Page 8 of Unhinged Kallie

“Tell me, Sunshine, before I lose it on someone in here.”

Her body was shaking, and I was barely holding it together. I couldn’t explain this strange reaction to seeing her upset, but I’d been like this since Abel almost killed her. I didn’t think someone like me could suffer from PTSD, but for once, maybe I was wrong.

“It’s my dad. He and his wife were killed in a car crash, and…Cain, I’m Carter’s legal guardian. They are flying him with a Child Services rep here tomorrow. I need to meet them at the airport.”

Kirby buried her face into my chest, and I hugged her tight as she clung to me. This was terrible news. I felt nothing about her father’s death, but I hated that she was sad. What worried me was the almost three-year-old boy coming to live with us.

I didn’t do well with change…this would be a challenge.

Chapter Four

CAIN

Reaching over the center console, I grabbed Kirby’s hand. She had been crying and fretting all night. She was up and pacing so much that I finally forced her to drink chamomile tea and sit. This stress was not good for her or our baby.

She already refused to take time off work for another three months, which would put me in an early grave.

“You need to try and relax,” I said, squeezing her hand.

Her knee was still bouncing, but she did take a few deep breaths. “I need to be honest with you,” she said.

I glanced over as I backed into a parking spot at the airport. My Sunshine rarely worried about talking to me, and usually, it was because of something Abel said or an issue at work. The last time was when she told me she was pregnant.

I put the car in park. “About?”

“Cain, you know I love you with my whole heart, right?”

“Why do I feel a but coming?”

“No, there will never be a but about that specifically, but…we have lived in our own little bubble for sixteen months.” She stopped and chewed on her bottom lip. “And, now we are adding someone else, and I’m worried about how that will play out.”

She looked exceptionally beautiful with the sun shining in the window, making a golden halo around her head and hitting her eyes just right so that I could see the flecks of red that were part of the condition. Kirby didn’t really have purple eyes. She had ocular albinism, which is the complete lack of pigmentation in what would’ve been blue eyes. Due to this, the blood running through her eyes gave the purple effect, but when the sun hit just right, I could see the blood.

She was truly a masterpiece.

“Cain?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you looking at my eyes?”

Taking off my sunglasses, I smirked, and my Sunshine blushed. “I plead the fifth.”

“I bet you do. I’m serious. I need you to listen.”

“You have my full and undivided attention.”

She sighed and looked down at her hands. “You can’t kill him, Cain.”

“Who?”

“Carter, and don’t you even dare give me that look. I know you, and you hate the idea of him stepping on the property, let alone living in our home. But he’s a little boy, and he just lost his parents.” Sighing, I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, never thinking I’d hate that Kirby could read me so well.

“I may have had a thought or two, more so if he becomes a problem.”

“He’s two and a half. I’m sure he’s going to be a problem at some point.” Reaching out, she grabbed my hand and held it to her chest. “Please, I wouldn’t ask this if it didn’t mean so much to me, but we need to find a way to have Carter fit in. He’s my brother, and we are his only family.”

“You realize he’s not actually your brother, right? Just because you called his father Dad all these years doesn’t make him your blood.” She rolled her eyes at me as if I was the one being thick. “Tell me this, what if he finds out what I do and wants to go to the police?”