Chapter 2

Devyn Kennedy.

Jason had been expecting a much younger boy the way Brad had been talking, but this kid was easily sixteen or seventeen years old. Shit, Jason cursed under his breath, the kid was breathtaking, and he was nothing like Brad. He was slim, long and lean, more of a swimmer's body than the bulkier football type that Brad and himself were. He wore an oversize black t-shirt and well worn faded jeans that had holes in the knees and thighs. The boy crossed his arms and glared at his step-brother with his crystal blue eyes from under the flop of blond hair covering half of his face.

"Ah, Devyn, thank you for coming," Brad said, knowing full well that the boy had obviously not come willingly. Brad walked over to the blond teen who stood only about five-six and stared down at him.

Jason rose too, wiping his hands nervously on his jeans.

"I'm Jason Yates," he greeted with a smile, holding out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

The kid flicked his cool, icy eyes over at Jason with a look of disdain before snapping them back to his step-brother. When the boy refused to shake his hand, Jason dropped it uneasily to his side as Brad glared at the boy's insolence.

"Devyn," Brad started tightly, gritting his teeth, "Jason is going to be your new bodyguard. He's a friend of mine from high school, and I believe I can trust him not to fall for your tricks. He's in charge. You do what he says when he says it, or you'll be answering to me. Understood?"

Jason couldn't miss the flash of fear in the kid's eyes as they swept back over his taller frame, and Jason wondered why the kid would be afraid of him already. He hadn't done anything to the kid, yet.

"Understood?" Brad snapped angrily at the boy's attitude.

The blond rolled his eyes in the way teens always seemed to do in the face of an authority figure. Jason figured he'd be seeing that eye-roll a lot. He almost expected the boy to shout a resounding 'fuck you' at Brad, but he finally just nodded, tightening his crossed arms.

Brad seemed satisfied with the kid's response though and looked back at Jason. "Devyn is sixteen," he announced, his hand slipping up to the boy's neck. Devyn tried to duck away from his brother's hand, but Brad just tightened his grip. "And he hates me, as you can see. But I still love him," Brad said, pulling the kid's head closer and pressing a kiss to his temple.

Devyn jerked violently away from his stepbrother, but Brad retained his grip on the boy's neck with a tight smile, his brows quirking in a 'See? It told you so' fashion.

Jason and Sam chuckled as the kid just glared at his older stepbrother. "Like I said, he's a bit of a spoiled brat. He's been caught stealing, trying to run away, fighting, and he's even stabbed me once--tried to three times."

Jason's brows shot up in shock as he stared at the lean young teen. He could see the normal teen defiance oozing from the boy's body, but he wouldn't have thought that a kid who had grown up in such wealth and with so many privileges would be that much trouble. But then maybe it was the money that made the kid such a spoiled brat.

"But he's under my care," he said, and the boy stiffened, "and he knows I won't tolerate such abhorrent behavior. Right, Devyn?"

The boy's defiance seemed to drain out of him slightly as he nodded.

Jason wasn't sure if he could handle being around such a bratty kid all day, every day, but he had to try. He needed the job. And the money.

"If he misbehaves at all, you let me know," Brad said to Jason. "I think his last bodyguard started to go a little easy on him," Brad frowned down at the kid, who shifted on his feet uneasily. "You can't do that with them at this age. If you give them an inch, they'll take the whole mile."

"What happened to the last guy? Was he fired?" Jason asked, and the boy suddenly stiffened, meeting Jason's eyes briefly. Jason could have sworn he saw sadness pricking the depths of the boy's eyes.

"Unfortunately, Kieran had a motorcycle accident a couple weeks ago. He's in a coma," Brad said softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jason said quickly, not meaning to have upset anyone.

"I feel horrible because I had just had to let him go," Brad said, shaking his head. "I feel like it was my fault."

"Your fault?" Jason queried, and he noticed that Devyn was glaring up at his step-brother like he agreed it was.

"Well, yeah. I think he was upset at being let go and was maybe a little reckless--"

"Brad, you can't blame yourself for that," Jason offered gently as he slid his hand over his friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's the fucking kid's fault," Sam grunted from where he was leaning in the doorway.

The kid suddenly whirled out of Brad's hand and swung blindly at the bodyguard behind him. The boy's fist impacted with the hulk's chin seconds before the man's eyes blazed with fury. Sam's arm swung instantly, backhanding the kid and snapping his head. Jason jumped in shock as the boy dropped to the ground in front of him.

"Devyn! Stop it!" Brad snapped when the kid looked like he was going to come up swinging.

Jason instinctively reached down to help the teen up but received an elbow to his solar plexus for his effort. "Fuck," he grunted, as the kid staggered out of his grip and fell into the hulk's.

"Little brat," Sam growled as he held tighter to the kid's arm, waiting for Devyn to calm down and stop struggling.

"Jason! Are you okay?" Brad asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

Brad instantly turned on his young step-brother. "Sam, take Devyn to his room. Now. I will deal with him later."

The blond teen stiffened, glancing back warily at his stepbrother through his long bangs. Jason could nearly feel the hate radiating off the boy for his guardian before he was pulled away by the hulking bodyguard.

"I'm sorry, Jason," Brad said softly.

"For what?"

"That you had to see that so soon. I love him, but he's also a pain in the ass."

Jason chuckled. "What teenager isn't?"

Brad laughed, then ran his hand over his face. "The kid really hates me. He blames me for everything; he used to throw out accusations about me and Sam and half the staff, and even some of my clients just to try to get me in trouble. That's why I've had to home school him. He'd rant to his teachers all this bullshit about how abusive everyone was to him. He's a self-righteous prick. He stabbed me in the arm, but thinks I'm the abusive one if I defend myself. As you can see, he's very volatile."

"I can see that," Jason said, rubbing his tender side. "Has he always been like this?"

"No, I don't think so," Brad admitted. "I didn't know him very well before the accident though. I was living on my own at the time. You know my dad. He wanted me to make my own way. So while he offered me a loan to start my construction company, he never really 'shared the wealth' so to speak. I struggled on my own for several years. So, I was already living on my own when he started dating Jenna Kennedy. When he remarried, he seemed to change his attitude about making it on your own. He spoiled that kid. Of course, Devyn's mother was already wealthy, so I suppose he thought that he had no right to limit the boy--being just his stepfather and all."

Jason only nodded. Unfortunately, it was probably the man's desire to be accepted by his stepson that had led to the boy's recalcitrant behavior. The kid had been spoiled and probably walked all over his mother and stepfather, and now that Brad was trying to rein him in, the kid was out of control.

"Since I didn't live with dad when Devyn came to live here, I don't know much about what he was like then. Devyn was only ten. Then there was the car accident four years ago. It was a miracle that he survived. And Devyn was a mess after that. We didn't know each other well, and suddenly he was in my custody. Shit, I was twenty-four and suddenly had a twelve-year old kid to take care of, I was a mess. I tried for a year to get a handle on him. But Devyn just got worse and tried to make all those accusations..." Brad sighed. He looked weary and suddenly older. "And I admit, we've had fights. But the kid was ruining my business, my plans. I thought he was a cute kid when he came to live with dad. I didn't expect him to be so hard to control. I finally had to homeschool him because of his ... negativity."

"Negativity?" Jason laughed. "That's what you call that? He's an obnoxious little bastard. I'm surprised he didn't yell a resounding 'fuck you' as he left."

Brad chuckled. "He probably would have, if he could."

Jason frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Devyn's mute, Jase."

"What?" Jason's jaw dropped in shock. "What like, he can't talk at all?"

Brad shook his head. "No."

At Jason's bewildered look, Brad continued. "Three years ago, he had tonsillitis and pharyngitis. It was a pretty bad infection. Dr. Hembry had to do surgery to remove his tonsils."

"And the kid lost his ability to talk?" Jason swallowed, feeling a little bit sorry for the kid who'd almost decked him.

"Yeah, Dr. Hembry believes the excessive inflammation of his throat may have caused paralysis of the nerves of his vocal cords. He couldn't talk after his surgery."

"Shit, that sucks," Jason sighed. "Does that happen often? I don't think I've ever heard of someone losing the ability to talk from tonsillitis."

"Actually, it's not very common, but unfortunately, it does happen. Dr. Hembry thought maybe if we'd caught the infection sooner, maybe it wouldn't have happened."

"Did you sue?"

"No, of course not," Brad grimaced. "Dr. Hembry is a good friend of mine. It wasn't negligence or anything. It was an unfortunate side effect of the massive infection."

"Oh," Jason sat back on the couch. "Poor kid."

"Poor kid?" Brad chuckled as he took a sip of his now watered-down scotch. "Hell, you should be happy. At least you don't have to listen to him curse you out every day like I did. Personally," Brad leaned forward, dropping his eyes, "It's been a blessing."

"Brad! How can you say that?" Jason chastised. He may not like the attitude of the kid, but he wouldn't wish him to be robbed of his voice like that.

"Jase, Jase, I don't mean it like that," Brad waved. "It's just ... he was so... I don't know. I shouldn't have said anything."

"So I guess his voice loss is permanent, since it happened three years ago?"

"It seems that way. Dr. Hembry said there was a chance that it wasn't. But it's been three years so I don't expect it to change now."

"Does he know sign language or something?" Jason asked, wondering if he'd have to learn how.

"No. He refuses to learn," Brad said, glancing at the floor. "Doesn't like to admit is disability. He's pretty stubborn."

"I see," Jason mused. "So how am I supposed to deal with him?"

"I don't expect you to have a heart-to-heart with him and mother him. I just need you to drive him to his tutors and keep him out of trouble," Brad said. "I think that was Kieran's problem--he tried to be a friend instead of doing his job. He let the kid manipulate him into letting him out of the house."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Sam caught the kid trying to sneak out. Not sure where he thought he was going. He'd talked Kieran into leaving his door unlocked."

"You lock him in his room?" Jason frowned.

Brad's brows shot up. "Hell, yeah. The kid's tried to run away several times and tried to kill me more than once. It's for everyone's safety that his door is locked unless someone has an eye on him. And now that someone is you."

"Jesus, if the kid is so fucking dangerous, why do you still have him here?"

"Because he's still family."