Page 48 of Broken

"She's at her friends for the night. I had two glasses of wine. That's all. Not that it's any of your business." I practically yelled at him. I was fighting my own need to touch him, kiss him, and the need to slap him, and push him away.

"Sinclair, look at me." Fuck, how did he get so close to me so quickly? The heat from his bare chest enveloped me and filled my head with the fresh scent that was always Kai. The promise of nights under the stars and bonfires by the lake.

His hand gently and steadily held my chin and forced me to really study him. His blue eyes were as clear as a sunny day. The love and pain reflected in them broke me.

"Why did you come here?" I cried to him. That was the force that broke the dam inside me. "I was trying to protect you, god damn it, Kai.

I was keeping you safe, and you just wouldn't let me go."

"I told you I wasn't going to let you run away this time. I'll follow you wherever you go, Sin."

"I fucking ruin everything. Don't you care about your job? Don't you care about Mia, Tess, and Noah? What about your mom and Callum? Every fucking thing I touch turns to shit Kai!" I yelled through my sobs. My body shook as the tears poured from my eyes.

"How do you ruin things, Sin? What exactly have you touched that turned to shit?" Was he so blind to everything that's happened in the twenty-something years he has known me?

"I don't know. Everything. Every. Fucking thing. Think about my mom, and my dad, and where they ended up. What about everything that happened to Adam? And then, I went and got myself pregnant.

"What would have happened? Would you have gone to school? Would you be the doctor you are now? I couldn't be the cause of your

life going to shit, Kai. I would've hated myself more than I already do."

My legs couldn't hold me up any longer. I had been holding so much in for so long, and when I finally let go, I slumped down to the floor and cried. "I'm so sorry, Kai."

"Sin, you are not responsible for anything that happened to Adam. I told you once, and I will tell you over and over again. Adam was a piece of shit, and I regret ever being his friend." Kai had me in his arms. His heart became a steady anchor that I matched my breathing too, so

I didn't drown in the darkness.

"What your parents did, the drugs, the alcohol, and the years of abuse. You are not to blame for any of that. Do you understand me?"

Hot anger rolled off him. "Look at me, Sinclair."

When I looked into his eyes, I didn't see the anger in his voice, I saw love, sadness, and compassion. "What happened to you, was wrong. You didn't deserve any of it." He moved my hair from my tear-soaked face. "As for me, and everyone else, we love you. I fucking love you Sin." He laughed and kissed my forehead.

"But..."

"No buts. Yes, life would have been difficult raising a baby while we went to school, but my parents did it, and we would have too. You and

Aine wouldn't have ruined anything."

"Kai." The realization that, in my attempt to protect Kai from my ghosts and my darkness, I made things worse. I kept him from knowing

his daughter, I kept Aine from a loving father. "I'm so sorry."

We sat there, on the floor until I stopped crying. Kai's arms wrapped tightly around me. He never said anything, he just held me.

I was wrong for running, but I had the best intentions. I hoped he'd forgive me someday.

"Your mom knows," I told him, breaking the silence. "Callum too."

"Of course, he does. She tells him everything." I could almost hear the eye roll in Kais's voice. Callum had always been closest to their mom as the baby in the family.

"When do you pick up Aine?" Fuck. Kai wanted to see her. I hadn't even told her yet.

"Kai, I don't know how to tell her," I admitted. The hurt on his face broke a piece of me. I had to be honest with him though.

"Tell her tomorrow. Then I want to meet her." A simple request.

"And Sin, I'm keeping the picture."

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