Page 99 of Loving Bad

"I've told you about some of my crappy childhood," he began to explain as he lifted his eyes to mine. In them I saw the small boy who didn't know what it was like to be loved.

"While my mom was drowning her sorrows with an endless supply of alcohol, I was left to fend for myself."

It was hard to think of him as a small boy with no one to look after him. It was heartbreaking to listen to.

"Slater was pretty much in the same situation I was. His father was a drug addict and his mom could barely make ends meet. Whatever money his mom made went to pay for the drugs his father needed."

It made me sad to think that children grew up in situations like that. I'd always taken for granted my loving parents and my happy childhood up to the point where my parents had died.

"We got involved with a gang."

He paused for a moment.

"There were no options. We did what we had to, to survive," he finished.

Listening to his childhood made my heart ache.

"I'm sorry you had to grow up like that," I said softly, meaning what I said. I couldn't comprehend it.

"I'm sorry too."

He held my gaze and I watched as his tongue flickered against his lip ring.

"We didn't enjoy doing any of the things that were expected of us," he explained. "But there was no walking away from it—we needed the money."

"Are you still working for this gang?" I asked. Was that why Jeff worked for him? I didn't know how I felt about it if he was still in the gang.

"No," he said, shaking his head. I felt relieved.

"Connor said Jeff worked for you?" I asked, wanting to know the story behind that.

I was tired and I yawned as I waited for him to answer the question.

"You're tired," he stated. "Why don't you sit down?"

I looked around before I sat down on his bed, facing him. He pulled up a chair in front of me and sat down.

"Yes, Jeff works for me," he answered.

That didn't fit in with what I knew about him and it made me wonder how well I knew this guy whom I'd fallen in love with.

"I don't understand."

He let out a deep breath as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I told you about my father," he started and I nodded.

"While he was alive I'd never met him or had any contact with him, but when he died I inherited everything he had," he revealed, watching me closely for a reaction. My forehead creased as I tried to take that piece of information in.

"His lawyer called me up out of the blue one day and told me about my inheritance."

"But what about his wife and kids?" I asked. It sounded strange that the guy who'd fathered him and who hadn't wanted anything to do with him or his mother would leave him everything he had.

"His wife died before him and they never had any kids. In his will he left me everything," he explained with a shrug. He obviously didn't understand it either.

"Wow," was all I could say. A guy who hadn't wanted anything to do with him in life had left Sin everything he'd owned. Talk about messed up.

"I didn't want to take the money, but I didn't have a choice. Slater and I were getting deeper into the gang and it was becoming more serious. We'd gone from petty crime to dealing drugs and we knew it was going to get worse. It was the only way to get us out before we got in... too deep."