What I saw Kane partake in at Darkness all those weeks ago shook me up. I wanted to believe he was a good person, but I just didn’t fully trust that he was. I knew he cared about me and the baby, but outside of our little circle he was clearly involved in things that I wanted no part in. I was connected to him so whatever he was into, I had a connection to it too, whether he liked it or not.
I hoped I was just paranoid, and it’s why I let Kane lead me back up to his room. I told myself that whatever he was into really was his own business and that he wouldn’t be involved in it if it would put me, or our baby, in danger. I just hoped trusting in that didn’t prove futile.
As I entered Kane’s room, I heard male laughter coming from downstairs and I smiled to myself. Alec and Ryder were here. I was still smiling to myself as Kane jumped onto his bed and patted the spot next to him. I stopped short of the bed and said, “I’m hungry.”
Kane deadpanned, “You couldn’t have said that when we were next to the kitchen?”
I made a motion to stick my finger up at Kane, but I moved my hand too fast and hit it on his bedpost. It sent pain shooting up my finger and caused me to scream bloody murder.
“Oh God! I broke a nail!”
“No!” Kane cried.
Multiple footsteps pounded up the stairs, down the hallway and then three bodies burst into Kane’s bedroom. “What?” all of his brothers hollered as they piled through the doorway.
Kane pointed a trembling hand at me. “Her nail! She broke her nail!”
With a perplexed look, I looked at Kane then to the brothers who all gasped and flung their hands over their mouths. They all gripped onto furniture, or onto one another to stay upright.
I was so confused. I had no fucking idea what was going on.
None.
“Your nail?” Alec screeched.
Nico placed his hands on the side of his head and shook it from side to side. “Anything but your nail!”
Ryder rushed over to me and grabbed the hand I was cradling and thoroughly examined it, and when he saw confirmation that my nail was gone, he whimpered. “It’s gone. Gone forever!”
“No!” Kane wailed, fell back to his bed, and flung his arms over his face. “Why did it have to be her nail? Why, God? Why?!”
I glared at Kane, then his brothers when I realised what was happening. The bastards were taking the piss out of my broken nail.
“I hate you all,” I said then turned, walked out of the room and headed for the kitchen because even though I was still in a lot of pain, I was also very hungry.
I had made it halfway down the stairs before I heard the eruption of belly rumbling male laughter. Even though it pleased me greatly that they were smiling together, I hated that it was at my expense.
“Bloody brothers.”
“Are you excited?”
I looked at Kane when he asked the same question for the tenth time in two hours. I shrugged my shoulders and looked out his car window. “I guess so, I’m just nervous. I mean... this woman you contacted is a legit realtor, right?”
It was Monday, and Kane and myself were on our way to view a few apartments. We had a total of five to check out. Kane contacted a friend of his on Saturday and got the number to a realtor that would help us on such short notice.
“Of course,” Kane said, offended. “You think I’d hire someone to show us crappy apartments?”
Yes.
“I would think that. It wouldn’t be above you to stoop that low in order for me to live with you.”
“I haven’t stooped to any level. This chick is the real deal. She works for Upton Realtors, and Upton is a... wealthy area, so they would only produce the best. “
I didn’t know why, but Kane’s enthusiasm didn’t give me much encouragement.
“Okay, I just want to find somewhere that’s good for me and the baby. You told her two bedroom apartments, right? Oh, and that my budget was fourteen hundred a month?”
Kane lifted a hand off the steering wheel and scratched his neck before returning it to the wheel. “I gave her a budget of twenty-five hundred a month.”
I must have heard that wrong.
“Twenty-five hundred,” I repeated.
“Well, yeah.”
“Twenty-five fuckin’ hundred?”
“Don’t hit me, I’m driving!” Kane quickly said and glanced at me—well, at my hands.
I wasn’t planning on hitting the idiot, but it was nice to see he thought I was some crazy lady who would smack him going eight kilometres an hour down the bypass.
Dickhead.
“You’re lucky you’re drivin’!” I angrily spat. “Why on earth would you say twenty-five hundred? That is me monthly salary, Kane! How can I afford me utility bills, food, and all the things I’ll need for the baby if me entire paycheque goes on fuckin’ rent?”
Kane sighed, “Because I’m paying half of your rent.”
Come again?
I stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“I knew you wouldn’t let me pay for it all, so I decided I would pay half.”
“You decided, huh?” I hissed. “You just decided that you would pay half me rent without even askin’ me?”
“Consider it half of my monthly child support payment, the other half will be to help you buy things the baby needs.”
I placed my fingers against my temples as a profound pounding began to pulse away.
“Come on, Aideen,” Kane sighed. “A two bedroom apartment for anything less that twenty-five hundred around our area will be shitty and we both know it. You said you wanted to be close by, and since I live in Upton, we needed to up the price.”
I knew what he was saying was true, but I was deeply bothered that he just decided something that directly involved my life without even consulting me. It wasn’t okay.
“Fine,” I muttered and looked out the window once more.
Kane’s sigh was deep, and long.
“You’re mad.”
“You’re a genius.”
Kane grunted and closed his mouth for the remaining ten-minute journey to the first apartment location. It was fifteen minutes away from Upton in a bigger estate area called Ballycash. It was a rough area and I already knew it would be a no from me when I stepped out of Kane’s Jeep.
There was a dead cat on the path across from us and it turned my stomach. I glared at Kane as he walked around the car to me. “This estate, really?”
Kane held up his hands. “With the notice I gave her, Cala said she could round up five apartments to show us. I just told her I wanted it to be close to Upton. I didn’t pick this area.”
Ballycash was the complete opposite of Upton so I didn’t doubt Kane had involvement with the location. He wouldn’t live here even if you paid him to, so no way in hell would he want his child living here.
“Who is Cala?” I asked as I kept my eyes averted from the cat.
“The realtor.”
I raised my eyebrow. “You’re on first name basis with the realtor?”
Kane shrugged. “I called her Miss Harding, but she told me to call her Cala... so I did.
“Uh huh.”
“Uh huh, what?”
“Nothin’.”
Kane stood in front of me. “Nothing is something. I don’t need the Man Bible to know that.”
I scoffed, “I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t. Just tell me now what’s bothering you. I don’t want you giving me the silent treatment for the next ten hours.”
I rolled my eyes. “I could explain what you did wrong, but you still wouldn’t understand.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I was going to have to spell it out for him.
“You’re the reason there are instructions on shampoo bottles.”