Foster Siblings 3: Brokedown Hearts Read Free Page B

Ben hated filled his tone. “Abby and Rigo love you, you know? They’re not threatened by my past with you, and you’ve said you like them both too. You don’t have to keep making up excuses when we invite you out for a meal.”
    Fucking pity. Don’t even think about pushing that shit on me . Baring his teeth in a wolf’s snarl, Ben somehow managed to keep his voice nice and even. “They weren’t excuses, as you can tell by the forced vacation my bosses think I need. I’ve had my nose to the grindstone with work all the time. I don’t give myself much free time for anything. I don’t like it.”
    “I know. Okay, I’ll shut up now. I’ll stop trying to push you into doing things a different way. I know you have your own style and that it works for you.” With a groan, Braden muttered, “You just make the rest of us look like slackers and slobs.”
    Getting a glance at himself in a mirror, assessing the unforgiving nature of not only his physical appearance but also the hardness living in his eyes, Ben frowned. Thoughts of how he’d constantly had to hide many of his most aggressive sexual needs with this man—desires he’d mastered early in his life and kept buried and chained with every man he’d been with—assaulted Ben, and his gut clenched with sickness. “I think I’m just hardwired different. It must be in my genes.” He did have half his coldhearted father’s DNA in him, after all; those genes had to manifest in him somewhere.
    “You made yourself who you are,” Braden replied without pause. “Nobody deserves the credit and accolades for the fine man you’ve become more than you.”
    This time a caustic rumble rolled through Ben, one he could not suppress. “And now I’m going to hang up. Have Jonah call me. Bye.”
    Without another word, Ben ended the call. He didn’t dare give Braden another chance to mention Ben’s history. Ben wasn’t in the mood to rehash foster homes and searches for birth parents. When they’d been knee-deep in a serious relationship, Ben hadn’t been able to give Braden more than the basics of his past. He hadn’t spilled a word of what he had eventually discovered via locating his birth father—the one good thing he’d gained in his life as a result of searching for his past halfway around the world—so he certainly wasn’t going to spill his soul now that they were only friends.
    Catching another glimpse of himself in the mirror above his dresser, taking in the six-foot-five height, slashing cheekbones, and natural, muscular build that came from his father, as well as the bronze coloring and shiny black locks that came from his mother, Ben scowled again. He didn’t have parents, he reminded himself. He simply had DNA donors. The important stuff, the stuff that made him the man he’d become, had been built in him over the course of his career.
    And right now, I have a new job. A place to focus my energy.
    Adrenaline buzzed in Ben, feeding his desires and life force in a way he couldn’t ignore. He finished packing a bag, got any portable gear he could travel with together, and set everything by the front door.
    He wanted to be ready to say yes and get started on this new gig the moment he took Jonah’s call.
    * * * *
    David wrapped his fingers around the motel room door handle and cringed as they twisted in something sticky. Swallowing past an urge to gag, he unlocked the door and pushed it open.
    Next to him, Brittany shoved her sunglasses up into her auburn tresses and frowned as she stepped inside the dank room. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into coming back to stay with us? We love having you there. And this place…” She glanced from the room out to the run-down location of the motel, off the Interstate, just outside of town, and wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure this place will be good for you, David. I’m not even sure it’s safe.”
    David’s immediate thought was that this room wasn’t as clean as his cell back in prison.