Page 73 of Broken

I smiled. This was the awkward part of our history I didn't know how to share with Mia. We shared everything growing up, except this. I took a deep breath before answering her. "Mi, things were weird back then. I was dealing with a lot. You had a boyfriend, and well. Every night from Prom to graduation."

"You're kidding?" Mia didn't sound angry or hurt. She looked surprised, but not angry. I let out a breath of relief.

"Nope. he'd sneak out after dinner and sleepover. It was the only way I could sleep in Layla's house. I found out I was pregnant the day before graduation."

"Babes." Mia put her hand over mine. I loved her almost as much as

I loved Aine or Kai. I owed her the full story.

"It's fine. I promise." I cleared my throat and continued. "I felt sick in the mornings, and evenings for a few days. When I realized I hadn't had my period in a month, I decided to take a home test after work. On my last night working at the grocery store, I got one before I left.

"I thought about telling Layla. But I knew what she would say."

"Yeah. Fuck her."

I laughed. It wouldn't matter what Layla did to redeem herself, Mia would never like her. She had been there to watch my life fall apart at my mother's hands. "So, that night, I wrote you and Kai each a letter. Yours, I told you I loved you I'd have been lost without you growing up.

I said the best thing for the both of us was a clean break, but I promised to keep in touch.

"I wasn't as kind in Kais. I wanted him to hate me. I needed him to hate me. I told him everything between us was a mistake, and I regretted it all. I told him I didn't need his pathetic little puppy love to bring me down once I was out in the real world."

I started to cry thinking about how cruel I was to Kai. "When he showed up at ASU to call my bluff, I told him I slept with Noah the night Adam died, and he would never compare to his brother. I said Noah was twice the man Kai would ever be. I was around four months

pregnant and didn't want Kai to know."

"Everything makes so much sense now. Kai came home that winter and was a broken man. He picked a fight with Noah on the front lawn Thanksgiving Day, and almost didn't go back to school in the spring." Hearing that from Mia hurt. Noah and Kai had always been so close, and I almost ruined their relationship.

"I fucked up a lot, for all of us when I left. Didn't I?" I asked my best friend. The one person in the world who would tell me the truth no matter how much it would hurt. Well, Tess would too, but mostly because she would enjoy seeing me hurt.

"Babes. You did what you thought was best. All that matters is what we do with the time we have now."

I parked the car at the apartment, and Mia reached over and hugged me tightly.

forty-two

Kai

IknewAinewasin good hands with her uncles and Tess. They were all swimming and laughing happily. I needed to talk to Sin as soon as she and Mia returned. I needed to convince her to go home with me. Watching Aine with my brothers, I saw how much we've all missed out on over the years. I saw everything Aine missed without me and her uncles in her life.

There was never a doubt in my mind that Sinclair was an amazing mother, and she made sure to provide everything Aine needed and wanted.

The girls came through the door laughing, their arms full of grocery bags. I rushed over and took the bags from Sin and kissed her on the cheek.

"Umm, yeah. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to that." Mia laughed.

"You want one too, Mi?" I asked her with a wink. "Fuck no." I laughed.

"She already has someone for that." Sin gave Mia a smirk.

"Yeah, my brother. Remember when you said he smelled like a troll at the bottom of a well?" Noah told me they 'had a thing' as he put it.

The three of us started to laugh at the memory. I loved having my two best friends back, in the same room, laughing together. I loved Mia like a sister, and I loved Sin more than anything else in this world, besides Aine. In just a couple of weeks, my daughter has taken over my heart.

"Yeah, well. I'm going to go take the drinks and snacks down to the pool. You two behave." Mia walked to the door with a couple of bags in her hand. "Or don't." She winked and left the apartment.

The second the door closed, Sin dropped everything in her hands and ran to me. She threw her arms around my neck and slammed her mouth into mine. I moaned. I leaned into the kiss, wrapping my arms around her.

God, she felt good in my arms. I smoothed my hands over the small of her back. My dick twitched at her nearness. I needed a clear head for this conversation, so I broke off the kiss.

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