Page 70 of Blood Ties

Why isn’t he hitting me back? I want him to, but instead he just stands there and takes it. He lets me keep hitting him until I stop, chest heaving for air, choking on tears. Then he lunges at me.

I expect him to pummel me. To beat me so bad I’ll be limping for a week. But instead he wraps his arms around me, pinning both arms to my sides and squeezing hard. It’s too rough to be called a hug, but it’s probably the closest I’ve ever gotten.

“I’ve got you,” he murmurs into my ear.

I struggle against him, spitting curses, trying to get free so I can swing again. But he only grips me tighter, holds me closer, and all of a sudden I’m sobbing. I press my face into his shoulder, getting tears and snot all over his leather jacket, crying so hard I can’t breathe. I sag against him, but he holds me up. His grip on me loosens ‘till it’s almost comfortable.

“I know,” he says. “I know.”

When I lean into him, he releases my arms and slaps me on the back.

“Breathe,” he tells me.

It takes me a while to figure out how again. But finally the racking, painful sobs subside, leaving me trembling and sucking in shaky little gasps. When I finally manage to take a deep breath, Knox pulls back and looks me in the eyes.

“Everything I do, I do it for you, you know that?” he asks, searching my face. “To make you stronger. To keep you safe. I’ve got you, Kai. Like no one else ever will.”

His hand cups my cheek. Slaps against my skin three times, each one a little harder, till I’m not sure if he’s trying to comfort me or hurt me.

“Now get your shit together,” he says. “Dad can’t see you like this.”

?Chapter Thirty-Five

Riley

Days blur together, each of them agonizingly long. Kai occasionally stops by to drop off food and drink, but he won’t look me in the eye, and I can’t bring myself to speak to him. Does he know that Knox came down here? Would he care?

I’m consumed with a tumble of confusing emotions, fear and anger and guilt and regret. I don’t know what to think about Kai anymore, nor how to feel about the fact that he’s ignoring me.

Knox doesn’t come again, either. But sometimes I hear the two of them talking in the kitchen up above, the low rumbles of their voices alternating in easy conversation. They sound... fine. Normal.

The more time passes, the more I realize how badly I screwed up.

My goal has always been to keep Kai on my side. But at a critical moment, I let fear get the better of me, and I pushed him away — right into his brother’s waiting arms. I suspect this is exactly what Knox wanted. He might just have planned the whole thing to shake my hold on Kai and tighten his own grip on him.

You thought you won,Knox said. Like this has all been a game. Maybe it is, to him — an entertaining round of tug-of-war over his brother.