Page 94 of Just Breathe

“Well, we won’t know because you’re being a coward.” He pushed me back against the Bronco. “You could have salvaged today, and it looks like she was ok with sharing, but you just had to go and ruin it. She’s shutting down on us and it’s your fucking fault.” He punched me again, but I blocked it.

I was tired of his shit and tackled him to the floor. Nate was lucky I was still hurting and healing from my ass whopping because I would have knocked the shit out of him. Nate wasn’t a great fighter, but good enough to land a few punches before I came to my senses and landed a few body shots.

I heard a door slam before I was being hauled off Nate. “What the fuck is going on?” Aiden roared, throwing me back, but Nate quickly got up, spitting blood on the ground. We glared at each other, not answering Aiden’s question.

“What the fuck is going on?” Aiden yelled again, stepping in between us, looking at each of us.

“I don’t fucking agree with how he led Jane on this morning, only to have her fucking shut down,” Nathan growled at me.

“We agreed we would leave her alone for now; what the fuck happened?” Aiden looked at me.

“He probably fucked up any chance we might have with her in the future.” Nathan didn’t even let me explain.

“That doesn’t tell me shit.” Aiden was getting irritated.

“I went over to lend her the Bronco since I didn’t want to leave her without a car. We got into an argument because she found a car to rent already, it got heated quickly and well…” I didn’t want to say anymore because I knew Aiden would get pissed. Both of them had a reason to be mad.

“And?” Aiden turned towards me.

“Nathan walked in on me eating out Jane, and we ended up sleeping with Jane,” I snapped.

Aiden looked at me, confused. “I thought we fucking agreed to leave her alone?” He scowled at me. “Why did you go over?” He glared at Nathan.

“I wanted to make sure she was ok. I didn’t think it was right to just leave her to process everything on her own,” Nathan argued. “I found them together, so I assumed he had changed his mind. Jane was responsive when she saw me, so I went for it.”

“Jesus Christ, Cal. What the hell were you thinking?” Aiden rubbed a hand over his face.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter. We still have to stay away. She’s not safe with us because who knows what Lucio will do to her, to get to me,” I snapped, hating the feeling of being ganged up on.

“Now we probably won’t have a chance with her anymore because you keep messing with her feelings, so now the rest of us suffer from your indecision. Thanks Cal, because for once I saw us happy and I’m pretty sure that’s fucking down the drain.” Nathan glared at me, spit more blood out of his mouth and stalked into the house.

I watched Nathan walk away, feeling even more like shit than I already did. We rarely fought and never this bad. I took a deep breath as I felt myself losing control.

“Let’s give him space. Nathan was always the one with more feeling than us, especially after sleeping with a girl.” Aiden looked at me, but I couldn’t bear to look at him.

“I don’t think space will fix this.” My voice was gruff with an emotion that I didn’t want to face. I finally looked at Aiden. He looked at me with a hint of sadness on his face.

“Now I’m thinking she might be more trouble than she’s worth, but also I see how she’s brought us together and changed us.” Aiden put his hand on his hips, looking out into the distance. “Staying away might put her in more danger.”

“Staying away might keep her alive,” I argued, but I felt like my argument was getting old and useless.

“Either way, it feels like damned if we do and damned if we don’t.” Aiden walked into the house, leaving me to drown in my thoughts of what I should have done differently.

* * *

The rest of the week was awkward as fuck. I decided not to talk to Jane again, or at least keep her at arm’s length. Aiden tried to get Nathan and I to work out our differences. We tried once, but it just ended up with us trying to fight again. It was even worse because Jane wasn’t taking Nathan’s calls, just texting him she was busy working with a promise to call back but she never did, so he was getting more and more upset with me.

We never had a disagreement this big or one we couldn’t solve within a few days. I felt fucking awful about Jane and Nathan. It was even worse because Aiden wasn’t any help. He checked out after trying to get us to talk, and it was unsuccessful. It seemed Jane had wormed her way into our triad, and now we didn’t know what the hell to do.

All week we worked at the Walkers’ home getting ready for all the material and the outdoor patio they decided to do thanks to Jane. I was both disappointed and relieved we didn’t work at Jane’s, even though I had a feeling she postponed having us there this week.

By Friday, I was getting irritated at everything. The whole day was one thing after another working against me, and by the time the evening came around,I got that damn text and I was ready to brawl.

Tomorrow 9pm. Big opening night at Misfits. Use the side entrance facing the mountains. Get your shit together. I don’t want you looking like trash.

I glared at my phone, ready to throw it across the living room but relieved because I was ready to kick someone’s ass. I needed this outlet, but I knew it was going to hurt like a bitch. Maybe I deserved this?

“What the fuck happened now?” I looked up to see Nathan staring at me as we sat across from each other on the sofa. I was a little thrown off that he chose that moment to talk to me.

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