Simon Says Die

anything but her freedom. Didn’t even want custody of any of us kids. She was more than happy to foist us off on Alex, even Austin and Matt, who were just babies at the time. They’re Alex’s only biological children, but he took care of all of us like we were his own.”
    Madison froze. Oh God. His mother had abandoned her children, had abandoned Pierce, giving a similar excuse that Madison had given when she’d left—that she was bored and wanted to move on. She suddenly felt lower than the lowest pond scum. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
    His arm tightened around her shoulders. “It’s okay. We all pulled together. When my mother left, Alex became the glue that kept the rest of us together, has been ever since.”
    She opened her mouth to correct him, to let him know she was apologizing for her own behavior, not his mother’s. But she decided now was not the time. This wasn’t about her. It was about him, and whatever he’d brought her out here for. “Go on,” she encouraged. “What else did you want to tell me?”
    He rubbed his hand up and down her coat sleeve. She couldn’t help but wish his hand was tracing across her bare skin instead.
    â€œWe don’t all share the same mom or the same dad. It’s a bit . . . complicated. But we’re brothers, regardless of whose blood flows through our veins.” He watched her carefully, as if waiting for her approval.
    She nodded, wondering why he felt he owed her this explanation about his family. Was that why he’d brought her out here? To tell her about his family tree?
    â€œAlex lives here alone most of the time. When Austin isn’t in treatment somewhere, he lives here too.”
    â€œTreatment?”
    â€œAustin has a neurological disorder, similar to muscular dystrophy, but not quite the same. It’s more . . . unpredictable, one of those ‘orphan’ diseases that’s so rare there hasn’t been a lot of research on it.” His jaw tightened. “Every time Alex hears about some new kind of experimental drug, or a study, he signs Austin up for it. One of these days, probably sooner than later, Austin is going to refuse to enroll in more studies. Alex is way too protective.”
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I didn’t mean to get into all that. But I didn’t want you surprised when you walked in. I wanted to prepare you.”
    â€œI’m so sorry. I can tell you love him, and all of your family, very much. I shouldn’t have teased you earlier.”
    He gave her a pained look as he pulled his arm back from around her shoulders.
    She scrambled up from the log. “Is it your ribs? Did I hurt you?” She reached out to open his jacket to see if he was bleeding again.
    He grabbed her hands and stood. “My ribs are fine.”
    â€œThen, what—”
    â€œIn spite of how I’ve been behaving, my family and I are actually quite close.”
    She sensed she wasn’t going to like what he was about to tell her. “So is mine. Or, at least, my brother and I are close. Mom’s another story,” she teased, trying to coax a smile out of him. But he wouldn’t even look at her.
    Not a good sign.
    She hugged her arms around her middle, feeling the chill much more now that she wasn’t snuggled against his warm body. “Go on,” she urged, “before I become a Popsicle out here.”
    â€œStop joking,” he said. “I need to tell you something.”
    She wasn’t joking. She really was freezing. But judging from the harsh frown on his face, she didn’t think he’d be interested in hearing that declaration. She stared up at him, waiting.
    â€œBraedon was angry about the shooting earlier, because we have no secrets from each other,” he said, tensing up, as if expecting her to be upset.
    Was she missing something here? “No secrets. Okay, got it. Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
    He sighed heavily. “If you’ll remember, we were going to meet my family once, back when you and I were dating. We were going to go to Savannah, but something came up at work and we had to cancel.”
    The weekend before she’d left him. She remembered it vividly, because that’s when she’d realized how serious he was getting. She knew he wasn’t the type to casually invite someone to see his family, and neither was