Page 96 of We Are Yours

“Kraven, please,” Isla intervened, and I hated the way his name rolled off her tongue.

“Kitty, stay out of it! This is between my brother and me!”

“Actually, this totally involves me!”

“Don’t call her that,” I warned, downright lethal and on edge. “This is how I find out about you two? Through a fucking surveillance camera!”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it! Don’t play the victim, Julius. It’s not your look.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “That’s your role.”

“This is ridiculous,” Isla exclaimed, her voice breaking. “You both need to calm the hell down! Nothing is going to get worked out this way. Choosing violence never does!”

“You would know,” Kraven bit, eyeing her.

“Don’t talk to her like that.”

“Don’t worry, big brother,” he vindictively snapped. “She likes it rough. Not that I expect you to know.”

I swung and he ducked, ramming me into the brick wall behind me.

“You’re only pissed because I know her in ways you never will!”

“You pie?—”

“No,” he gritted out, locking his arm under my chin, holding me in place. “I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen.”

“She’s mine…”

“If she were yours, Julius,” he spat, “she wouldn’t have screamed my name first.”

“You know why I did, Kraven…”

I shoved him off, blurting, “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Yeah?” he baited, only looking at her. “What about every time since?”

“If someone doesn’t tell me what the hell is go?—”

“Ask her, you pussy, and stop taking it out on me! She tells me because I ask. I don’t run like you do.”

In one breath, I sneered, “I’m not running.”

“If that were true”—he chuckled, mocking me—“you wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch every night.”

“Fu—”

“You run from everything and everyone!” he yelled, his chest rising and falling. “Why do you think that is?”

“Kraven, stop it!” Isla ordered, grabbing his arm now.

He tore it away, spitting venom. “I’ll tell you why…”

“Kraven!” She reached for his arm. “Don’t do this!”

Before the last word left her mouth, he deliberately shouted, “Because you’re just like our mother!”

I fell back from the impact of his words. They hurt far more than any punch ever could.