A Bad Boy's Brother (Book #2)

11. Fathers

Corey's P.O.V.

I sat in the kitchen, looking awkwardly at Kelsey's father.

His eyes were locked on me.

"Um...sir...how long did you say Kelsey would be out, again?"

"Until she decides to come back," was his less than kind response.

"I don't understand why you're being...difficult, with me," I said slowly. He was a cop, I knew that much, but other than that I'd never met the man, and yet he was treating me as if I had slept with his daughter and gotten her knocked up.

"Kelsey is my pride and joy," he said, leaning forward in his seat at the table.

"Yes...I would imagine she is."

"So you can understand why I would be...unhappy, if someone made her upset."

"Yes. But I haven't done anything to her."

"I bet you believe that, too," he said, sitting back now and looking me in the eye with his cold gaze. "You seriously are some special kind of retarded, aren't you, boy?"

"I don't understand."

"When you left, I had to deal with Ryder living in my house for almost a week. Kelsey kept coming to me crying her eyes out because she wasn't sure what to do about it, and because she couldn't make her feel better no matter what she did. She kept crying and telling me that she didn't know if Ryder would ever get better this time. And now I get to look into the eyes of the boy that caused my two girls so much trouble."

"It was my impression that you didn't like Ryder, sir."

"Liking her isn't the issue. Kelsey loves her and calls her a sister, and that damn well makes Ryder my daughter. Whether I want to deal with her or not, Ryder is in my life. Kind of like the unplanned child that we put up for adoption but insists on seeing us whenever she can. I know this girl's struggles, and I listened to her sob story from her mother about the rough start to her life."

"Her brothers and father," I said slowly.

"Yeah. Poor thing was in the damn room when it happened."

I felt like I was choking. "What?"

"Ryder. She was in the room when her father killed her brothers. Ain't you never seen the scars she got on her ribs? Her father stabbed her three times. And the whole time the police were trying to get her to calm down, she was staring at her dead brother and screaming 'You promised! You lied!' at him." He leaned forward once more, his gaze burning furiously. "I told Kelsey that she was at school when it happened because I didn't want my princess to be worrying about something like that having happened to her friend. But I feel no such kindness toward you, son, and I don't feel like sparing you the details of Ryder's situation." His eyes were almost scary. "And now I hear about someone else lying to the girl. I don't know what that brother of hers promised, but it doesn't take a genius to tell that she hates lying almost as much as she hates the world. I don't have to like her to understand why she is the way she is."

The air was too thin. I felt almost light headed.

She had been there. She had seen it. She was a little girl, and she watched people die.

And I had hurt her just as badly as that did.

"Don't you dare cry in front of me, boy," he warned. "Call me old fashioned, but I think men need to be strong. So if you're a man, man up and take responsibility instead of coming to her friend whining about her not wanting to see you."

He was the third person to tell me to take responsibility of my actions.

"Kelsey's home. I heard her car a moment ago. Wipe that pathetic look off your face."

I straightened up the best I could. Somewhere deep down, this man cared about Ryder. If he didn't care, he wouldn't be so angry about this. He liked her more than he would admit, but I could see why he wouldn't want to say that to me.

"Daddy? Is it okay if Ryder comes in? I brought her home, 'cause she had a rough day at Cain's house yesterday."

"Don't you dare run," her father growled at me as I began to stand up. "Of course, princess," he called back to her. "Bring her on in if you want."

Kelsey was the first one to appear in the kitchen. Her eyes went from slightly joyful to dead when she saw me. "You," she whispered, almost in disbelief. "You're back? You're the reason Ryder had such an awful Christmas? Get the hell out of my house!" she yelled suddenly, launching her small body at me with surprising force.

I was caught off guard and hit the table hard when she tackled me.

"Get! Out! Of! My! House!" she yelled every time she hit me.

I looked at her father. "You're a cop! Aren't you gonna make her stop assaulting me?"

His eyes turned away. "I see nothing wrong with what she's doing. She was provoked."

I caught her wrists so that she would stop hitting me and immediately got kneed in the groin. Pain coursed through my entire body as I doubled over, trying to protect the area that she had just so mercilessly hit.

"Kelsey, enough."

She stopped and looked at Ryder.

"Knock it off. Get off him."

Kelsey scrambled away from me instantly, her eyes guarded as she watched Ryder.

Ryder didn't look angry, or even surprised. Just tired. But the exhaustion went so much deeper than just her eyes. It was in everything she was doing. The way she carried herself, the sound of her voice. She looked so tired as she looked at me with her dark brown eyes. "What are you doing here, Corey?" she asked calmly.

"I came to talk to Kelsey," I said eventually.

"Like I would even consider talking to you," Kelsey spat from where she was standing.

Ryder didn't acknowledge her outburst. "If you wanted to talk to her, you could have texted her, or asked Jason about it. Jason's been meaning to see you, anyway, from what I understand. You should go see him when you leave. Which you're doing now."

"Ryder, I--"

"No. You're leaving."

My gaze darkened, and a dull ache spread through my chest. "You don't understand anything."

"No," she agreed, her eyes suddenly giving away so much more than they had been, "I don't."

Something about the way she said it suddenly made her seem so...small. Fragile. She looked like she wanted me to say something, but I couldn't tell what it was that she wanted me to say. So I didn't say anything. I just stood there and stared at the woman that I was still in love with, even all these months later.

"Corey, I do believe that's your cue to leave now," Kelsey's father said, crossing his arms.

"I--"

"He's right, Corey." Ryder was looking at the ground now.

Every time she told me to leave, it hurt. Every time she said that she didn't want to see me, it hurt more. And every time she was with Cain, it killed me. Now she was standing there, telling me to leave again. I suddenly realized why she was so upset yet calm right then.

She really didn't understand. Why I left. Why I was back. Why or how I still loved her.

She didn't understand anything. She was confused. And hurt. Definitely hurt. It didn't take a genius to recognize when someone was in pain, even if the pain wasn't physical. Even if I couldn't seen the wound, I had managed to hurt Ryder so much worse than I could have done physically.

I had completely emotionally wrecked the only person I'd ever loved, and it was causing her pain just to see me standing there right then.

And knowing that was what convinced me to leave.