Rachel sat down beside him. She didn’t bother to mention that she could smell the beer on his breath and he was underage. Why hadn’t Zack seen the raw need in Nick’s eyes? Why hadn’t she seen it before?

“It’s tough, having to move in here after having a place of your own.”

Her voice was mild, and without censure. Nick squinted through the smoke. “Yeah,” he said, cautiously. “I can hack it for a couple of months, I guess.”

“When I first moved out, I was a little older than you—not much. I was excited, and scared, and lonely. I wouldn’t have admitted to lonely if my life had depended on it. I’ve got two older brothers. They checked up on me constantly.” She laughed a little. Nick didn’t crack a smile. “It infuriated me, and it made me feel safe. They still get on my back, but I can usually find a way around them.”

Nick stared hard at the tip of his cigarette. “He’s not my real brother.”

Oh, Lord, he looked young, she thought. And so terribly sad. “I suppose that would depend on your definition of real.” She laid a hand on his knee, prepared for him to shrug her off, but he only switched his gaze from his cigarette to her fingers. “It’d be easier for you to believe he doesn’t care, but you’re not stupid, Nick.”

There was a hot ball in his throat that he refused to believe was tears. “Why should he care? I’m nothing to him.”

“If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t yell at you so much. Take it from me—I come from a family where a raised voice is a sign of unswerving love. He wants to look out for you.”

“I can look out for myself.”

“And have been,” she agreed. “But most of us can use a hand now and again. He won’t thank me for telling you all this, but I think you should know.” She waited until he raised his eyes again. “He’s had to take out a loan to pay for the stolen property and the damages.”

“That’s bull,” Nick shot back, appalled. “Did he lay that trip on you?”

“No, I checked on it myself. It seems old Mr. Muldoon’s illness drained quite a bit of his savings, and Zack’s. Zack’s gotten the bar back on a pretty solid footing again, but he didn’t have enough to swing the costs. A man doesn’t put himself out like that for someone he doesn’t care about.”

The sick feeling in Nick’s gut had him crushing out the cigarette. “He just feels obligated, that’s all.”