CHAPTER 16
LIAM
“If you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.”
I turned my head to watch the approaching speaker as I reached for a protein drink in Brooke’s fridge. After the previous night with Brooke, I needed all the energy I could get.
I supposed that when one had a houseful of Sinclairs, one of them was bound to find me alone and threaten my life, but Noah’s words still took me by surprise as he approached.
Brooke’s siblings had showed up bright and early at her apartment. Now that it was afternoon, I was facing the reality of not being able to get them to leave.
I popped the lid on the can, grateful that, at the very least, they’d come with drinks and food supplies.
I closed the fridge and leaned back against the counter. “What makes you think I’d hurt her?”
Noah walked by me to pull out a beer. “Didn’t say you would,” he said in a disgruntled voice. “It’s a warning.”
I’d discovered that Noah never had much to say, but when he did, it was either threatening or supportive. He’d obviously kept a fairly tight rein on his siblings, but at least he’d done so in an encouraging way.
I lifted the energy drink and slammed back half the can before I answered. “I get it. I have a younger sister.”
Noah shot me a look that seemed to be saying that I knew nothing about what he’d been through.
And maybe I didn’t.
Honestly, I admired the guy, even though he was being an asshole. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to take care of all five of his brothers and sisters after his mom had died.
He screwed off the top of his beer and took several gulps before he answered, “Brooke has been through a lot, and now she has to deal with all of this bullshit. I want this to be the last time I see her upset for at least a decade.”
“I don’t ever want to see her cry again,” I confessed, vividly recalling how my heart had gotten sliced into a million tiny pieces last night when Brooke had let go of her pain and confusion. “But don’t think I’m going to let her be controlled anymore. It wasn’t my fault she was upset.”
“I don’t control her,” Noah rasped, his eyes flashing with anger and indignation.
“Bullshit. You could have told her sooner than you did.”
I had my share of anger toward Noah Sinclair, but I was willing to drop it for Brooke.
He’d had to fulfill a lot of roles in his siblings’ lives when they were younger. I couldn’t say I’d ever had to stand in his shoes.
Honestly, the whole Sinclair clan had done what they felt was best for Brooke, but I knew she resented not being told earlier.
“I couldn’t,” Noah retorted hotly. “Do you think I didn’t agonize over every single decision we made about her? She wasn’t ready to deal with anything more.”
“So you thought,” I challenged. “You were making decisions for a grown woman. Brooke is much stronger than you think she is.”
“I still think of her as a little kid,” Noah admitted.
“She’s not,” I informed him without hesitation.
“I never wanted to be her father. The last thing I wanted to do was hold any of my siblings back,” Noah said with remorse. “I just wanted all of my family to fucking be okay.”
I could see the concern on his face, and the heavy blanket of responsibility that still seemed to be hanging on his shoulders. “I can’t say I know completely how you feel,” I told him. “But I know it must have been hard for all of you. Give yourself a break. You had a hell of a lot to handle. But your brothers and sisters are all grown up now.” I had a feeling that Noah needed to start living his own life, something that he’d needed to put aside for his family earlier in their life.
Brooke had told me enough about how she was raised for me to understand the hell that Noah must have gone through when he’d had to take on the responsibility for a half-grown family when he was barely old enough to vote. They’d all seen it, and in return for Noah’s sacrifice, they’d all tried to help as much as they could.
Not very many people could do that and have their family come out as good as Noah’s had.
His face was grim as he replied, “You have no idea. I knew if I couldn’t support them, I’d lose them. I had moments when I thought they’d be better off with a foster or adopted family. But I couldn’t see that happen.”
I understood. Adopted or foster kids didn’t always have a happily ever after, and they didn’t always end up with a good family. It would have been hit or miss, and like Noah, I doubted I could have taken that chance with Tessa if I’d had to make that call. “They’re all grown now, man,” I said in a calmer tone. “You did it, even without the help of the Sinclair name or money. You need to own that.”
I’d met everyone this morning except for Owen. Brooke’s youngest brother was out of state doing his residency.
Jade looked so much like Brooke, but they weren’t identical. And they both had their own distinctive personalities. But I could sense the same inherent kindness in Jade that I did in Brooke.
Okay, Seth and Aiden were both assholes, but I knew they were trying to protect their siblings in their own obnoxious ways.
Against all odds, the California Sinclairs had turned out to be somewhat normal, even if they were a little rough around the edges.
Noah ran a hand through his dark hair as he looked at me with a frown. “I think I have post-traumatic stress from raising them all. It’s hard to let go.”
I imagined that giving them all some space now to make their own mistakes was difficult. Noah had been an older brother and stand-in father for many years. I’d seen the way he listened to everything his brothers and sisters said and did, and then stepped in with advice. He reminded me of myself with Tessa. “Sometimes they have to figure things out for themselves. I have a sister who went deaf at a very young age. Our parents died in an accident, so I was all she had.”
Noah swallowed some of his beer. It took him a minute of thought to answer, “If that had happened to one of my sisters, I’m not sure how I would have reacted.”
“She got her hearing back with a cochlear implant, and she married one of your cousins, Micah. She’s happy, but the protective instincts stay with a person even after they aren’t needed anymore.”
“I think Seth, Aiden, and I will always feel like we have to watch out for Brooke, Jade, and Owen,” he told me unhappily.
I shrugged. “It’s never going to go away. But it gets better with time. Eventually you realize that they’re all grown up and able to take care of themselves.”
“I doubt that,” Noah answered.
I had my own misgivings about Brooke’s brothers ever seeing her as an adult, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to mention it to Noah. “I’ll take care of her,” I said.
“You better,” he grumbled. “I see the way she looks at you. You could hurt her worse than any other guy on the planet.”
“She has the same power to hurt me,” I replied. “I’ve known that since soon after she came to Amesport.”
“I don’t want her to move to the East Coast,” he mumbled.
“That’s going to be her decision,” I said, not willing to let her family try to sway Brooke. “I’m good with staying here.”
“What about your restaurant? Evan said it’s been in your family for generations.”
I shrugged. “Priorities change.”
If Brooke wanted to live on the West Coast, I was more than willing to relocate. She was my priority. I’d miss running Sullivan’s, but I had the money to start another place. Several places, if I wanted. And there was only one Brooke.
“You’d leave your home and your sister for her?” he said carefully.
I nodded sharply. It had taken me a while to come to the conclusion that it didn’t matter where we lived. I just wanted to make sure it was always going to be together. “Tessa has Micah, and she’s independent, even though I tried not to notice it. My sister has a ton of friends and the Sinclair family she loves in Amesport. And it’s not like I couldn’t get to her if she needed me.”
“And the restaurant?” Noah questioned.
“I’d hire a manager. I like running it myself, but in the big picture, it doesn’t really matter. Brooke is a hell of a lot more important to me.”
“Evan said you’re wealthy,” Noah said, studying me like I was a specimen under a microscope.
“Not as rich as Brooke is with her inheritance, but I don’t think the money is going to matter much. It’s never meant much to me. But if she loses everything tomorrow, I can take care of her for the rest of her life.”
Noah grunted. “I suppose. At one time, I would have been thrilled if she’d found a guy with a good profession. Now we’re splitting hairs about being a millionaire or a billionaire. It seems fucking ridiculous.”
Brooke’s brother still appeared to be struggling with coming into so much money. “You’ll get used to it,” I advised. “It doesn’t change who you are.”
He gave me a grim look. “But sometimes it changes the people around you.”
I shook my head. “Not if you hang around the right people.”
“Are my half brothers and sister in Amesport the right people?”
I knew that Noah was trying to ask me what they were like. He was obviously curious about his second family. “All of them are good people. You already know Evan, and even though he’s an asshole, he cares about the people he loves.”
Maybe Brooke’s brothers and sister were a little rough around the edges. Maybe they’d grown up without the influence of money, but they’d probably appreciate being wealthy a whole lot more because they’d lived poor.
“Evan can be a jerk,” Noah replied. “But it’s not that difficult to see right through him. He didn’t have to include us when he settled our father’s estate. He didn’t have to bust his ass to make that fortune grow even larger. But he did.”
“He should have told the rest of his family,” I said to Noah. “I can’t imagine any of them will be happy when they find out you guys exist and they didn’t know.”
Noah shrugged. “I would have done the same thing. No sense in upsetting them when the half siblings can’t be found.”
I smirked. Noah was a control freak, even though he didn’t want to admit it. He reminded me a lot of Evan, so it was no surprise that they understood each other.
I changed the subject, getting back to his original threat of killing me. “Brooke will be happy wherever we end up. You can count on that.”
“You sure she’s going to stay with you?” Noah asked right after he drained his bottle of beer.
No, I wasn’t at all certain that Brooke was going to make a lifelong commitment to me, but I had to believe she would. I wasn’t going to be worth a damn if she didn’t. “I hope so.”
I finished my drink and tossed it into the garbage. Noah tossed his bottle from a little farther away and hit his target perfectly. “You better bring her back often to visit,” he grumbled.
“How do you know she’ll move back to Maine with me?” I asked.
He gave me a knowing look. “I’ve known her for a lot more years than you have,” he explained. “Brooke was always the more sensible twin. But Jade could easily lead her into trouble when they were younger. When they grew up, they were . . . different.”
“How?”
“Brooke didn’t have much interest in men. If she did like a guy, the relationship didn’t last long. She always seemed to be calmly waiting for something extraordinary.”
“Like me?” I joked.
“Maybe for the right one,” Noah agreed, missing my joke entirely.
“What about Jade?” I asked curiously.
“She’s completely disillusioned,” he answered unhappily. “She’s been burned, so she doesn’t trust easily. She’s still a romantic with other people, but not so much for herself.”
“She’ll find somebody to trust eventually,” I consoled him. “Tessa was the same way.”
My sister had been badly scorched, but she’d healed after she’d found Micah.
“I want every one of my siblings to be happy,” Noah shared in a tense voice.
“What about you?” I realized that Noah had been so concerned about his family that he probably had never taken the time to consider his own happiness.
“Doesn’t matter,” he rumbled. “I had too many responsibilities to worry about myself.”
“It matters,” I disagreed.
“Not to me,” he said solemnly.
I looked at his sober expression as I started walking back to the small living room filled with more Sinclairs than I really wanted to deal with at the moment. “It matters to your family,” I said quietly.
“I noticed,” he answered in a graveled voice. “Jade is trying to hook me up with every woman she thinks would make me happy. She doesn’t understand that I’m married to my business right now. I want to be worthy of the money I inherited.”
I snorted. “You were born worthy.”
“Evan and his family are successful,” he argued.
“They might not have been if they hadn’t been born into money. You can’t compare your situations.”
“Maybe not,” he agreed. “But I’ve always wanted to be successful in my own business. I have that opportunity now.”
The world was wide open to Noah now, like it never had been before. He could be whatever he wanted to be. Even though they hadn’t been raised alike at all, I could see so much of Evan in Noah. Evan’s half brother had the same ambition and drive as Evan did.
As we made our way back into the crowded living room, I just hoped he didn’t become as big of a prick as his half brother.