Page 60 of So Bad It Must Be Good

Aiden stumbled to the ground, but before Liam had worked through the shock of actually punching his brother in the face, Aiden was back on his feet rushing him. Liam tried to brace himself, but Aiden’s momentum knocked him flat on his back. Hard.

Aiden landed a solid punch to Liam’s side and Liam’s breath rushed out of his lungs. He managed to block Aiden’s next punch, but he was in the crappier position here, underneath Aiden. He gave Aiden a push, but Aiden was using all his weight. So Liam elbowed Aiden in the stomach as hard as he could, using the blow to propel Aiden off of him. Aiden tried to get back up, and in the back of his mind, Liam thought maybe he should let him. Let him get up and say shit and whatever. Liam would take the high road like always.

Instead, he pushed his brother back down. “Get to your feet and I swear to God, I’ll break something.”

“And what would Mommy and Daddy think?” Aiden asked, the streetlight showing off the fact that something during the fight had split his lip, a thin trickle of blood down his chin. “I don’t think Mom’s going to be too happy with you.”

“Fine. You want more of a fight? Fucking fine. Get it out of your system, Aiden. Stand up and we’ll fucking fight.”

Aiden got to his feet, fists balled in a fighter’s stance. Liam rolled his eyes. “Oh, so we’re going to box?”

“No, I’m going to break your fucking nose. I told you Kayla Gallagher was mine.”

“Kayla is her own damn person. And a damned good one, and you were right the other day, you aren’t good enough for her. Not by a fucking long shot. You’re a spoiled baby masquerading as a fucking adult.”

Aiden swung and Liam dodged it, but didn’t realize Aiden had swung with the other arm as well. The blow hit him in the ear and made it ring, but Liam countered with one of his own, punching Aiden square in the gut.

Aiden doubled over and Liam took a step back. This was stupid and childish and—

Aiden kicked him right in the fucking shin. Liam howled in pain, before it turned into a growl of anger. This time he lunged at Aiden, tackling him back to the ground.

A light much closer than the street lamp flicked on, making them both wince.

“What on earth is going on here?” Mom demanded, her voice high and panicked. “Liam Patrick, get off your brother this instant!”

Shame washed through him, along with a bone-deep weariness. He didn’t know what to do with Aiden. Never had. He didn’t know how to see this as anything but inevitable, really. No, he’d never tried to fix Aiden because he damn well didn’t know how.

And this was what it came down to. Liam couldn’t wish it away, because he couldn’t think of any alternatives to this right here. But he did wish they could have had better timing, that everything with Dad’s stents was settled.

Liam got off Aiden and stood. He opened his mouth to try and find words that could ease Mom’s worry or hurt, but there were none. None.

He couldn’t help Aiden, because Aiden didn’t want to help himself. And there was not a damn thing he could do about it. Liam couldn’t help but wonder if that had caused the fight as much as anything else.

Mom rushed over and bent to help Aiden up to his feet, and Aiden let her. They both glared at him accusingly.

“Take me inside, Mom. I can’t stand to look at him another minute,” Aiden said, the rough, shaken note to his voice almost believable.

Mom cooed soothing words at Aiden, leading him inside, and Liam stood in the middle of the yard, breathing heavily, trying to make sense of any damn thing.

The door closed, sharp and final. Liam could only stare. He was pretty sure his nose was bleeding, and God knew his leg was throbbing from where Aiden had kicked him. He was out of breath and hurting inside and out.

And Mom had taken Aiden inside and shut the door on him.

---