Page 25 of Kendrick

Kendrick noticed it immediately, of course. “Is everything all right? What’s happening at the house?”

“He’s kicking me out. I came home from work and told him I couldn’t afford rent, and he told me to pack my stuff.”

“That’s what you were planning on doing anyway.”

“Yeah, but I thought he was going to change his mind. I thought that maybe he was trying to teach me a lesson or that he’d put the money away in an account that he could give meonce I decided what I wanted to do with my life. I read stories like that online.”

It broke Jonas’s heart to hear that. Even after everything that had happened, Ryan had believed his father loved him. He didn’t see the monster Kendrick had told Jonas about, and while part of Jonas was glad for that because it meant that Ryan had been at peace until now, another part of him was angry.

How dare someone do something like this? Ryan might be eighteen, but that didn’t mean he was self-sufficient. It certainly didn’t mean that he could survive on his own. He had a job, and he was doing his best, but these days, it wasn’t enough. What if he hadn’t had Kendrick’s number? What if he didn’t have a brother to rely on? What would have happened to him then?

It was easy to imagine, and Jonas hated every second of it.

He disliked everything he knew about the three parents involved. Kendrick had said he hadn’t seen his mother in more than ten years, and he had no idea where she was or if anything had happened to her. His and Ryan’s father was an asshole who had forced one of his sons to leave and kicked the other out. Jonas didn’t know anything about Ryan’s mother, but the fact that she wasn’t involved at all told him everything he needed to know. Kendrick and Ryan had been abandoned by the people who were supposed to care about them.

After losing everyone he’d loved, Jonas couldn’t imagine having this kind of relationship with his family. He wouldn’t hesitate to offer a home and any kind of help they could ever need if they were still alive. His family would have done the same, and now that they were gone and Jonas had more people, he knew the same could be said for his friends. Hell, he considered Caroline and Alexis more like siblings than friends. They’d been through too much together for their relationship to be anything else.

All in all, he’d been lucky because he’d found good people. Kendrick had, too. He wasn’t close to his parents, but he had a found family, and now, he also had Ryan.

The one who worried Jonas the most here was Ryan. So far, he hadn’t told Kendrick and Jonas about anyone but his parents, and it sounded like he didn’t have a lot of people in his life, if any at all. He had Kendrick and Jonas now, and he’d make new friends within the clan, but it felt wrong not to have anything to leave behind.

“I’m sorry that didn’t happen,” Kendrick said gently. “But we’re almost there, so you don’t have to worry. You won’t be on the streets for long.”

Ryan sucked in a trembling breath. “Yeah, I know. I didn’t tell him you were coming to pick me up. I didn’t tell him anything, actually. I think he believes I’m going to sleep on the streets tonight and come back tomorrow and beg for him to take me back.”

“He’s in for a rude awakening, then. I don’t want you to worry about anything, Ryan. Jonas and I are almost there, and we’ll take care of everything. Just keep your head down and wait.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Ryan snorted. “I don’thaveanywhere to go, even if I didn’t want to see you.”

“You hurt me,” Jonas declared.

“Fine. I do want to see you, Jonas. Not sure about Kendrick yet.”

Kendrick laughed, and even though he was still tense, he’d lightened up a bit. It would take more than that for him to fully relax, but that was okay. They would have time once they went home.

“I think you’re my favorite brother,” Jonas said.

“How many do you have?”

Jonas thought about the siblings he’d lost in the Kudlak attack and about Alexis and Caroline. “Well, I have two siblings,Alexis and Caroline. We’re not actually related, but we’re family anyway.”

“Family doesn’t have to be blood-related,” Ryan confirmed.

“Exactly. I had more siblings before, but I lost them.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There we are,” Kendrick murmured.

It looked like Jonas had successfully distracted Ryan long enough that he and Kendrick had reached the house. “You hear that?” he asked Ryan. “We’re here.”

Kendrick parked the car in front of a white house with green windows. Someone was sitting on the porch, and Jonas watched as Ryan unfolded his long body and waved at them. He was still holding his phone, but he quickly hung up and stuffed it into his jeans pocket.

He was tall, with floppy brown hair and a wide smile. He rushed forward as soon as the car stopped, and when he got closer, Jonas noticed the freckles dotted on his nose and his warm brown eyes. He looked a bit like Kendrick, but he was more boyish, which made sense since he was ten years younger.

Jonas turned to Kendrick. “Ready?”

Kendrick smiled at him. “I’ve never been more ready.”

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