Page 42 of Broken Trust

“You asked,” Atlas defended. “I was just being honest.”

“Settle down.” Jacob sliced the roast, the juices escaping. “You two can talk about Braylon after dinner, Jennifer. We have company, and I’m sure they don’t want to hear this kind of talk at the table.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Colt said.

Monica glared at Colt before her gaze swung to Kellen. When she saw Kellen was watching her, she gave him a frosty look before glancing away.

“You’re doing it again,” Atlas said to his mom.

“What?” she asked. “I was merely stating that your dirty laundry shouldn’t be aired while we’re eating dinner.”

“It isn’t my dirty laundry,” Atlas said between clenched teeth.

Kellen squeezed his mate’s knee under the table. Getting into an argument over Braylon wasn’t worth it.

The plate with the sliced roast was passed around, along with the side dishes. Jennifer rose and grabbed the glass pitcher with lemonade, poured herself a glass, then handed it to Colt.

The lemonade reminded Kellen of the cookout at Morgan’s. How he wished he was there right now instead of here with Monica sitting across the table covertly staring daggers at him.

Colt dug in as if he hadn’t noticed or didn’t care that Monica was trying to make them vanish with her frosty expression. Too bad Kellen couldn’t be oblivious. Even if he paid her no mind, his wolf was snarling fiercely.

“What do you do for a living, Kellen?” Jacob asked as everyone began to eat.

From the corner of his eye, Kellen saw Atlas look up at him. “I invested in the stock market and live off the dividends.”

Jacob’s brows rose. “I rely on a small investment company to do that for me since I don’t understand the first thing about how the market works. From the car outside, I would say you know what you’re doing.”

From trial and error. Kellen couldn’t count how many times he’d lost money before learning how to analyze market trends, identify promising companies, and make strategic trades as stocks fluctuated throughout the day.

When Colt had first come to live with him, his brother had asked Kellen to do the same with what money he had. Now the guy had a nice-sized nest egg that just kept on growing.

With as long as their kind lived, it was the only way that Kellen knew of to stack some serious cash. In the beginning, when he’d finally learned how to invest, he’d used the dividends to buy larger amounts of stock.

Now Kellen could live for a very long time off what he’d made and was still making. So could Colt.

“It’s hard work, and the market isn’t always stable,” Kellen admitted.

“Maybe you could show my fiancé how to invest,” Jennifer said in an offhanded way as she sipped her lemonade. “Craig has a good job, but our wedding is bleeding our savings account.”

“Let’s save that talk for another time,” Monica said. “You don’t know Kellen, so I wouldn’t advise discussing your finances without Craig’s consent.”

Kellen ground his teeth, trying his best not to let Monica get under his skin. That wasn’t easy since her haughty tone reminded him too much of the way his own mother used to talk.

“You two can chat after dinner,” Atlas said to his sister. “I’m sure Kellen wouldn’t mind.”

“Would you?” Jennifer asked.

“Not at all,” Kellen replied, giving her a warm smile.

“Thanks.” She returned his smile. “Craig has been worried we won’t be able to afford a house anytime soon.”

“Jennifer,” Monica snapped. “What did I just tell you?”

“What harm is there in just listening to Kellen?” Atlas asked. “He’s not offering to invest their money for them, Mom. Besides, everyone knows that weddings are expensive, so Jennifer isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know.”

“Watch your tone,” Monica snapped.

Kellen held back his growl at the way she was speaking to his mate, uncaring that she was Atlas’s mother.

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