Page 50 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

“No.”

I injected everything I was feeling into that one word, and Kendall responded as if she was slapped.

“No? Well, I’ll try to find somewhere earlier, but it's kinda hard right now.”

The words were spilling out of her, coming faster and faster, and so was her breath. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed, and she never looked more beautiful. I loved Kendall when her feathers were ruffled.

I loved Kendall.

“No, you’re not moving out.”

What I was saying was too much how it’d been like when we were kids. The four of us were petty tyrants, and she was our unwilling slave.

But that was the point.

The others wanted to get her flowers and chocolate and try to buy their way into Kendall’s good graces, but I knew. I grabbed a flour bomb and saw her flinch, and knew my instincts were right. There wasn’t enough money in the world to spend on our girl to make up for what we’d done, just this.

“A flour bomb?” There was a note of disappointment, of betrayal in her voice, but it was quickly replaced by the grey haze of resignation. I remembered the way the light used to die in her eyes, so I knew exactly what was happening right now. “Fuck, we’re back to this again?” She threw her arms wide then, her bag falling to the floor. “Well, at least you waited until the end of my shift to pull this shit, because my uniform is going straight in the wash. So hit me.” Her eyes flashed. “Hit me with it, Gage. Get your revenge and…”

That, that was something new, and I soaked her shift in expression in. As I pressed the fragile bomb into her free hand, she stared in wonder.

“What the…?”

“I’m not going to throw any flour bombs,” I told her. “Partly because Connor would shit his pants if we messed up our house. For someone who used to trash your parents’ place, he’s really fucking anal about keeping this house clean, but mostly because of this.”

I pulled away when she gripped the bomb and stood before her.

“We were fucking arseholes to you. Because that’s what it took to be Finn’s friend, then because there’s a shitty kind of pleasure that comes from picking on someone smaller, weaker, and unable to fight back. We were bullies.” Her eyes were so wide, her pupils swallowing the warm, brown depths of her irises, her throat working as she just listened. “Cruel, small-minded, little-dick energy bullies. We hurt you over and over because it was the only way we could get the reaction from you that we needed.”

“Don’t…”

A small croak, it came from the depths of her soul, not her throat, and I hated what I had to do. Because she’d said it so many times, to me, to Connor, Van, and to Finn, her own damn brother, and we’d ignored it each time.

I didn’t want to do the same thing now, but I had to. The only thing I could do about the shit I’d pulled was to make amends, and despite her protests, I had to try.

“You were beautiful, so fucking beautiful. The first time I noticed it was like a punch to the gut that I hadn’t seen coming. I didn’t know what the fuck to do about it, and by the time I did, Finn made clear what would happen. He warned us off you—”

“Don’t…”

The croak was louder now, more guttural.

“And we fucking listened.” I tilted my head to one side, wanting to get closer, to feel her denials uttered right against my skin, but I couldn’t, not until I got this out. “I curse myself every day for that, but I did. If I couldn’t hold you close and breathe in the scent of your hair and just feel your heartbeat pounding just as fast as mine then… I had to get you reacting the only way I knew how.”

“Don’t!” Her reply was as sharp as the crack of a bullet, smashing into my heart, her finger joining it seconds later. She stabbed it into the muscle, right into the tattoo I’d had done in her honour. “Fucking don’t! Stop, Gage…”

Real tears shone in her eyes, and I wished to fuck I’d never seen them before now, but I had. Over and over, I’d made my girl cry, and I wished I could find another way through this that didn’t end up making her cry again. My hands moved, my arms, needing to hold her for once, rather than leaving her to her misery, but she stared at me aghast, then knocked my hands away.

“You don’t get to come back into my fucking life after all of these years and… And…”

Her breath was heaving, and she was fighting to get the words out, and that was when my resolve broke. I was moving forward, wrapping my arms around her, even as she squirmed.

“Hey…” My voice was low, buzzing in her ear. “Hey… It’s OK now. I’ll do whatever it takes to get us past this, Kendall. Anything. Not to get you to see me as a potential partner, but because that’s what you deserve.” Her arms jerked spasmodically, a vestigial urge to get free. “No matter where you are, who you’re with. You deserve each one of us on our knees before you, begging for forgiveness and asking for a way to make this up to you.”

“Now.” Her voice was pure venom, and when she reared back, I worried she’d headbutt me, but instead she just craned her neck to stare into my eyes. “Now you want to make amends? Well, what did you used to say to me all the time?” She made a show of considering her own question. “Stiff shit. I say no, Gage. No.” When she pushed at my arms, I had to let her go, even as the ache in my heart flared hotter. “I don’t need your declarations, bringing up shit that’s best forgotten. It’s all done now. I’m… done now.” Flour trickled from between her fingers. “I’m done, and I don’t need you or your feelings or anything. I just need—”

A chirrup from her phone stopped her cold, and it took everything I had in me not to snatch it out of her grip and toss it away. Focus on this, I told her mentally. Focus on us. But I hadn’t earned that right, so I just watched her look at the screen then shake her head, before using her spare hand to wipe away the few tears she’d let slide free.

“I need to go.”

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