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Does he want us to leave? Shit, I didn’t think about that. I have to check how much I have saved already. I need to start looking. I know it was only a matter of time before we would need to go.
“I can start looking and move out. It’s no trouble, Kalum,” I rush out.
He gives me a look like I have offended him. “I didn’t come here to tell you to move,” he says. “I want you to stay. You and LJ don’t have to move anywhere. This is your home.”
“I appreciate your help with my situation, but this isn’t my home. It is your home or your family’s home.”
“I bought it for you, Aura. For you and LJ.”
I pause, looking around the house like I’m seeing it for the first time. My eyes take in the grandeur of the home. A home I feel comfortable in.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because you and LJ didn’t like my apartment. You were right. My apartment sucks if you think about it.” His gaze travels over the kitchen, and he grins. “Not a place to make good-tasting chocolate milk at night.”
I grab my hair and twist it up in a messy bun. “Why? You didn’t have to do that. You have no obligation to us whatsoever.”
“I wanted to. It’s my money, and if I want to spend it buying you a house so you and LJ can feel comfortable, then that’s what I want to do. I don’t want to fight with you. I want to help you.”
“Okay.”
“ I heard that you are working, and why haven’t you used the card I left you?”
I lower my gaze and shrug. “I felt bad that you were paying for everything. It was the least I could do.”
“You don’t have to work. You have enough?—”
“It is not my money,” I interject. “All he wanted was for his son to keep his legacy alive. His vision. The name he built for himself.”
I hate that people keep telling me that. The money Lane left me was for his son, and it’s not mine. I hate having to repeat myself. No one fucking gets it. Nothing he left is mine. If I were to touch it, I would be sacrificing LJ’s future. I’m the keeper he trusted to carry out his dying wish.
“You know that’s not true. He loved you, Aura.”
“He loved his dream more. He can write me a letter telling me otherwise, but I know the truth. I was just there to help him carry it out. I’m a fucking target for his family now. They want to prove a point, and I know they want to make it through me.”
He sits on the couch and leans forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. I glance at his wrist, and that’s when I see it, the bracelet I made him all those years ago. He’s wearing it. You almost can’t see it with the tattoos inked all over his skin, but it’s there.
I take a seat next to him but keep a respectable distance. With the pad of my finger, I run it over the braided thread. A surge of energy shoots up my arm. His head tilts, and he turns his wrist, letting me touch it. He laces his fingers through mine.
Our eyes meet. “I won’t let them take anything away from you, Aura. It’s not theirs to take. If you don’t want to touch the money he left, then let me help you.”
“How is it any different if I take money from you? You can’t save me, Kalum. I have no problem working and paying bills like a normal single parent.”
He shakes his head. “Let me help you, Aura. Please… I can help you. I can make them go away, and they will never bother you again.”
“How?”
How is he going to do that? They will come at me with everything they have. His parents and Lane’s are friends. They are worse than the Turners. They will do whatever it takes to make sure I disappear.
“You let me worry about that.”
“Your parents aren’t any better, Kalum. I will not just have his family but yours against me too.”
His jaw ticks. He levels me with a hard stare. “My parents are the least of your worries. I’ll take care of the rest, but you need to trust me, Aura. You think you can do that?”
What choice do I have? Exie is my best friend, but she can only do so much. She is a Turner. She is tied up taking over the family business.
“Okay.”
