella
Despite Vincent telling me that they didn’t have a sewing kit in the house, Dylan had managed to find one and talked Vincent into changing his shirt before he’d left to meet up with the rest of the Madden gang.
Clearly, the sewing kit hadn’t been used in years, but it would do for the two buttons I needed to sew back on. Since it wasn’t a particularly cold afternoon, I’d decided to sit out on the front porch to get some fresh air as I sewed the darn buttons back on. Dylan was inside finishing up his homework assignment and keeping an eye on the Bolognese sauce that was simmering on low heat.
And Vincent was right. You could hear the faint trickle of the creek from the porch. It was calming and was really helping with my nerves that had gone haywire when Vincent had touched me.
The memory of how I’d grabbed onto Vincent’s shirt was still fresh in my mind. Could I be any clumsier? I’d managed to break a wooden plank and Vincent’s buttons in one smooth second. And, gosh, the way he’d held me in his arms, well, I couldn’t really describe it. No one had ever held me like that before.
It was hard for me to admit that Vincent made me feel safe and that I actually felt safe in his home. Sure, a part of was still terrified of being caught in the middle of a drive-by crossfire, but my nerves were calming down now that I had fallen into a routine with the two brothers. There was a serenity here that was lacking in my own home. I didn’t feel safe there. I hadn’t in years.
I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I had been wrong about Vincent. I had judged him without really knowing him. He had a side to him that many people rarely saw—the compassionate, caring side that only came out when he was with Dylan had peeked out at me today when he’d shown me the creek.
The sound of an approaching engine disturbed the peace, and I glanced up expectantly as I waited for Vincent’s bike to come around the corner.
Yet, what I was hearing wasn’t a bike; it was a car. Was Vincent expecting someone?
Putting the shirt aside, I rose to my feet and waited.
A couple of seconds later, an unfamiliar truck came around the corner and gave two loud honks. It slowed to a stop just as Dylan tore out of the house and ran past me down the steps.
“Tyson! Ryder!” Dylan called out as two guys got out of the truck.
“Hey, Kid.” The guy that’d spoken was well-built—he was more muscular than Vincent—and bore such a striking resemblance to Vincent that I knew right away that this was his older brother.
The other guy didn’t look very much like either Vincent or Dylan but he shared the same dark hair as Vincent and the other brother. He wasn’t as muscular either; his body was leaner and lankier.
“Tyson, did you bring me back anything?” Dylan fell into step with the lankier brother and looked up at him expectantly.
Feeling uncomfortable, I bent over to pick up Vincent’s shirt, the needle and thread, and the small sewing box Dylan had found. My ears were still entirely focused on the conversation Dylan was having with his brothers.