A familiar fire lit his eyes, his chin lifted defensively. “He doesn’t mind. And just because you don’t want him around anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t.”
“Matt... ” She didn’t finish what she was going to say. Matt was right. There was no reason for her to forbid Matt from seeing Kieran, especially as long as he continued to pay for his own classes. She sighed, forcing another spoonful into her mouth and trying to swallow past the lump in her throat.
“Alright. But just until I get us some new wheels.” Which, judging by the way things were going, might happen around the same time Matt left for college.
Matt’s phone vibrated again, the third time since they’d sat down. “No texting while we’re eating,” Faith said, reaching for the phone, but Matt was faster. “Who is that anyway?” she demanded, her eyes narrowing.
“Kieran,” Matt said, scrolling down the message. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Maybe later,” she hedged. She had been avoiding him since the night she’d asked him to leave. She’d have to face him eventually, but not now. She was exhausted; she didn’t have the strength to stand up against the force of nature that was Kieran, not when all it took was a look from those blue eyes to melt her defenses.
There was a knock at the door, and Faith sighed. She didn’t have the strength for company, either.
“Get that, will you please, Matt?” Faith said, her voice weary. “Tell whoever it is to come back another time.” She felt a slight pang of guilt at the uncharacteristic rudeness, but she knew her limits, and right now smiling and being neighborly was beyond her capabilities.
She heard Matt open the door and speak softly, then exhaled when she heard the door close again. She rose to empty the remainder of her soup back in the pot for another time when she might be able to stomach it.
“Faith.” Kieran’s low voice rumbled through her as he stepped into the kitchen. “Are you alright?”
“Obviously,” she snapped. He shouldn’t be here. She hated that some part of her really liked the fact that he was. It was the same part that ached to run into his arms and tell him how much she missed him, how much she wanted to stop fighting these feelings she had for him and let him take care of everything.
But she couldn’t. She’d lain awake every night going over and over it in her head. And by the time dawn rolled around, the conclusion was always the same: they were from completely different worlds. Her life had been a series of lessons, proving that it would never work.
“How did you get home?” he asked, unfazed.
“She walked,” Matt said, exchanging a glance with Kieran as he resumed his seat at the table. He seemed to have gotten his second wind, tucking into another roll.
Faith didn’t have to turn around to know that Kieran’s eyes had narrowed and were now focused on her back. Apparently laser-vision was a genetic trait among the Callaghans.
“She did what?” Kieran’s voice was whisper soft. Faith shivered; she didn’t think she’d ever heard anything quite so menacing. Even Matt stopped chewing, his wide eyes looking from one to the other.
“What were you thinking, Faith?” Kieran asked, his voice still too soft, too even to be anything good.
“I was thinking that your brother wouldn’t let me drive my car home,” she hissed, turning around so quickly she felt lightheaded for a moment. As if it was Sean’s fault her car wasn’t even worth the price to tow it to the junkyard.
It wasn’t fair; she knew that, but in that moment all she cared about was releasing the ball of frustration and misery and heartache that had lodged in her chest and threatened to suffocate her if she didn’t do something. It had been building ever since that damn letter came.
“He offered you a loaner,” he said, confirming her suspicions that Sean probably called Kieran right after she left, no doubt to tell him how pathetic and stubborn she was. Maybe even to offer kudos to Kieran for getting out before it was too late.
“I don’t want your charity!” she practically yelled.
Kieran blinked, nonplussed. “Then why not at least call a cab or something? It would have only cost a couple of bucks.”
Her spine stiffened, proving to her once again that they came from completely different worlds. A couple of bucks might as well have been a hundred when she left every last dime she had on his brother’s desk.
He ran his hand through his hair and blinked again as he read the answer in her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Faith. You could have called me.”
“No, she couldn’t,” Matt interrupted, tossing Kieran the ruined cell. He looked at it as if he’d never seen such a thing before. A few more drops of water leaked from its innards, landing right on the tips of his size fourteen shoes.