Page 14 of The Fight For Survival
This place is fucking with my head. I should never have come back. "Oh right, that's great. I'm happy for you both", I lie. "So, can I have your address?" I rush out, wanting to get out of there before truths I don't want to spill pour from my mouth.
After Cade writes down his address for me, I drive to their house. It's on a little private street, and the home I'm staring at is beautiful. It's not massive, but it's not tiny, either.
"Are you going to stare at the house all day, or are you going in? Oh yeah, and also, I want to know what the fuck is going on when this is all over. Not once did you mention you had friends here? That's pretty shitty of you, Kane." I look at Damon and sigh, nodding my head in defeat. "I know, and I will tell you, but first, I have to do this." Pointing in his face, "don't think you're off the hook for keeping last night from me either," I growl, still pissed at him. He holds his hands up in surrender before going to open his door.
Putting a hand on his arm, I ask. "Do you mind staying in the car?" Damon looks at me in disbelief. "No fucking way am I staying in the car, you asshole. I'll go to another room or something. I don't know how long this- whatever it is- will take." I huff and mumble a fine under my breath and get out of the car.
We walk into the front garden, and I look at the well-kept lawn. I Imagine Mia lost in her task of planting and weeding the little flowerbeds lining the edges of the house. I continue up the path towards the door, hesitating, hovering a hand at the knocker. My hand shakes from the anxiety of seeing Mia again. Will she slam the door in my face? Fuck, I hope not.
Just knock on the damn door!
Tilting my head from side to side, releasing the knots in my neck, I finally knock.
Mia
I'vespentthelastthree hours thinking over what to say to Kane. Zoe told me to just drop it on him, but I think it will be a big shock, not to mention terribly sad, and I want to do it with some tact.
"Mia, he's the asshole that fucked you and left you. He doesn't deserve tact. Just tell the fucker the truth, whether it hurts or not. My eyes get misty, and my throat swells with grief.
"Zoe, I love you, and you have been there for me through a lot, but you weren't here at my worst. You don't know that kind of grief, so I really don't think you understand how this will affect Kane when I tell him." She smoothes her fingers down her already tidy blonde bob and huffs, "you're right. I'm sorry," she says, rubbing my shoulders. "Maybe don't put it on him like that, but you need to think of something and hurry. He will leave again soon, and your chance will be missed."
It's been an hour since that conversation, and I'm no closer to figuring out how to bring up such a delicate subject with him.
The doorbell rings as I'm cleaning the living room.
Standing there looking as edible as ever is Kane. My mouth drops in surprise. I think I'm just as shocked to see him now as I was last night. Maybe in a way, I felt I may have conjured up an illusion of Kane in my head, but looking at the gorgeous man standing in front of me now, I know it is definitely real.
His tousled dark hair is just begging to have my hands run through it. Shit, did I really just think that? I feel the blush creep on my face, and a chuckle draws my attention away from Kane, and it's then I notice another person standing next to him. Damon.
He looks at me with a knowing smirk, and my blush intensifies. Kane clears his throat. "Mia, I hated how we left things last night, and I wanted to talk to you. Do you think we can come in?"
Kane looks unsure of himself. Last night, I was so lost in anger and made it all about me. I ran out before he could have his say, which wasn't fair to him. We have a lot to talk about, so giving him a small smile, I open the door wider, welcoming them in.
"Well, Hello, Mr sex on legs. We didn't get a proper introduction last night. Who might you be?" I cringe at Zoe's outspokenness. Damon's eyes widened in what I thought might be fear. Or maybe that's what I'm hoping, which is so wrong of me. "Hello to you too, gorgeous, I'm Damon, and you are?" Damon knows how to charm, that's for sure. I look between the two, caring way too much about their exchange.
Zoe comes right up to the guy and takes his hand. "Single, that's all you need to know." With that, she drags him out of the front door, Damon giving me one last look over his shoulder before they disappear.
I look at Kane in complete shock. We just stand there with our jaws on the floor until Kane speaks. "Wow, I'm not going to hear the end of that. I think that might have been the quickest I've seen him pull," He laughs, shaking his head.
I'm just as surprised. For some reason, I want to stop them. Zoe is outgoing but never that forward with guys. I feel she might think she's doing me a favor by giving Kane and me some privacy to talk alone. Either that, or she's rebelling against Jake. They've had this love-hate relationship for a few years, and Jake has a new girlfriend. Zoe didn't take the news very well.
Ignoring the rising flare of jealousy, I walk into the kitchen and wave my hand for Kane to follow. I make us both a coffee and then we sit in uncomfortable silence for a while. I know if I don't say something now, I never will. "So, we tried looking for you, searched the area, your Facebook account was closed, even took the chance and went to your house," I say, my voice trembling with sadness. "Your Dad looked pissed off, said you beat him up and left. It was like you didn't even exist anymore." I look at Kane, ensuring he sees the hurt on my face.
He looks down at his feet like it's too painful for him to see me like this. Maybe he's ashamed, good.
"I know," he whispers. "I made sure I couldn't be found, Mia. My Facebook is under my fake last name, and I ensured all my underground fighting business stayed private. It's only recently that I have been having my fights recorded" He looks at me, jaw clenched. I feel my anger simmering on the surface. "Well, did you ever stop to think that we might have needed to find you? I mean, shit,
Kane, when we couldn't track you down, we thought you might have been dead! How do you think that made us feel?"
Kane laughs bitterly. "Well, you couldn't have felt that bad. You and Cade moved on pretty fast, from what I hear. You're a couple now, right? It doesn't seem like you were grievingthatmuch." he spits out.
Kane's words tear through me, slicing at my heart and causing an inferno of rage and pain to build. As I let every emotion overwhelm me, I jump up so suddenly from my seat that my chair falls back, smacking heavily into the wall. The urge to slap his hurtful mouth almost wins as I stand over him. I want him to feel even a tenth of my pain.
"You prick! You have no idea what you did to me when you left. So what if Cade and I are together? I'm not yours, Kane. You made that pretty damn clear when you turned what was meant to be one of the best experiences of my life into one of shame!" I shout, walking away and going into the sitting room.
I hear him follow me. "Mia, I didn't come here to bring up the past, okay? I didn't like how we left things last night, but it looks like this visit is going the same way. I'm just going to go. I should never have come." Kane says softly, defeat in his tone as he walks to the front door. He stops abruptly when he sees a large framed photo hanging on the wall in the hall.
It's my newborn son in the arms of Cade. It was our first picture of us with Chase.