Take (Need #2)(18)

I can see in his eyes that he wants to kill me, too.

His eyes flicker toward Kira, and he runs his hand through his hair before heading to the entrance of the living room. There, he stops, turning his head to glare at me over his shoulder. “Don’t forget you’re her stepbrother. You can never give her what she deserves.”

It’s a perfectly aimed blow.

I want to see him f*cking bleed at my feet. “You ever ask her to be your girlfriend again, and I will kill you.”

“Brayden!” Kira slaps me in the chest.

I don’t turn away from Austin’s stare. I’m dead serious, and I hope he sees that.

He laughs, a bitter, mirthless sound. “I’d like to see you try. After all, you’re not the only man willing to kill for her.” Before I can say anything, he walks away, and I hear the front door slam shut shortly after.

Kira hits me again, harder this time. “You’re such a f*cking *!”

“Why? Because I told him the truth?”

“It wasn’t the truth!” She storms away from me.

I follow her. “Kira, wait.”

“Just leave me alone.”

We end up on the second floor, outside the door to her room. I catch up with her and grab her arm.

“What?”

“Look at me.” I don’t drop her arm until shes does, that seemingly permanent anger in her gaze. “Did you really agree to think about being his girl?”

Silence.

The same silence she gave Austin when he asked her if she was thinking about me the night they slept together.

“Kira.” I can’t hide the slightly broken tone of my voice. Shit, it’s nothing compared to how I feel about this shit situation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she says.

“Like what?”

Her little jaw twitches. “Like I’m tearing you apart.”

“You are.” My voice drops so low I wonder if she even heard me.

The shocked expression on her face tells me that she did. Her nostrils flare slightly and her disbelief becomes rage. “You f*cking *.” She points at my room. “You stood in there, packing your bags to go to your girl.”

I flinch. Knew this was coming.

She’s not done. “You stood there, looked me in the eye, and you took that f*cking call.”

I remember. God help me, I do.

“You told her, while staring at me, how much you missed her—”

“I lied,” I mumble.

“Did you?” She jams her finger into my chest. “Did you?”

“Yes!” All I want is to hug her right now. Hug her tight. Somehow erase all the bullshit so I can get my sweet Kitty back.

Fucking shit, it’s like I barely see her smile nowadays.

“And when you went to her? How many times did you f*ck her? How many times were you with her after that?”

Too f*cking many. “I had to think of you. Every damn time, I had to close my eyes and imagine it was you just to get through it.”

She slaps me. “Fuck you, Brayden.”

I grab her before she can storm into her room. “Hate me for it, but I loved you. Every minute that I was with her, every minute that I wasn’t, I still loved you.”

“You don’t know how to love, then.”

“You’re right. You’re so f*cking right, baby.” I want to run my fingers over her skin, comfort her, but all I can do is offer her the truth. “I had no idea how to love you. I know that.”

She’s silent as she contemplates what I’ve just told her. What seems like sympathy flashes in her eyes. “Your parents f*cked with your head growing up, I get that. But you had no right to f*ck with me.”

“You’re right.”

“I f*cking cared about you so much. Forget what I felt for you as a girl, I was your friend, you *.”

I would love to fall to my knees and beg her forgiveness. Would, too, if I thought it would help in the slightest. “I know. I know. That’s why, no matter how much you feel you need to hurt me, I’ll still be here. I’m not going anywhere.”

She murmurs my name sadly, eyes glittering with unshed tears.

Needing something—anything—I reach for her and pull her into my arms.

She lets me, but she doesn’t hug me back.

“I mean it. Do everything you want to me, hurt me any way you want. Hell, I want you to. Maybe then it’ll make the guilt a little easier for me.”

“You’re a masochist,” she mumbles into my chest.

I smile and kiss the top of her head. “Yeah. Especially when it comes to you.” No response. Sighing, I hug her tighter. “You can do whatever you want to me, and I’d still forgive you.”

“Because you hurt me.”

“And because I adore you.” In my mind, she’s my girl, no matter what happens. I can’t undo the thought, was never able to. And in my mind, she’s still my best friend, even if I’m no longer considered hers.

“You’d forgive me anything? What if I decide I want to be with Austin?”

“You’re so good at hurting me with that.” She tenses. “He was once my friend, Kira.”

A fact she was very aware of when she decided to give herself to him. The one boundary I never crossed. The one boundary I’m damn sure I never would have. I would have never gone after any of her friends.