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Jude was wrong.
Killian is the best person for me.
FOURTEEN
KILLIAN
It’s like the old Ainsley walked into that corner store and a completely different person walked back out. I swipe the tears from her cheeks with the pads of my thumbs. Seeing her cry fucking kills me. It almost feels surreal that when I first met her, I didn’t give a shit about her. And now—now I can’t imagine anyone or anything being more important to me than her.
Whatever happened with Jude has Ainsley upset. She wants to leave, so that’s exactly what we are doing. There aren’t many ways that I can help her, but right now in this moment, I actually can.
I refuse to let this girl down.
I pull away from her, my hands dropping away from her face as I take her small hand in mine. Ainsley sniffles, wiping at her nose as we walk out of the alleyway and back onto the street. As we round the corner, nearing the corner store, the front door opens.
Jude’s eyes meet mine and he stops on the steps. His stare is ice cold and I know mine matches his. Ainsley squeezes my hand, pulling me past the corner store, but my movements are slow. I don’t want to keep moving. I want to pound his fucking face in for hurting my girl.
“Ainsley, wait,” Jude calls out as we walk away from him. His footsteps pound on the steps as he jogs down them and follows after us down the street. “Just please let me take you home so we can get you help.”
His words ring in my ears. He’s right. She needs to go home so she can get the proper help that she needs. I can’t let him take her from me, though. I’m fucking selfish and developing a god complex. If anyone is going to take her home to get help, it sure as fuck isn’t going to be him.
My feet stop moving and I pull Ainsley back. “We need to face this, baby.”
“I can’t.” Ainsley shakes her head, her bottom lip quivering. “I don’t want to see him right now. And I don’t want you to. I don’t want you to get in any more trouble by doing something stupid.”
“I promise that I won’t do anything, okay?” I assure her, even though deep down, I’m fighting the darkness inside me that wants to put him in the ground. “I’m just going to talk to him.”
Ainsley swallows hard, but reluctantly she nods. She doesn’t let go of my hand and turns around to face him as he stops behind us. Jude stands with his arms crossed defensively over his chest as he stares me down. I don’t know where exactly to start, so it’s better if I just cut to the chase and put this piece of shit in his place. As respectfully as I can, of course.
If Ainsley weren’t here, I wouldn’t be going this route. I wouldn’t give two shits about how I came off or talked to him. That’s evident from my actions in the past. But I promised her. I won’t do anything stupid and if I start mouthing off, it will go south quicker than it already is going to go.
“I understand your concern for your sister,” I start, keeping my voice as even as I can, even though the anger inside me is raging. “But you need to back the fuck off.”
Jude raises an eyebrow. “You’re kidding me, right?” He glances at Ainsley with an incredulous look on his face. “Are you that weak that you’re going to let a fucking dumpster talk for you now too? I know that this isn’t you, Ainsley. What the hell happened to you?”
“Whoa.” I suck in a deep breath, clenching my jaw as I glare at him. “I know that you’re her brother, but that doesn’t give you the right to talk to her like that.”
“Fuck you,” Jude snarls as he cuts his eyes back at me. “You’re nobody. You’re a phase. You think that you’ll be around for a while, but you’re wrong. I’m her family, not you, and how I talk to my sister does not concern you.”
I am on the verge of losing every ounce of self control that I have right now. I couldn’t care less about the shit that he says about me. It’s not like any of it is that far off from the truth. It’s the way that he talks to Ainsley that gets under my skin and festers deep inside my bones. Of all people, he should understand addiction and what it does to your mind.
Ainsley isn’t in her right mind right now. She hasn’t been since before I met her, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now. Either way, she isn’t weak. She never has been. She’s just sick and tired of being sick and tired. It’s a vicious cycle—being an addict. There’s no way for her to break it until she comes to terms with it herself.
All I can do is be by her side and try to help her navigate the murky waters.
I turn to look at her. “Do you want to go home with him?” My voice is low, my words only meant for her, but I say it loud enough for Jude to hear. “It’s your call, baby girl. You know that I support whatever you want to do.”
Ainsley shakes her head instantly. “I want him to leave.”
“We’re done here,” I tell Jude without bothering to look at him. He doesn’t deserve either of our attention anymore. “You’ve done enough damage today.”
We turn in the opposite direction, not giving Jude a chance to respond. That doesn’t stop him though, as he calls out after us with one last sentence that shoots daggers into my heart.
“No one will ever do as much damage as you’ve already done, Killian.”
Jude’s words hang heavily in the air, following after us like a shadow as we walk down the street, leaving him behind us. I can feel his eyes on us as we make our way further away from him and closer to Lincoln’s apartment. Regardless of the distance, I can’t shake his words away.
What if he’s right?
