Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

25 - CDC

"Why?" Kira softly whispered. She peeked at Scott beside her with a guilty look. "I ruined your relationship without meaning to and you broke up because of me."

I nodded my head at her words and sucked in a deep breath through my mouth. "Well, to be frank," I began, dropping my arm from Isaac's back to stand on my own. "There are two reasons why I forgave you." I ignored the rest of the pack's gaze on me except for Kira, wanting my full attention to be on only her. "The main reason is that you did apologize multiple times and I know you didn't truly intend for all of that happen."

Kira nervously glanced at Scott beside her then looked back at me. She shifted on the balls of her feet unable to stand still with the anxiety fueling in her body. "What's the other reason?"

"This guilt you're feeling right now," I gestured to my own chest to emphasize my point to her, wanting her to understand completely. "The one that feels like it's eating you alive and is always in the back of your mind, even more so since you're actually a super nice person-- That guilt is never going to go away, even when you're ninety years old. You will always remember what you did."

Kira's face paled at the harsh realization.

"And, honestly, that makes me feel a lot better."

The reaction of the pack was a mix of astonishment and amusement. Scott and Stiles' mouths fell open at my final statement while Malia quietly chuckled to herself. She saw the reasoning behind my response to Kira. A soft snicker came from my brother beside me, slyly bumping knuckles with Aiden behind my back. Kira's face grew whiter with every passing second and swallowed the lump in the base of her throat, taken aback by my sheer honesty.

My head tilted to the side by a few centimeters as I smiled back at her. Perhaps, what I said to her was a tad bit harsh, but it was how I truly felt about the whole situation. I had every reason to feel this way, considering everything she put me through a few months ago. Sure, I was over the breakup, but it made me feel better knowing Kira would never do this to another person ever again. I never wanted anyone else to go through what I did.

Kira was a genuinely nice person and I knew the guilt would never leave her alone, even if I did say I forgave her. This wasn't something she would ever be able to get over because she knew how in the wrong she was about everything.

A surprised look was shot in my direction by Scott until he lightly shook his head like he understood where I was coming from with my point. The same guilt would be with him for the rest of his life.

Malia suddenly held her hand in the air to gain everyone's attention. "Wait. Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"

"Malia," Scott addressed her. "You studied harder for this than any of us."

"I sure as hell didn't study," Aiden admitted without looking away from the messages on his phone from Lydia.

Malia ignored his comment. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."

I grimaced at her poor grammar.

Stiles matched my facial expressions. "Well..." He corrected her.

"Well, what?" She prompted him, not understanding.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head as I explained to Malia, "Um, it's do well, not good. That would be improper."

"Oh, God!" Malia exclaimed, exasperatedly.

"Even I knew that," Aiden whispered under his breath.

I lightly tapped my knuckles against the back Isaac's forearm. Within a second later, Isaac delivered a decent punch to Aiden's arm. Aiden gripped his phone tighter in his hand to keep himself from dropping it and glared at me from around Isaac. He shook his head and returned back to his text messages.