I expected a lot of reactions from her, everything from apathy to outrage.

What I didn’t expect was for Piety to come over and take my hand, then lead me to the couch and tell me to sit. She sat down next to me and curled up against me. “I think it’s time you tell me what’s going on.”

“I just did.”

“No. You told me you had a sister who owes money to a dealer…that’s like saying Captain America is a movie about a soldier.”

It tugged a smile out of me. “You mean there’s more?” I tilted my head and smiled at her tiredly.

“Kaleb.”

Sighing, I dropped my head forward, pressing our brows together. “Okay.” Closing my eyes, I tried to figure out where to start. How did I wrap up the last decade of my life in a way that wouldn’t take hours or months to explain?

“Our parents died ten years ago. It was…rough.” Shaking my head, I stared off into nothing. Rough didn’t even describe it. “Before that, we were normal. So fucking normal, you’d almost get sick. Dad and Mom would dance around the house at night, and they’d laugh and tease each other…I used to act like I hated it but…” I shrugged, smiling a little. I didn’t let myself remember the good times enough. “It was good. They were good. We were good. They were killed in a car crash, and nothing’s been good since.”

I looked over at Piety. “We were sent to live with my dad’s uncle – he’s the only family we had left. He tried, but he never had kids, hadn’t wanted any, and he didn’t know what to do with us. Especially Camry. She cried a lot. Caused trouble. Started skipping school and by high school, she got into drugs and was already drinking…fuck.”

This was why I didn’t like to think about it. I felt like a failure. I hadn’t been able to help her. At all.

“Sometimes she hated even being around me, hated me, I think.”

“No.” Piety touched my cheek. “Why would she hate you?”

I looked at her. “Because I had them longer. She was only eleven when they died. I know it doesn’t make sense, but she was a kid. Nothing makes sense when you’re a kid who’s lost her parents.”

“But you’re her brother.”

“Fat lot of good I’ve done her.” I covered her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “Camry…well, hell. If Mom and Dad had still been alive, there’s no telling what she might have gone on to do. She was always smart. Even as much trouble as she got into, school was still easy for her. She even managed to get an international scholarship to go to college – over here. It was in Las Vegas. The University of Nevada.”

“It’s a pretty decent school.” Piety smiled, brushed at my hair. “You must have been proud.”

“I was.” It hadn’t lasted long. “I got worried fast. She had trouble after the first few months. Wasn’t fitting in well. I guess life away from home wasn’t everything she thought it would be. She ended up losing her scholarship, left school. Now…hell. I don’t know what kind of trouble she’s in, but I know she owes a shitload of money to a piece of shit drug dealer, and when I try to call, I can hardly ever get hold of her. The one time she does call…” I laughed, bitterness tearing at me.

Getting up, I paced over to the wide window that faced out over the panorama and stared outside.

“I talked to Samuel about helping us getting new visas to stay in the States,” I said quietly. “When I signed with Flames Down Under, I got a one year visa, but since I’m no longer in the show, I need to find another way to stay. I must…for Camry’s sake. She’s an addict. She needs help, more help than I can give her. I want to get her into some sort of program. I’ll find a job.”

She opened her mouth to ask a question, but I held up a hand.

“Not stripping either,” I assured her. “I was…am a good surfer, worked at a shop in Sydney, wanted to have my own place. I had this crazy idea I could get her debts settled, then we could find some place. In California, maybe, I don’t know. I could work at a surf store, maybe give lessons.” He shot me a quick smile. “Nobody surfs like an Aussie. Except maybe down in Hawaii. But it was an idea. I don’t know though. Nothing is going the way I planned.”

I heard her getting up and turned to look at her, uncertain what she was going to do. Turning around, I caught her arms just as she would have slid them around me.

“What are you doing?” I asked softly.

“Hugging you.” She gave me an easy smile. “You look like you need it.”

“I…” The words died in my throat as she slid her arms around me and tucked her head against my chest, snuggling in close.

“It will work out, Kaleb.”

I cupped the back of her head in my hand and breathed in the scent of her. I really, really wanted to believe that.

She smoothed her hands up and down my spine, and the worries continued to eat inside me. When she took my face in her hands and kissed me, offering the sweetest of distractions, I wasn’t about to refuse.

She tasted so good, felt so soft.

I caught the hem of the skirt she wore and pulled back, looking into her eyes as I dragged it up. She didn’t look away, not even when I slid my hand inside her panties and found her already wet, already ready for me.

“I want you now,” I said, the need slamming into me like it had been lying in wait.

“Then have me now,” she said, leaning in and kissing me. She bit my lower lip, and I groaned as it sent waves of heat blasting through every neuron in my body.

“Right now? Right here?” I asked, staring into her eyes.

“Right now. Right here. No roommate to bother us.” Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips. “She’s gone…out doing things. Going to be gone…all day…oh…”

She clamped around the fingers I’d just slid through her damp folds, then up into her wet channel.

“That’s…convenient.” I twisted my wrist.

She rocked against me, her lashes fluttering. She slid a hand down and gripped my wrist, her mouth parting on a moan. She started to ride my hand, and I almost laughed, even as my dick began to pulse in heavy denial. I wanted to have her riding me like that.

But there was time.

Later.

She moved against me, demanding and hungry. I braced my free hand on the wall over her head, staring down, watching the two of us. When I circled my thumb around her clitoris, she shivered, a delicate reaction that started at her shoulders and went all the way down.

Her nipples went tight, and I wanted to catch each one and bite them.

But that would require moving, and I didn’t want to do that until–

“Kaleb!” She clenched around me and climaxed, hard and quick, her hips bucking against my hand.

I waited until she was done before I moved.

Then, as she sagged against the wall, looking insanely pleased with herself, I tore open my trousers, grabbed her hips and boosted her up. “Again.”

I thrust inside her, felt the mini tremors still going through her as she came, and I had to grit my teeth against the sensation because it just felt too damn good.

“You’re…fuck me, Piety, I think we’ll kill each other.”

She laughed weakly and clung to my shoulders. “But what a way to go.”

“Yeah.” Lashing everything down until I almost had myself under control, I eased away and looked into her eyes as I withdrew, then surged slowly back inside. “I love watching you. Love touching you.”

“I love having you touch me…” The words broke on a sigh, and she arched, clamping tight around me with a moan.

“Don’t…” I hissed out. “Don’t do that.”

“I can’t help it.” She shoved away from the wall, closing the distance I’d put between us and wrapped her arms around my neck. Then she started to move – she was riding me, again. All sleek muscle and hungry female, she used the strength of her thighs and hips to move herself up and down.

“Fuck.” I grabbed her ass, dragged her up, let her sink back down, driven by her weight. Then I did it again, grinding her against me.

She whimpered, and I heard another moan rip out of her.

Again.

Again.

“Please!” The word was weak, almost a scream, would have been if she’d had air.

Lurching forward a half step, I put her back against the wall and thrust. Deep, hard, over and over.

We came together and it was almost painful.

“I think we…really might kill each other,” Piety said, a few moments later, her breathing still ragged.

“Yeah. But as you said, what a way to go.”