Page 35 of Other Side Of Never
He huffed out a frustrated breath.“See, I didn’t.When I asked him what day he was born, he brushed me off.Being here, pushing myself on him, fuck, I feel like I’m using Isaiah to make Aaron let me in.It’s all fucked up.It’s not how I pictured it.”
“How did you picture it?”
“Fucking Hallmark,” he grumbled.
“Well,” I chirped.“The setting is right.”
He chuckled and gently knocked his elbow into my arm.
“Isaiah deserves a chance to know his brother,” I stated firmly.“Aaron deserves a chance to know his brother and his father.But you have to give him that chance.”
“He doesn’t want it.”
I shook my head.“That’s not necessarily true.He’s just not ready.If he truly didn’t want it, he’d tell you to stay away.Or he’d stay away.”
“Maybe.”
I bumped my hip against his.“Well, there’s no going back.You’re committed now.If you take Isaiah away without seeing this through, it’ll be worse.”
“You might be right,” he grudgingly admitted.
“Wow, two ‘you’re rights’ in one night.”I looked at him appraisingly.“You just might be a unicorn, Kian Matthews.”
We walked together in silence while my brain continued to churn.“I’m not really a parent,” I began slowly, ignoring the sting of my omission, “but I had great parents.My dad was steadfast as the mountains and my mom was a firecracker.”I shook me head and snorted out a small laugh at the memory of my feisty mother.“And from a kid’s point of view, I know the most important thing you can do is be there.”I tipped my chin back and looked up at him.“So be there.”
His eyes skittered back and forth between mine before he offered me a brief nod.“Be there.I can do that.”
After a moment, he tilted his chin down toward me and murmured, “Can I ask you what happened to your parents?”
I nodded.“I lost them both, within a year of each other, shortly after I met Gary.”
“Did they ever meet him?”
“Yes.”I stared off into space, remembering my happiness at thinking I’d found ‘the one.’“They met him before he changed.”I snorted.“My dad would have buried him if he’d seen what he turned into.”
Kian nodded with a tight-lipped smile.“He changed?”
I nodded shortly.“For the worst.”
“I’d want to kill him, too,” he admitted softly.
I laughed.“Oh, I didn’t say he would kill him.I said he’d bury him.It would have been my mother who took him out.”
He grinned.“She was feisty?”
I smiled softly.“The feistiest.”
As we approached the door, he sighed deeply and asked, “Do they know I’m coming?”
“Yup.”
He held the door open for Isaiah who bounded inside.Never having known a place or person who didn’t want him gave him no reason to fear this one.
Kian gave me a nod to go next, and I slapped him on the ass as I passed.
He barked out a laugh.“What was that for?”
I smirked up at him.“Just checking to make sure you’ve got your big girl panties on.”
