I narrowed my eyes at her word choice and felt Cody shift beside me. For god’s sake, he was worried I was a threat to my sister?
I wanted to fire up, but at the end of the day they were my people, and both were clearly worried about me.
“She was pregnant with my child when she left Fankirth five years ago.”
Cody choked on his mouthful of beer at the same moment Layla’s hand cracked across the back of my head.
“Ow! Jesus! I didn’t know, okay? I literally found out yesterday.”
“And your immediate response was to go pick a fight and get in her face about it. Right?” Layla crossed her arms over her chest, gripping her elbows like she didn’t trust herself not to hit me again.
“She lied to me. I could have been a father, and she made the decision to kill my kid without me.”
“She made a decision about her own body when she was still a child herself. I remember how her family lived. Do you? She couldn’t have afforded to keep it, and you’d left her already.”
“She left me.”
“Bullshit, Kane. Ok, how about this. What if I came to you and said I was pregnant with Cody’s kid?”
Cody’s chair skidded back from the table with a screech, his hands flying into the air.
“Woah.”
I stared my sister down, narrowing my eyes on her bright red face as her eyes flicked to my best friend and back.
“If I found out he touched you, I’d kill him with my bare hands and put his body where evenhisfamily couldn’t ever find it. I would never let you ruin your life like that, so it’s a non-issue.”
Cool. Calm. Collected.
They both needed to know I was dead serious about this. Especially if Cody wasn’t currently with Evie, I had to make it clear that there was a line. No one touched my sister without serious repercussions.
“Are you fucking serious right now?! That was a hypothetical scenario, you psycho. But also, that’s exactly what you did to Darcy.Yougot her pregnant. Do you really think she wanted to make that decision by herself? No woman wants to go through that.”
She was missing the point here.
“I could—”
“This is not all about you! This is not the Kane show. Get your head out of your ass for once in your life and think of someone else—”
“I am thinking about her. She’s better off without—”
“I’m done! Y’know what? She is better off without you. She needs a man, not a self-centered little boy who can’t take responsibility for his own shit. Don’t call me for a while. I love you but I’m so mad at you right now I could scream.”
I refrained from pointing out she had done a fair bit of screaming. I also didn’t stop her as she pushed away from the table and stomped to the door. Just before she stepped outside, she turned, her eyes burning as she pressed her fingertips to her heart, then to her lips. I returned the familiar gesture, a knot loosening in my chest at the sign that while we weren’t in a good place at this second, she was still my sister and she loved me.
“That went well,” Cody muttered, reaching for his beer.
Before I could stop myself, my hand snapped out, wrapping tightly around his wrist.
“I don’t care how long we’ve been friends. You touch my sister, and I will end you. Got it?”
He could have broken my grip easily, and I knew damn well he’d had worse threats thrown at him in his life, but I was counting on him valuing our friendship as much as I did. I honestly didn’t know what I’d do without him.
After a tense moment where my heart crawled into my throat, obstructing my breathing in a way that made me want to pant in fear, his frown relaxed, green eyes burning into me as he nodded once.
“I don’t see her like that. Never have. She’s your sister, man. She’s like my sister. Never gonna happen.”
My breath left me in a rush and I slumped back into my seat.
