Unbreak My Heart (Unbreak My Heart #1)(24)

“What the f*ck are you talking about?”

“I’m changing the subject from something you seem intent on arguing about even though it’s a fruitless endeavor. Harfing. Upchucking. Hurling.”

“I’m not playing this game with you,” I replied, annoyed. If she didn’t want to take care of herself, that wasn’t my business. She seemed completely okay with looking and feeling like crap all the time, and who was I to argue with that?

“Yakking,” she announced, following me around the kitchen as I grabbed my wallet and my keys. “Ralphing.”

“Knock it off, Kate.”

“Praying to the porcelain god,” she retorted, with a pleased smile.

Even with her gaunt cheeks and messy hair, I wanted to kiss her so badly it hurt, and that made my frustration rise. “Does being annoying usually get you what you want?”

“If you’re going to work annoyed instead of worried, then it worked.”

“I’m not worried.”

“You’ve been pacing.”

“You’re sick, for f*ck’s sake.”

“I’m telling you, I’m fine. I’m excited to finally have a day off from school—just me and my monsters,” she replied with a sweet, contented smile.

“They’re not yours.” I couldn’t stop the words before they came rushing out of my mouth, but I regretted them the same second the smile fell off her face.

“I’ve been calling them my monsters since they were born, Shane,” she said flatly. “I’m not going to stop because you’ve got a stick up your ass for some reason I can’t quite comprehend.”

“You’re—”

“No,” she cut in. “You don’t get to be a dick to me. You don’t. I haven’t done anything to you, and I’m tired of feeling like I’m walking on eggshells. I’ve helped take care of the kids since they were born. You can’t change that—it’s just fact. I’m sorry that you think this is some sort of competition or whatever the f*ck you think it is. They’re yours. I get it. But that doesn’t mean that I’m nothing, and you can’t try and act like it does.”

“I don’t think you’re nothing.”

“Look, I know that you don’t like me.”

“That’s not—”

“But for the next nineteen years, you’re going to have to deal with me.” Her eyes began to water, and a few tears slipped from her eyes. “I’m sorry for that. I’m so, so sorry. But we have to figure out a way to make this work because, for better or worse, I’m here, and it’s exhausting trying to get along with you.”

Kate turned to walk away, and my stomach clenched.

“Why do you always do that?” I asked in irritation. “You never let me say anything before you’re walking away.”

“I know what you have to say, Shane. You’ve already said it, remember? I’m just saving us both from words you can’t take back.”

“All you’re doing is pissing me off!” I called as she started walking again.

“That’s just a bonus,” she called back quietly.

I scratched my head in frustration, growling deep in my throat before perching my cover on top of my head and walking out the front door.

She was so f*cking irritating. She acted like I was such a dick, and though I could remember vividly the times that I had been, there were far more times over the past year that things had been just fine between us. Had we ever been best friends? Not really. But that didn’t make me a dick.

And the fact that she kept saying I didn’t like her pissed me off. I’d never said I didn’t like her. She was fine. Likable. She just wasn’t someone I wanted to hang out with in what little spare time I had. That didn’t make me a dick, either.

I couldn’t understand why she just kept pushing at me. Did she want me to fall on my knees and ask her to be best friends forever? Because that was never going to happen.

But I had never, not once, acted like she had to walk on eggshells.

That was complete and utter bullshit.

We had the kids in common. That was it. I wasn’t going to pretend that I thought she was interesting or sexy or fun. That wouldn’t be fair to her, and frankly, it would just f*ck things up worse than they already were.

*



The house was noisy as I stepped in the front door that night after a long-ass day at work. I’d been checking and rechecking lists all day, running back and forth all over the base trying to get shit ready for the deployment that was slowly closing in. God, I was tired. Tired and in a pissy mood.

“You’re doing awesome, Sage!” Kate’s voice rose above the clatter of pans Gavin and Gunner were playing with on the floor. “Make sure you’re cutting through all the way to the counter, okay?”

Keller was silent for the first time in a long time, building something with Legos at the kitchen table, and Kate was moving around Sage as she cut biscuits out of the dough on the counter with what looked like an empty can of corn.

“Something smells really good,” I announced, setting my keys and wallet on the counter.

“We made stew, huh, Sage?” Kate said with a shy smile. “It was kind of cold out today, and I felt like some comfort food.”