Page 50 of May 11

She'd lost her parents last year and had struggled on her own. What kind of man let his sister deal with the aftermath of losing her parents? Especially when Cora just turned twenty-one years old?

A whistle cut through the evening. He gazed over at the back of the clubhouse. Dio tossed a duffle bag to Maverick, and both men prepared to ride. A car started. Maverick's woman and daughter were in the vehicle. His MC brothers were making sure everyone got home safely.

He stubbed out the cigarette and went back inside the van. Cora had turned the bed back into a couch and cleared off the area for him to sit.

She stood at the counter, cutting up an apple to add to a plate with cheese and crackers. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I had a cinnamon roll at the shop this morning, but that seems like a day ago."

She walked to the couch and put the plate between them. He no longer had an appetite.

"Why didn't you mention your brother when you told me about your parents?" he asked.

She picked up a cracker. "Just because I have a brother doesn't mean he's a part of my life."

"Explain."

"I will." She put a piece of cheese on the cracker with a slice of apple and popped it in her mouth. When she finished chewing, she said, "He doesn't know about me."

"Your brother?"

"That's who we're talking about. My brother. Jeff." She frowned. "Are you having trouble following along?"

"Babe." He ignored the cracker she offered him. "I'm trying to figure out if any of the threats aimed at the club, aimed at you, have anything to do with a brother you only told me about today. So, don't get snippy with me. I'm the one trying to keep your ass alive, not your brother."

Her eyes rounded. "Fine."

"Now tell me why your brother doesn't know about you."

"Because he left my parents' house twenty-eight years ago." She licked the crumbs off her bottom lip. "As you just reminded me, I'm only twenty-one. Do the math."

He leaned back on the couch. "Different mothers?"

"Nope."

"He's your full brother?" He combed his fingers through his beard when she nodded. "Jesus..."

"Trust me. It's possible." She pushed the plate closer to him. "You better eat something."

"Let me get this straight. Your parents never looked for your brother?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know if they did. He was eighteen when he left. My parents were old school, believing once you graduate, you're supposed to move on and support yourself. To them, it was Jeff's choice to leave and never return."

"How old were your parents when they died?"

"My mom was sixty-six, and my dad was eighty," she said.

He rubbed his jaw, took the plate, and set it on the counter. Without any hesitation, he hooked the back of her neck and pulled her closer, claiming her mouth. The tension broke, and he chuckled against her mouth.

She pushed against his chest, and he only found the situation funnier. He broke away from her, laughing.

Cora gawked at him. Her reaction only made the conversation more amusing to him.

She slapped him in the chest. He rubbed the spot and leaned his head on the inside wall of the van.

"I don't find anything funny about losing my parents," she said.

"It's not that, babe. All these weeks, I've wondered why you don't blink about our age difference." He chuckled, shaking his head. "It's all you know. Your dad robbed the cradle."

"They had a good life together," she whispered.

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