Read Silent Scars (Surviving #4) for Free Online

ornate. The lawn had been cut with the stripes I loved. It used to fascinate me as a child how they made those.
    I turned when I noticed Ryan wasn’t beside me and found him staring out at the gardens. A relaxed look of awe on his face. I watched, unashamed, as his eyes roamed his surroundings. He closed his eyes momentarily and sucked in a deep breath, almost as if he hadn’t been outdoors in a long time.
    “Are you coming?” I said softly.
    He glanced down at me, as if he had forgotten I was there. “Yeah, sorry.” Ryan smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He slid his hands into his pockets.
    I stared a little too long at the tightening of the fabric around his biceps, the way his jeans hugged his thighs, and the fluid way he walked. He stood before me and cleared his throat. I couldn’t look up at him, so I turned and carried on walking across the lawn. We headed towards the trees, where a small lane led to my home. I fidgeted, feeling the awkwardness of the silence between us.
    “I really am sorry he peed on you. He doesn’t usually behave that way.”
    “I reckon he likes me. He was just intimidated by my manliness. I mean he has a good name; he just looks...”He held out his hand towards my dog as he ran around the trees scenting them. “He’s a fluffy rat.”
    “Stop calling him that. He may poop on your pillow,” I warned.
    “He wouldn’t dare,” he grumbled. Then glanced at me. “Would he?”
    I threw my head back and laughed. “Probably. He rules the place. I try and boss him, but after four years, I think I’ve lost the battle.”
    Ryan’s deep throaty chuckle warmed places it had no business warming.
    “So...” He glanced at me before facing forward and fixing his eyes firmly in front of us. “Your dad – he’s gay?”
    “Yup. So is my mum.”
    “But you said your mom lives here.”
    I snorted, because yeah, to an outsider it did seem a little strange.
    “Mum and Dad have been best friends since they learned how to walk. My nan, Mum’s mother, was my dad’s nanny. They grew up together. Mum’s parents weren’t exactly…” I searched for the right word. “Accepting of her sexuality. They gave her a choice – be normal or she was on her own. My grandma, Dad’s mum, took her in and she lived here with them until they went to university. Her and Dad lived together through university, then bought a house when they started working. When my dad’s parents died, he inherited this place. So they came to live here again. Both of them had always wanted a family and decided being best friends, they would make it work, so that’s where I come in. Dad even wanted to marry my mum so that if anything ever happened to him, she would automatically inherit everything here. But she didn’t want that.”
    “Pretty cool that they had each other.”
    I faced him, to see if he was being sincere. “Yeah. It’s a little strange.”
    “What they have is mutual love and respect, nothing weird about that. They want to make one another happy; they have a lovely daughter. If you’re all happy, then what does it matter if it isn’t conformist? Most conventional families are fucked up beyond repair.” His jaw locked so tight I flinched.
    “What about your family?”
    “My brothers are the best.”
    “What about your parents? Do they live here, or are they still in the States?” I smiled up at him, but the muscle twitching in his jaw and the tightening of his fist by his sides warned me I had crossed some invisible line. “I’m sorry, that was maybe too personal.”
    “My birth parents are dead.”
    I gasped. What a total idiot I was. I reached out and touched his elbow. “I’m so sorry.” He pulled away abruptly as if I burned his skin.
    “Nothing to be sorry for. They weren’t people to miss.” The blunt delivery of his words halted me. I stopped walking and stared at his back as he continued up the lane.
    I looked past the canopy of trees blocking the strong rays of sun, to the man