“Right? I get enough crap from other people; I don’t want it from my sister too. I just want her to be happy. I could care less if she’s good at soccer or not. Anyway, my mom likes to say that you always fight with the people you love the most, so oh well. My dad and I are always bickering about something. I guess she’s right.” I walked over to the ladder on the side of the bunk beds, hands gripping the sides of it. “You have a brother, right?” I asked, knowing damn well he definitely had a brother, an older one.

“Yes,” he answered, scooting back further onto the bed. Something weird stirred in my chest watching him sitting on my bed in his pants, thin shirt and big bare feet. It was so homey, so natural. For so long I’d had to remind myself that he was just a regular man, but seeing him there like that really nailed it home.

It was so cute. He was so cute.

“I haven’t seen him in three years,” he added unexpectedly.

I looked at him through the rungs of the stairs. “Jeez. Why?”

“We’ve never been close. He has his own life and I have mine.“

How lonely did that sound? Sure I wanted to strangle my sister sometimes, but she was usually in a good mood at least a handful of times a year. “Not even when you were little?”

Kulti hunched his shoulders up casually, settling back against the two pillows propped on the wall. “I left my parents’ home when I was eleven, Sal. I haven’t seen them for longer than a month at a time since then.”

The ‘holy shit’ was apparent on my face, it had to be. I’d known he’d gone to some soccer academy before his career took off, but he’d been eleven when he left home? That was one of the neediest times in a kid’s life. He’d been so little. Jesus.

“You were there all the time?”

He nodded.

“Didn’t you ever… get lonely?”

Kulti studied my face. “At first, but you get over it.”

Get over it? At eleven? Good gracious. Where was the nurturing?

“Do… you still see your parents?” I asked, not sure whether I was going into territory he didn’t want to get into or not.

A small sharp snicker came out of his mouth. “My mother called me a few days ago saying she’s ready for a new house.”

I had to fight back a wince. Him buying it for her was implied, wasn’t it? “It’s nice that you take care of her.” I trailed off, not really sure if it was nice or not, or whether he genuinely wanted to provide for them. Because I mean, who demands a new house? Where the hell do you get the balls to do that?

He blinked and confirmed my suspicion that he might have been getting forced into buying his mom a house. Feeling uncomfortable that I had brought up something a little sensitive, I reached forward and ran my index finger up the sole of his foot, surprised when he jerked it away violently.

I stood there and watched him with a big dumb smile on my face. “You’re ticklish?”

With both knees now to his chest he scowled over. “No.”

“Ha.” I laughed. “That’s cute.”

He didn’t look like he was amused.

I gripped the bars and smiled over at him before climbing up to the bunk bed, conscious to keep my long T-shirt tucked between my thighs on the way up. “Will you get the light or should I turn it off? I’m ready to go to bed but you can leave it on, it won’t bother me. The remote is by the dresser.”

“I’ll get it,” he said, the mattress making some creaking noises as I heard him settle in.

Getting comfortable, I pulled the sheets up to my chin and rolled onto my good shoulder, facing the wall. “All right. Night, Rey. Wake me up if you need something,” I yawned.