Page 47 of Sweet Sin

He trembles then, and his legs give out as he falls to the ground.

Man, he really is in a bad way.

I help him to his feet, a wave of brotherly love enveloping me. How could he be so stupid?

And how could I have not seen this coming?

I’ve been here every summer, working the ranch.

Except for last summer. Leif and I backpacked through Europe.

Hawk was here.

No…Hawk wasn’t here. He left for college early for his football scholarship.

But Robin and Raven…

No… Robin took summer classes, and Raven went to Australia to work as an au pair for the summer.

Damn.

Not one of us was here last summer.

Eagle was all alone the summer between his sophomore and junior years of high school, at an impressionable age.

I’m the oldest. I have to take some of the blame here.

It’s my job to protect my siblings. Especially Eagle, the baby.

I help Eagle lie down on my bed. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

That was a promise I’d grow to regret.

Savannah hasn’t said anything on the drive to my place, so I’ve been alone with my thoughts.

All this time, I figured my life would be better from here.

Sure, I’d always be an ex-con, and people would probably treat me as such, but I could throw myself into work on the ranch. Make myself as invaluable as I had been before I got put away.

And then I met Savannah Gallo.

My fucking parole officer.

I couldn’t keep my hands to myself, and neither could she.

Then again…

What if I had kept my hands to myself? Savannah would’ve been home when those two goons went to her place. They would’ve taken her.

Mr. Shaw might still be alive though.

But when Savannah was not at her place, and they traced her to mine, I was there.

I was there to make sure they couldn’t take her.

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