“You son of a bitch!” Blake’s fist whizzes by me and cracks Killian in the jaw.
His hand is ripped from mine as he falls to the ground.
“No!”
Blake follows him down and straddles him. His arms fly, but he’s not punching him as much as he’s slapping Killian’s face. He doesn’t even put up a fight but allows Blake to punish him for my mistake.
“Stop!” I race to Killian, drop to my knees, and shield him with my body. One of Blake’s palms smacks my upper arm, but it’s nothing more than a quick sting of pain.
“Blake, no! You’re going to hurt her!” My mom pulls at Blake, and he easily hops to his feet.
Killian’s cheeks are red, and the space below his left eye is already turning a sickening shade of purple.
“Look what you did to him!”
“He deserves worse!” Blake looms over us, his eyes no bigger than slits and filling with tears. “I trusted you with her!”
Killian pushes up to sitting and rests his arms on his cocked knees. “I love her.”
“If you loved her, you’d protect her!” Blake wipes his eye with a thumb.
I push to stand and put myself between Blake and Killian. “He does protect me! That’s all he’s ever done since I’ve known him! God, he gave up a dream opportunity to be close to me, Blake! This isn’t Killian’s fault—”
“He should’ve taken care of you.”
“He did!” I motion to Killian, who’s on the floor with his head between his hands. “He still is! Killian is not this baby’s father! He’s taking responsibility for me, and you hit him for it!”
All eyes go to Killian.
“Can’t you see what he’s doing? He’s protecting me even now.”
“Killian didn’t get you pregnant?” Blake’s shoulders slump a little and tension falls from his muscles.
“No, up until two nights ago, I was dating someone else.”
“Dating someone? Why didn’t you tell us?” my mom says between sniffles.
“He wasn’t someone I was proud of, and it turns out… I was right not to be.”
Blake scrubs his face with his hand. “Fuck.” He moves to Killian and offers him a hand. “I’m sorry, Killer.”
Killian glares between Blake’s hand and his face and finally grabs hold and allows Blake to pull him to his feet. Blake grabs an ice pack from the freezer and wraps it in a clean dishtowel then hands it to Killian, who accepts it graciously and presses it to his cheek.
“Da-da?” The tiny whispered word comes from around the corner where Jack is peeking in with wide and teary eyes.
Blake jumps and moves to his son. “Hey…” He scoops him up and cradles him to his chest. “I’m sorry, bud. Everything’s okay.” He continues to soothe Jack by taking him out of the kitchen and back towards the bedrooms.
My mom looks between Killian and me and then follows behind Blake to disappear down the hallway.
Silence expands between us until I can’t stand the awkwardness for another second. I brace myself and face him, pulling up every bit of strength I have left just to meet his troubled gaze. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I meant it. All of it. I want to take care of you.”
“Yeah, well, take a number.” I fist my hair in my hands and attempt to sort my thoughts.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that it’s time I started taking care of myself.” I should’ve done it years ago, but I was so wrapped up in feeling sorry for myself I allowed everyone else to feel sorry for me too. “God, I’m such a mess.”
He reaches out and covers my hand with his. “Ax, you don’t have to go through this alone.”
“Yes, I do.” I sigh and turn to my best friend, his swollen eye a painful reminder of why I can’t accept his offer. “Killian, you made a mistake by falling in love with me. If you’re smart, you’ll take the European thing and go. I have nothing to offer you if you stay.”
*
Killian
Damn.
That hurts.
I’d rather take a thousand hits from Blake than hear her utter another word in that blank tone that’s heavy with finality.
I just offered her my life. I stood before her parents and laid claim to that fuckface Clifford’s baby. I would’ve raised the kid as if he or she were my own because that baby growing in her belly is half Axelle, and, for me, that’s more than enough.
I’d work my ass off to get fights, do whatever it took to provide for her and our baby. Yeah, I laid all that shit out there and she rejected me, threw the idea out as if it wasn’t as desirable as the alternative.
A life attached to Clifford.
“What we had these last couple days…” I move to her and cup her cheeks. “We can have that again.”
She shakes her head in my hold and closes her eyes. “Everything’s changed.”
“Not the things that matter. I’m still in love with you.”