The wind had moved my hair into my face, so I moved it back as I asked "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I was ten when my mom got sick. Cancer. She died and my dad was devastated." Stone uttered quietly while not meeting my eye "He could not handle her death and had a heart-attack a few weeks later. Doctors said his heart strings broke apart and he died with a broken heart."

My vision became unclear as I looked away from him and to the ocean. I did not blink because I did not want to cry.

It was hard to think about him in that situation. To think about him being hurt. I had always seen him as what he appeared to be.

He was big, strong and intimating as hell Stone.

I had the urge to hug him.

However, I restrained myself. I thought about the repercussions of wrapping my arms around his large form. I had the image of him throwing me away from him and into the sea like a javelin.

Looking down towards our joined hands, I noticed how my hand dwarfed his. Everything of mine was so tiny compared to him.

I moved my hand from under his hold and put it on top of his huge one. It was my turn to squeeze his hand.

"I'm really sorry." I said again before adding "Ten years old? That must have been so difficult."

He shrugged and his deep voice filled the space between us again "It worked out fine. Brennan's parents adopted me after they passed."

"That was nice of them." I mentioned with a smile "Do you still live with them?"

"Yeah." He replied lowly, his gravelly voice a little less hoarse "Brennan is my brother in every way that counts."

It was obvious that blood meant nothing to the two men, and they were family.

Evidence of that was the fact that he was spending time with me. He listened to everything I said like he cared, and he spent more time than necessary with me.

The though of him putting up with me for the sake of Brennan and Lana pondered around in my head.

I looked to the two others at the seashore before I peered back at the giant.

"It is not like that." Stone growled, "Never think that."

"What?" I questioned, confused.

His face was not teasing nor smug when he grumbled out scoldingly "What you were thinking, it is not true."

I tilted my head at him "How do you know what I am thinking about?"

"I'm an Ella-Expert." He replied, a small smirk making its way onto his face.

A noise from Lana and Brennan in the water made me jump and, in the process, I removed my hand from Stone's.

Stone scowled at my hands that now rested on my knees and then he scowled at the pair in the ocean.