“You fuckin’ eejit!” I shouted and stalked forward, shoving Nico in the chest. “Don’t ever do that to him again. You were suffocatin’ him!”
Nico grunted as he slightly stumbled. “It’s the only way I can get him to stop when he starts.”
“Starts what?” I asked.
He looked me in the eye. “When he starts fighting... he blacks out and doesn’t stop until he is forced to.”
Like when he was fighting James a couple of months ago.
I swallowed and looked away. “Bring him home. I have to make sure me friend is okay.”
“He had a few drinks more drinks when you went to the bathroom. Your brothers challenged him to a shot contest. He is drunk and saw Skull kiss you on the cheek, he got the wrong idea,” Nico said when he grabbed my arm to keep me put in front of him.
“Why’re you tellin’ me this?” I asked.
Nico shrugged. “So you go easy on him when he is sober.”
“Fat chance of that,” I replied.
Nico smiled. “Come with me, I’ll bring you home.”
I looked over my shoulder for Skull, but he was gone, and the crowd that gathered outside the pub was already breaking up.
I sighed, “Comin’ here was a stupid idea.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I have to tell everyone goodbye-”
“I’ll text Bronagh to make something up. She’ll say goodbye for you and Kane.”
I sighed but nodded my head.
He turned away from me and helped his stupid older brother up to his feet then slung an arm around his waist as he guided Kane to their parked Jeep in the car park. I silently followed behind them.
Nico settled Kane in the back of the Jeep, buckled his seatbelt and muttered curse words when Kane fell to the left and instantly began snoring. “Heavy bastard,” he grunted.
I smiled to myself as I rounded on the passenger side of the car and climbed into the front seat, buckling myself up. When Nico was settled in the driver’s seat, he started the fifteen-minute journey to get us home. For the first few minutes, we were silent until Nico began to talk.
“He likes you. You know that right?”
I didn’t reply because I didn’t know what to say.
“He does. He just has a funny way of showing it, but he likes you.”
My heart thudded lightly against my chest.
“He can’t stand me, Nico.”
Nico laughed, “Get real, Aideen. He only argues with you because he doesn’t know how else to approach you.”
That was stupid.
“So he’s just a dick to me because he likes me? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I never said he was smart.”
I grinned a little at that then frowned when Kane snored behind us.
“I... I don’t know if I can spend time with someone like him. His temper... it scares me. I like him too, but I don’t know if it’s enough.”
“He would never hurt you,” Nico assured me.
I nodded my head. “I believe that, but his ability to hurt other people frightens me just as much.”
Nico set his jaw. “It’s not his fault that he’s the way he is.”
I blinked. “Whose fault is it then?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel of the car. “People from our past.”
“Ah,” I said and snapped my fingers. “Marco? He made you a fighter and Alec an escort, right?”
Nico mutely nodded his head.
“What were Ryder and Kane’s jobs for him?”
He glanced at me. “You don’t know?”
I huffed, “No. The girls are all about ‘respectin’ their men’s privacy’ or some bullshit like that.”
Nico laughed, “I bet that kills you.”
“You could say that,” I admitted.
With a smile he said, “You aren’t missing a lot by being in the dark, trust me, Ado. Being in the dark when it comes to my family is a kindness.”
I groaned, “Not when I’m havin’ a baby with a man who is lost in that darkness.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Ado. Kane is my brother, but even I don’t fully understand or know the things he was put through. He doesn’t talk about it. Ever.”
I began to feel sick.
“You mean the cause of his scars?” I asked, my voice low.
Nico nodded and kept his eyes on the road. “He doesn’t talk about how he got them, and we don’t push him on it.”
I leaned back. “Why not? If you understood what he went through, you could help him now.”
“He is fine,” he assured me. “He rarely gets into fights... it’s only since... well, since-”
“Since I got pregnant?”
Nico glanced at me then back to the road as he bobbed his head up and down.
“I know you’re adjusting to your life suddenly changing, Ado, but you have no idea how huge this is for Kane.”
I remained silent as Nico gave me more insight into Kane.