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Posted: 27 Jun 2011 09:10 AM PDT

He blinked, and hesitated for a second. "Ah…okay. What do you want to know?"

Em bit her lip, looked out the windshield, then looked back at him. "What happened to Alicia's mother? Her real mother, not Summer."

Ridiculously relieved and oddly hurt that the question hadn't been about him—how crazy was that?—he answered somewhat belligerently. "Alicia has never had a mother, real or otherwise."

Em jerked back against her door and turned her head away. "I'm sorry. I… I know I had no right to ask."

Jonathan squeezed his temples and cricked his neck. This opening yourself up to emotion thing. Was it worth the turmoil? His wished he could force himself back into lockdown again, but he honestly didn't think he could. The cat was out of the bag, as they say, and there was no way he'd be able to trap it again.

He took a deep breath. Released it slowly and noisily. His hand reached out to touch the shoulder she'd presented him with, but he caught himself before he actually touched her.

Yep, he was definitely losing it. "Look at me. Please?"

It took a few seconds, but she finally, and clearly grudgingly, turned back to him. But her eyes were screened, her expression hurt. "What?"

He clenched the steering wheel with one hand and started the car with another. Why was it so hot in here? The car hadn't been sitting in the sun that long. He adjusted the air. "I'm sorry for barking at you."

Em shrugged. "Whatever."

Now he was clenching his teeth as well. "Don't be like that. I said I was sorry and I mean it. It's just…It's just that my sister may seem like she has it all, but she's had a crappy life in a lot of ways. From the time of conception, she's never had a mother that wanted her. She's never had a mother, period. Never had the kind of home that other kids have."

M turned fully toward him, biting her tongue to hold in the words that raged through her mind. I want her. I'll be her mother. I'll give her a home. Please, let me. Let me!

Her hand reached out and briefly touched his knee before she snatched it back. "What happened? Will you tell me? She's so… so special. I can't imagine anyone not wanting her."

Blazing eyes tracked the movement of her hand. Pinned it where it now sat in her lap. Then looked up and burned her with their intensity. "Imagine it. My father managed to fall for the worst women. He was too blind to see that they were only in a relationship with him for one reason. They were users and takers and they wanted to use and take his money. Or his social position." His knuckles turned white where he gripped the steering while. "I still can't understand it. My mother and him were perfect for each other. They came from the same background and understood each other. But after she died, he sort of closed down for a while. Then he decided to get back out there and get busy with life again. It wasn't that there weren't women from our circle that weren't around and available, there were. But I guess they had too much class to hunt him down." He let loose a nasty sounding laugh. "Well, there are plenty of women around that have no class. And they must have smelled the scent of easy prey when my father walked into a room."

M slowly pulled in on herself. She'd asked, but his words pierced with the force of a javelin thrown by a warrior of old. Our circle. No class. He didn't strike her as a snob, but what did she know? Maybe he considered her beneath his notice.

No. She knew that wasn't true.

Sealing away her hurt, knowing she'd take it out and let it bleed at a later date, she said, "I get the fact that Summer wouldn't have been much of a mother, but what about Alicia's biological mother? Where is she?"

"She got what she wanted—with a few complications—and ran. She sold Alicia to my father for a boat load of cash."

Fury ignited, instant and monstrous. She lurched forward and grabbed his arm with both hands, shaking him. "What? She sold her? How could she…how could you let that happen?"

Jonathan pulled one of her hands away from his arm. He held on to it, his thumb stroking the back of her knuckles. With his other hand, he reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her earlobe.

For a moment, he didn't say anything. M watched him, her breath caught in her throat. Her brain was full of vicious, vengeful thoughts toward Alicia's mother, but her heart duly noted the touch of his hands. The expression on his face. What was that look, anyway? It looked like…tenderness. Respect? Admiration?

A little smile quirked the corner of him mouth, and his body, only moments ago pulsing and tense with rage, settled back into his seat. He tilted his head, and said, "You really care about her, don't you?"

"Alicia? Yes, of course. I told you, she's special. Maybe a little loud, but special just the same."

"And if I were to give you the name and address of her mother, what would you do?"

M looked away from him. She could admit to caring for Alicia, but she hesitated to voice how much. She was nothing more than a glorified babysitter. She didn't have any rights here. But…she drew a deep breath and let it out. Loudly. What the hell. "The way I felt just then? I would have gone and ripped her heart out."

Jonathan nodded, the look on his face advertising that he knew that would be her answer. After one beat, then two, he let go of her hand and put the car in gear.

As he drove out of the lot, he said, "I don't know if she planned to get pregnant or if it was a mistake. Maybe she knew how much of a sucker my father really was. Anyway, she started talking about abortion. My father went nuts, but she was all her body, her choice. My dad cut a deal with her. Have the baby, then walk away. With a bundle of cash, of course. Oh, she was all over that. She gave birth, my father transferred the money to her, and she walked out of the hospital and never looked back. She didn't even name Alicia. My father and I have done everything for her from the second she was born. She bonded with us. We've never been the typical family, but we're a family. She never had a mother, but she's always known she had our dad and me. Even though I didn't live with them, she knew she had me. And now, thanks to Summer, she just has me. But one day…" His teeth slapped together loud enough for her to hear.

She managed to keep her own together until the pulled into the driveway, but she didn't have the fortitude, or apparently the common sense, to keep them that way. She turned to him as the garage door came down behind them. "One day what?"

He paused and looked back at her, his hand on the door handle. He looked angry again. "Her chances for the "typical" family are gone, but one day soon I'm going to give her the next best thing. I'll give her the perfect mother and little brothers and sisters. I'll make her happy."

He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.

M sat. Frozen. Someday soon he was going to give Alicia the "perfect mother." Probably a mother from his "circle." Someone with "class." In other words, someone not her.

Installment 32 Coming Soon!

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