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Prologue

The first ti to changeso innocent and haunting about the look in her eyes; they told uess at She watched me keenly and openly as I walked around the roo to like ht I just wanted her to get to knoweasier I’d never counted on us having the bond that we did I’d never counted onto her I’d never felt a love like this before

There are soe and determination And then there are some who succumb to their emotions and crumble when they come across an obstacle I’ve always tried to live my life the first way--it’s the only way I kno to live Or, rather, it was Now I’oodbye was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do And it was the weakest Growing up, everyone thought thatone; he was the oldest and the protector, but they didn’t see the pain in his eyes that I did They didn’t know the rejection that he felt when our mother left, the rejection that created a wall around his heart thicker than the chests in Fort Knox

Leaving hi, especially because I knew he had to think I was dead I thought that nothing would ever be able to beatLeaving her had turned out to be evenAnd the fact that I hadn’t been able to say goodbye still tore at my heart But I kneas for the best

Chapter 1

"Noah, are you hungry?" Lucky’s voice was soft as she knocked on hts She soundedafter Zane and myself

"A little bit" I said and then walked over to the door to open it "Morning" I s face, and she beamed up at h her dark lashes Her long dark hair was up in a ponytail and she looked fresh and beautiful

"You look too beautiful for first thing in the led

"You certainly kno toI’ll make us breakfast if you want"

"Is Zane here?" I asked casually, not wanting to answer her question until I had an answer

"No," she shook her head and bit her lip "He had to go out"

"I see" I tried to stifle a sigh "So what’s for breakfast, then?"

"He’ll corabbed ahold ofbrown eyes looked at et over it"

"Yeah, eventually he’ll get over it and forgive me" I nodded I knew that in ave me a certain amount of hope But she wouldn’t I knew that for certain She would always hate me for what I had done--or what I hadn’t done

"What do you want to do today?" Lucky looked at o out and--"

"I’ent Waldron" I lied with a straight face It came so easily to s of guilt were ht that stuff was all taken care of now?"

"It is" I looked away "I just need to take care of soet back, we can go over the docu where we are"

"Maybe tomorrow?" I responded and then s I’ll be out today"

"Oh, okay" She frowned and looked as though she wanted to askquite starved now" I ran down the stairs ahead of her, not wanting her to ask me any more questions I liked Lucky a lot, and I didn’t want to lie to her more than I had to I watched her as she walked into the kitchen behind nancy see war brown hair, she had already worked her way into ood person and because she loved my brother and made him happy I had been shocked when Zane had told me he was in a relationship In fact, I could honestly say that I was irlfriend than he was to find out I was still alive Okay, maybe not reat; she was perfect forabout her, and I loved her no-nonsense attitude She obviously adored Zane, but she didn’t put up with his crap either She reminded et her, Noah It’s over You have no chance of ht I repeated my daily mantra to myself in my head as Lucky started to prepare breakfast

"Omelet with peppers, onions and bacon okay?"

"Any cheese?"

"We have cheddar and Swiss"

"Let’s go with cheddar" I grinned at her and juo over and help her "I’ll h" She laughed at me as I looked around the kitchen for the bread "Look in the bread bin" She pointed at a pinewood object on the counter top

"I had no idea there was such a thing as a bread bin" I oofy face and pulled out the bread and shook uess you can tell I’uess it runs in the Beauhed and me and handed me a knife, so I could slice the loaf

"Well, you know You grow up rich with uess you can do toast and cereal" She cracked soled "Lots of yummy cereal"

"Do I look like I survive on cereal to you?" I winked at her and flexed my muscles Lucky’s eyes sparkled appreciatively as she stared at my ar to steal ht, but I could hear the warning in his voice I stifled a laugh at the jealousy in his face It was hilarious to see that my brother was so whipped

"Zane" Lucky ran over to hiave him a quick peck on the lips "You’re back" She sounded happy and I watched as he kissed her nose before rubbing her belly intimately

"I couldn’t stand to be away fro in ht away What had happened tocold, bro?" Zane raised an eyebrow at rinned at hi the bread I suppose it was a bit presumptuous of me to walk around indeal

"What are you up to today?"

"I have some stuff to do" I kept my back to him and cocked my head to look at him "Want some toast?" I looked into his eyes, and he stared atI knew he had questions for me, but I wasn’t ready to answer them yet

"Yeah, I’ll have two slices" He continued to stare atto wait one on I wasn’t sure how to proceed, though There was too much I didn’t want him to know

"So, when is your next doctor’s appointment, Lucky?"

"Not for teeks" She chopped the onion up carefully as she spoke "But everything is going fine so far, so that’s good"

"I can’t believe I’ to be an uncle" I shook my head and then looked at Zane "And I sure as hell can’t believe that you’re going to be a dad"