Page 68 of We Are Yours

She frowned with tears in her eyes, gripping my arm. “But you’re my best friend.”

“Yeah…” I rasped with my bated breath.

* * *

“And that might be the problem.”

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Isla

I burst back into the house, roaring, “What the hell was that?”

Kraven was leaning against the sink, wiping the blood off his face.

“Bleeding over here and you’re riding my ass?”

I spat, “The only reason he hit you is because you baited him! What is up with you and baiting people to fight you?”

“Now I baited Justin?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do you?”

“Ugh!” I exclaimed. “You’re impossible.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“Enough!” I chimed in, my body tensing. “You had no right to treat him that way!”

“You don’t get to take sides when you don’t know both sides of the story, Kitty.”

“I know enough, and he sure as shit didn’t deserve any of that!” I jabbed my finger at him. “Especially from you!”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re so fucking lucky to have him!” I couldn’t stop the tears from forming in my eyes. “You have no idea how hard it is being on your own and not having anyone in this world give a shit about you! You have no idea what it’s like to have to fend for yourself! You are so damn lucky to have a big brother like him who cares about you so much that he’s willing to put all his own hopes and dreams aside for you to make yours! He’s only seventeen, and he treats you like you’re his son, you ungrateful asshole! You take everything he does for you for granted, and you don’t even realize how blessed you are to have him in your life!”

“I know what he’s doing, but it doesn’t give him the right to throw it in my face every chance he gets!”

“Why do you think he does that to begin with?”

“Oh, now this is all my fault?”

“Maybe before you start firing off at the mouth next time, look in the mirror first. It’ll show you why.”

He watched me with an inquisitive stare for a moment before he moved to grab the bag of peas out of the freezer to place on his lip, hissing upon contact.

“You need to rinse that cut with salt water to remove the bacteria.”

“You go from my lecturer to my doctor in a split second.”

“Yeah, don’t forget, nurse.” Reluctantly, I made my way to the sink and grabbed a clean cup.

Reaching for the salt next, Kraven beat me to it. He was hovering above me for a second, and the instant I realized how close he was, I backed away.