Blessed Fate by Hb Heinzer Page A

for him to sit. "If you tell me where the mugs are, I can grab it. Thanks." I filled my own cup and then brought the carafe to the table to top off theirs. I figured it couldn't hurt to go out of my way to help them since there was a high likelihood they were pissed at me for sleeping in Maddie's room.
    "How did you sleep?" Mike asked, eying me carefully. I could only imagine what he was thinking we had done under his father's roof, days after their mother died. If I were in his shoes, I would have wanted to kill someone.
    "Not much at all," I admitted. "Your sister's having a pretty rough time, so I spent most of the night rubbing her back and trying to get her back to sleep when the tears woke her."
    For the first time since I had sat at the table, Maddie's dad looked up from the steaming coffee in front of him. "Thank you, Colton. You're a good man to take care of her that way." He patted me on the back, and I wondered how these could be the same people Rain always told me were judgmental and unwelcoming.
    "Thank you, sir." I felt my cheeks getting warm. Taking care of her wasn't something that should embarrass me, but I didn't like being called out on it. "I'm just doing what good friends do."
    Matt snorted, still glaring at me. "Yeah, friends. Is that what you're calling it? Does that take away the need to stop sleeping around?"
    "Matthew," Mr. Neumann scolded, "you will behave yourself. What your sister does or doesn't do is none of your business. If they have an unconventional relationship, that's between—"
    No matter how entertaining it was to watch Matt slink further under the table as their father ripped into him, I had to set the record straight. I narrowed my eyes on Matt, who was directly across the table from me. "Matt, I have never had sex with your sister. We are friends, nothing more. If it was up to me, yes, I would be one-hundred percent committed to her and only her, but that's not what she wants. So last night, I was in her room as a friend, taking care of her like I have for the past five years. You can believe that or not, but there it is."
    I excused myself from the table. While they weren't completely evil, nothing would ever put me in the mood to sit and listen to any of Maddie's family cut her down. Jon and Travis were just coming up the stairs as I passed the basement door.
    "Hey man, everything okay?" Jon asked, probably seeing the way my jaw was twitching.
    "Yep. Great." I lied. "I'm going to wake up Rain. There's hot coffee out there."
    When I got back upstairs, I couldn't bring myself to wake her. I laid down in the bed next to her, once again watching her sleep. She twitched and inhaled sharply as my fingers lightly grazed the side of her ribs. "You okay?"
    "Yeah, I'm good," she sighed. It wasn't a sigh of 'I wish he'd stop doing that', it was a sigh that told me my touch was affecting her. "We should go find Jon and Trav."
    She rolled to get out of the bed, and I pulled her back to me. As long as we were safely behind her bedroom door, no one could question my intentions, and she didn't have to face the cold reality that lay ahead of her for the day. "They're having coffee with your brothers. They're fine. I smoothed things over with your brothers and dad. I think they understand."
    She turned to me, eyes wide with panic. "What did you tell them?"
    "Relax. I told them that you didn't want to be alone last night, and I stayed with you." I left out the rest of the tense conversation, not wanting to be the reason she started her day stressed out. I began leaving a trail of kisses against her shoulders, testing to see how she would react. I fully expected her to pull away from me, but instead she nestled harder against my chest. It took everything I had to keep me from telling her exactly how I felt right then. "You just lost your mom. You had your entire world flipped on end yesterday. It'd be a lot for anyone to take in, even a badass like you."
    My cock stirred beneath the thin fabric of my