The Color of Jade (Jade Series Book 1) by Mae Redding Read Free Book Online Page B

enforcement available yet. We’re still trying to figure all this out… It takes time.”
    “Okay... I’ll stop asking, if you’ll stop keeping everything a secret about what you’re doing. Just tell me something, anything. I want to know what’s going on. I can’t stand it! I need to get out! I can’t stay in that house, day in, and day out!  It’s not fair, Kane.” I stepped out of the stall then tossed the brush a little too hard into a bucket and tipped it over.
    “I know… I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. With one knee slightly bent, he rested his arms on the handle of the pitchfork.
    Tears flowed down my cheeks but I didn’t care, I couldn’t hold back. I felt suffocated, confined inside for too long. I was so mad! Mad at everything, mad at Kane for being so strict, mad at my mom and dad for dying! Mad at this whole thing!
    “Maybe it would have been better for me to get sick, and then at least I wouldn’t be such a problem for you…” My voice caught and I turned away. Kane set the pitchfork against the stall and turned me to face him. His blue eyes looked hurt and stressed the sadness apparent in his voice. It wasn’t his fault that things were the way they were.
    “Don’t say that, Jade.” I wiped my tears. My twenty one year old brother, the one who used to chase me around and tease me, forced to take care of Emery and I.
    “I’m sorry. If Em and I weren’t here, you and Trey could move on with your lives a lot easier.”
    Kane pulled me over to the bench and sat me next to him. “It might have been easier, but since when did I ever do things the easy way. I don’t know how. If you and Emery were gone, what reason would I have to make this place better? It isn’t for me and Trey, it’s for you and Emery! Every man out there, at least every good man out there is trying to make things right again. We all have someone who deserves better. The world around us needs to have order. It needs to be safe and right now, it isn’t. If we can’t agree on how things will be done around here, we will be in a lot of trouble.”
    He put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me as I threaded my arms under his and hugged him back. I looked at him, his blue eyes pleaded with me to understand.
    “And don’t you ever think for a second that you are a burden, and that I would be better off with you gone! I know I’m just your brother, but you're the only family I’ve got. We need each other, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “Besides, who would I have cook me dinner?” Kane said, lightening the strain in the conversation.
    “I’m sure you could find some cute girl to make you dinner,” I teased. His face reddened a bit.
    “That’s the last thing I need.”
    “I don’t think it’s the last thing you need.”
    “Well, maybe not,” Kane sighed. He looked down at the dirt floor of the barn deep in thought for a brief moment. A faintly amused smirk appeared like there was someone specific he had on his mind. “But the last thing I have much time for.”
    I looked at Kane thoughtfully. I felt bad. The Kane I knew that chased girls had to take a back seat to unexpectedly having to take care of his two younger sisters.  I smiled back, seeing for a brief moment, the kindness and concern that genuinely lied under the surface of his thick tough skin.
    “Alright… I’m not going to tell you everything,” Kane said, as we walked to the house, “but our world is going to get worse. A lot worse.”
    “I know.”
    “Yeah, I guess you do… I need your help prepping the garden.”
    “Serious?” I asked, and stopped in my tracks.
    “I hope I don’t end up regretting this.”
    “Don’t get my hopes up.”
    “Come on.” He looked back at me and pulled on my arm. “Serious… we can plant the cool weather crops. I’ve been meaning to start on it, I just haven’t yet. We’ll do it together.”
    I smiled. “Anything to be outside again. Can I start riding again, please?”