Page 15 of The Fight For Survival

And our last.

My stomach cramps at that thought, my heart threatening to rip from my chest. I have my hand in one of Chase's tiny ones, and I'm looking up at Cade with a big proud smile. Cade is looking down at the little bundle with adoration on his handsome face. Chase is fast asleep in a light blue shawl and a hat on his tiny head.

I glance at Kane, and I witness absolute devastation on his face. I know what it looks like. Chase was just two days old in that picture. His eyes are closed, and his dark hair is hidden. Kane thinks Cade is the father. Just as I'm about to correct his assumption, he throws a congratulation over his shoulder and abruptly leaves the house. "Kane!" I shout, but his long strides take him out of view quickly.

Crap crap crap, how the hell did that happen? More to the question, why was Kane so hurt? He left us, which was a choice he made all by himself and made sure nobody could find him. I go to close the front door when I see Zoe walking up my footpath. She looks smug, and I want to slap her for some reason.

You know the reason.

She shrugs her shoulders at me when she sees me looking at her with accusation. "What? He was hot." She shrugs. "Shame he turned me down, but Jake doesn't need to know that." A happy flutter goes through my stomach at that. I am so wrong.

"How'd Kane take the news anyway?" She asks. "He told me to get the fuck out of the car, so I'm guessing not well?" I sigh and explain what went down.

"Shit, I can see how it must have looked from his point of view, but that still doesn't give him a right to be pissy about it, dickhead." I laugh and run my hands down my tired face. "God, Zoe, how did this get so messed up? I should have followed your advice and dropped it on him." She smiles herI told you sosmile and thankfully changes the subject.

"By the way? I'm telling Jake that I had the best sex ever with Damon," She flips her hair, making me laugh. "What? I need something to talk about when Jake brings his skank to the after-party later," she says with a smirk.

Zoe and I decided to forgo the fight and set up the after-party at Zoe's house instead. Something tells me it's going to be another drama-filled night.

Cade

(Daniel)

Idecidedtoworka little longer than planned. After Kane showed up and told me he was stopping by our place to speak with Mia, I thought I would give her some time to tell him about Chase. I desperately wanted to be there when she told him because I love them both, and I want to be able to support Mia. Bringing up Chase is going to bring back all the feelings of our loss all over again.

Jake invited me out for a drink at the bar opposite my shop. Zoe works there, and I think he was hoping to see her. I didn't want to piss on his hope by telling him it wasn't her shift tonight, so I kept that little bit of information to myself and accepted his invitation eagerly. I sent Braylon a text for him to meet us if he wanted to, which he also accepted. So now we're all sitting in the back of the bar, at a private table with a bottle of beer for myself and Jake and Coke for Braylon.

"So you wanna talk about Kane?" Jake starts after a few minutes of silence, though not uncomfortable. Jake doesn't know too much about Kane and our past. He knows that he was a big part of my and Mia's lives and that he is Chase's father, but that's about it. Braylon gives me an encouraging nod of his head, and I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding. "It's so fucked up, Jake. I don't even know where to start," I say, shaking my head and taking a swig of my beer.

"Well, I can see this has messed with your head, man." He plays with the coaster on our table. "Sometimes it's good to speak to somebody that isn't a part of the situation. And I'm a good listener if you want to talk." Jake says, sitting forward and giving me all his attention. "So why don't you just start from the beginning and tell me everything."

Fuck, my chest feels heavy. I always thought of Jake as a good friend of mine, but I don't think I ever really let him in. If I'm honest with myself, I haven't let anyone get too close apart from Mia for fear of them abandoning me. Braylon has probably become the closest to a best friend since Kane, but even with him, I keep just a little bit of myself closed off.

I don't think I ever really dealt with Kane leaving me. Too worried about getting Mia through it, I forgot myself and my feelings in all of this. I don't think Mia truthfully knows how much Kane's disappearance affected me, either. I was a complete mess for the first month. I wouldn't talk to anyone but her, and even then, when we did speak, it was empty. Our relationship was strained because we were both lost to our own grief.

Most nights, I would be out searching for him. I would sleep at the crook, our hang-out, hoping he would turn up. That's where he would always go when he needed space. A month came and went. He never showed. Mia found me there one night. Her beautiful eyes were red and tearful. She announced she was pregnant. After that, I locked my sorrow away and became the rock she needed me to be.

I take a deep breath and tell him my story. I tell him about the first time I ever met Kane in kindergarten. He sat next to me in class, and we clicked from the beginning. We were inseparable. Mia moved into our class two weeks later. Her dad had died, and her Mom moved them both to Hollow's Crook for a fresh start. Mia cemented our bond, and we were together almost every day for thirteen years.

I told him how my feelings for Kane changed from seeing him as a friend to wanting more but never having the guts to confess my feelings. All the way up to the night, Kane left. I tell Jake everything. Bled my heart out to him in the dark corner of a bar, of all places. It was a long conversation. A story that was hard to tell. Jake listened, never interrupting and, most importantly, not judging me, for which I was surprisingly relieved by.

Braylon sat patiently, a silent rock by my side. I opened up to him last year on Kane's birthday when I drank way too much, trying to drown my memories of him. He was nothing but supportive, which solidified our friendship.

"Cade... Shit, that's a lot of stuff you just got off your chest. Feel better?" he asks, patting my shoulder. I laugh, feeling more relaxed. "Actually, yeah, I do. I thought it would be weird talking to you about this stuff, but I feel so fucking relieved to get it off my chest." I say, taking a big swig of my beer, now warm from clutching it so tight while I talked.

"Cade, how long have we been friends now? four years?" I nod my head, wondering where this is going. "It's kind of a kick in the balls that you never felt like you could come talk to me about all this before now. I thought we were pretty close."

I go to explain my reservations about bringing up Kane. That I hardly talk about him anymore because it hurts too much, but he goes on. "I told you about all the shit I've been through, and I don't want to sound like a whining dick or anything, but why the hell have you only just told me about this?" I look away from his hurt eyes and shake my head.

"I'm sorry, Jake. It wasn't you personally. I trust you with my life, man. It's just… I think I lost a part of myself when he left. I am more closed off, and I suppose I'm scared of letting anyone get close again. Fear of them abandoning me, I guess?" I say, sitting back in the chair and picking at the label of my beer bottle.

He looks at me with understanding on his face. "Sorry, I shouldn't have made you feel like shit." he puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I just thought I knew you pretty well, and it was a shock to hear that you have been living with this past I never really knew about. I'm just glad you finally opened up to me. Just know I'll always be here for you. Now," He says, standing up and grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair. "Let's get out of here before we grow vaginas with all this emotional talk." I laugh, grabbing my jacket and going to follow when Braylon grabs my shoulder.

I turn around, giving him a questioning look, when he takes me by surprise, pulling me into a quick, solid hug and a smack on the back. "Well done," he whispers, causing me to choke up. As we walk out of the bar, I feel happier than I have in a long time. I have good friends.

Kane

Ishouldhaveknownthat my leaving wouldn't have affected them as much as they both made out. They have a nice house and a perfect little family. Seeing the picture of them holding that baby with love and adoration on their facesbrokeme. It stole the air out of my lungs, burning me from the inside, almost bringing me to my knees. I had to stop myself from screaming at her and telling her that she was mine. Cade was mine.