Page 43 of Worth Loving
“You never were nice to me when I needed you,” she said.
“Willow. I’m not trying to be mean. I’m trying to get you to look in the mirror and grow up. You hate being told what to do, but you can’t do anything on your own. You don’t even try halfthe time. You just want everyone to hand everything over to you while you fall in line. Fine, do that, but don’t bitch to me that you want freedom too.”
“I just don’t know why Grandpa can’t give us our money.”
“It’s notyourmoney. It’shis,” he hissed. “That is what you all are failing to see. Even Mom and Dad.”
He’d never get through to them. Maybe his grandfather was right—they were alike. They thought alike, they were both highly intelligent, but he never considered himself a tyrant.
Though he would bet Willow thought that now.
The truth was, he’d known his whole life that his grandfather was planning out everyone’s life and using his wealth to do it. His parents, his sister, his cousins, they were all greedy little bastards who got what was coming to them.
He wasn’t them. He wasn’t greedy. And he was damn well going to live his life his way.
“Fine,” Willow said. “I’ll figure something out.”
He took his coffee with him to his bathroom to shower for the day. There was no way he was going to get any sleep at this rate. Not that he got much last night because he’d spent too much time thinking of Molly naked on her bed while he was slamming into her.
Now he had two problems to deal with. What to do with Molly and how to get his sister back home.
When he came out of the shower, he marched up the stairs, took a deep breath, and woke his son up.
“Hey, bud. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“You do,” Jonah said, stretching like he always did, yawning and blinking his bright blue eyes.
“Yep. We got a visitor last night when you were sleeping. It’s your Aunt Willow. Do you remember her?”
“No. Is she the one who sent me the new Gameboy?”
“No,” he said. “That was your grandmother. Willow sent you the new Jordan high tops for your birthday.”
“Oh, sweet. She’s here. Is she here to visit with me?”
His son was climbing out of bed. He didn’t want to lie because he didn’t know what the hell was going on.
“She’s staying a few days. I’m not sure of her plans today, but why don’t we get up and go say hi while I cook breakfast for us?”
Jonah ran to the bathroom and Dean went back to the kitchen.
“Be nice to him,” he said to his sister. “He’s excited you’re here. Of course he only remembers what you sent him and nothing more.”
“See, kids remember gifts.”
He kept his snarl back.
By the time he left for work, Willow was flipping through the channels and sulking, not interacting with Jonah while Carly shot more than one sympathetic look at him.
It wasn’t his nanny’s fault for letting his sister in the door. He wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself, even if he wanted to.
It was probably a good thing she couldn’t drive or she’d want his car. As it was, if she wanted to leave, she’d have to figure it out on her own because he told Carly she is not to be a chauffeur.
When he walked into the bar it was a bustle of activity. “Hey, Rob, crazy day already.”
“The holiday week has us hopping. Sorry I wasn’t around last night and couldn’t cover.”
“No worries. I got it handled.”
