Page 9 of The Deception You Weave

"She never should have come back here," I mutter.

"It's her home, Kane… kind of."

"I don't give a fuck. I've worked too hard for all of this to have her fuck it up."

He drags a chair over and sits beside me.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"No," I answer honestly. "Everything fucking hurts." Although I don't tell him that the worst pain is in my chest and I don't think any amount of drugs will help with that.

"You managed to escape a concussion or any broken bones, but you're pretty beat up. The meds have kept you under for almost twenty-four hours."

"You've been here all this time?"

"Yep, Letty too."

"Don't," I mutter. Just hearing her name right now is too much. "I guess that explains why you look like such shit."

"Cheers, bro." He rolls his eyes at me, settles back in his chair and props his feet up on the edge of my bed. "So come on then. I want to know about college, seeing as you've been there almost two weeks and I've had nothing more than a few shitty conversations with you."

"Don't pretend like you haven’t been too busy with Harley to talk to me."

His cheeks heat a little and a smile plays on his lips.

As happy as I am, a little part of me dies inside. I'm always going to be connected to Letty, whether I like it or not. Something tells me that my little brother isn't going to be letting her little sister go anytime soon.

"Moving to Rosewood was the best thing that could have happened," he admits.

"Funny, you should have seen your face that day I picked you up from juvie and dropped that bomb on you. I thought you were going to be going straight back inside for murder."

"Hey, I had faith in you."

"Did you?" I raise a brow at him.

"Well, I do now. I just wish you didn't have to put your life on hold for me."

"It's done," I say, although the lie tastes bitter on my tongue. "We're all where we're meant to be." My words become slower as my exhaustion once again kicks in. "I need…" I fall back under before I even finish the sentence. Although the second the image of Letty holding a baby appears in my mind, I wish I could have fought it longer.

* * *

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go home?" Kyle asks as he walks slowly beside me toward the Harris house.

"I'm fine." It's a lie. Every fucking inch of my body hurts but I'm not running back to Rosewood. This is where I need to be. Plus, like fuck am I telling him that the thought of sitting in the car while he drives us all the way back to Rosewood makes me want to cry. The journey from the hospital to here was bad enough.

"I've got your bag," a soft voice calls from behind us.

I wince, knowing that the second I look at the owner, it's going to be like a bat to my chest all over again. Harley's eyes are so like a pair I never want to look into again it hurts.

"Thanks, Kitten. I'll take that."

"Okay, I'll get a drink so he can take his meds."

"He is right here and more than capable of looking after himself," I snap.

"We know, bro. Just let us help, yeah?"

"Whatever," I mutter, wrapping my hand around the handrail and using it to haul my body up the stairs.