RUSH
Nan was a sobbing mess. As mean as she was my heart broke for her. She was still my little sister and she had been done wrong. By both her parents. I had tried all my life to be the one person she could count on but I hadn’t been enough. She needed to feel loved and accepted by one of her lousy excuses for parents.
“She hates me,” Nan sniffed and hiccupped. “Right there in front of Kiro she made me look like a fool. She didn’t even care that I’m trying to find a way to get him to want me.”
I was sure that Nan had pushed Blaire to say the things that she did but I didn’t point that out. I was jut now, after an hour, getting Nan to calm down enough to talk to me. She needed someone right now and I was pretty sure I was the only person on the planet who cared about her problems.
“I know you love her but she’s mean. She’s cold and mean. You remember when she pointed that gun at me,” Nan sniffled and wiped at her tear soaked face.
“That was a little different. Mom and Abe had just ripped her world out from under her. She was upset and you were taunting her.”
Nan let out a hard laugh. “You will always take up for her. Even if she made fun of me and my need to have a parent who wants me right there in front of everyone. In front of Harlow. Dean. Kiro. She doesn’t care about my feelings.”
Blaire was pregnant and her emotions were harder for her to control. However, I needed to talk to her about just being quiet around Nan. The sooner I got her and Kiro on good terms the sooner we could leave. I didn’t like having to juggle Blaire and my sister. It was too much.
“She shouldn’t have said what she did. Although you shouldn’t have said anything to her either.”
“I was just reminding her that you loved me too. She was glaring at me so hatefully.”
Blaire had many reasons to hate Nan. I knew that. I just wished she’d learn to let that all go. When she had insisted we come here I’d thought it was her way of forgiving Nan. Looked like I was wrong.
“I’ll deal with Blaire. This won’t happen again. But you need to start finding ways to let go of this bitterness Nan. I can’t help you if you keep acting like this in front of Kiro. He is used to dealing with Harlow. Not you. Harlow is quiet and keeps to herself. That’s all Kiro will put up with and I am sure as a child she figured that out fast. You need to realize Kiro won’t accept you for you. He is spoiled and selfish. He’s a legend. People adore him and he thrives on it.”
“I hate my life. I... I think sometimes that it would be easier on everyone if I just ended it.”
I felt a sharp ache in my chest and I reached over and pulled her into my arms. “You can’t do that because I love you. I want you around. You need a chance to find happiness, Nan. Don’t do this to yourself. And don’t ever, and I mean EVER, say something like that again.”
She nodded against my chest and began to cry softly. I wondered if my wounded sister would ever be healed.
It was several hours later before I got back to the house. Nan was at her hotel. She refused to stay in the house with Kiro and Harlow. I had texted Blaire twice and I’d heard nothing from her. I was worried. I kept telling myself that she was asleep.
I hurried up to our room and opened the door to find her curled up on the bed asleep. She was still wearing her dress and she looked cold. I walked over to her and started to undress her gently. I didn’t want to wake her but I also didn’t want her uncomfortable while she slept.
Once I had her undressed I pulled back the covers and tucked her in. I couldn’t believe she’d said something hurtful to Nan. But then Nan had been adamant that Blaire had lashed out at her. It was probably the pregnancy hormones. I bent down and kissed Blaire’s head before standing up and heading to go get a shower. We’d not even been here one day and I was already stressed and ready to leave.
The banging on the door started just after my head hit the pillow. Or at least it felt like it. Blaire stirred in my arms and I noticed the sun pouring in through the windows. Maybe I had gotten some sleep.
“Who’s that?” Blaire asked in a sleepy whisper.
I wasn’t sure but I hadn’t wanted Blaire woken up like this. I knew she’d sat up late waiting on me. “Not sure. Stay here,” I replied and kissed her head before getting out of the bed and pulling on my discarded jeans.
I jerked open the bedroom door to find my dad looking hung over and pissed. “You got shit to deal with. Whatever the fuck you said to Nan last night didn’t help. Her ass is moving in,” Dean snarled.
That was a step in the right direction. She needed a chance to get used to Kiro. This would be good for them. “Then my talk did help. It’s time Kiro accepts her and makes up for lost time.”
Dean let out a hard laugh. “That won’t happen, Rush. You’re blowing smoke up her ass if that’s what you’re telling her. Kiro is Kiro. He ain’t a fucking daddy figure and that is what she wants.”
Maybe. But I had to at least help her try.
“Just get downstairs and help before all hell breaks loose,” Dean said before turning and stalking off.
I closed the door before turning back to Blaire. She was sitting up in bed with her hair messy from sleep and the sheet pulled up to her bare chest. What I really wanted was to crawl back in bed with her and forget this bullshit with Nan.
“I’m sorry,” I told her as I walked back over to the bed.
She frowned. “When did you get back last night?”
“Late. Nan was difficult.”
Blaire nodded stiffly then dropped her gaze from mine. I went over to her side of the bed and sat down beside her then slipped a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to look at me. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She let out a weary sigh. “You could have called. I waited for you to call. I fell asleep worried about you.”
“I did call,” I assured her. “You didn’t answer.”
Blaire reached for her phone and looked down at it. “You called me after eleven. I had fallen asleep by that time. I meant you could have called sooner than that.”
She was right. I should have. Damn Nan and Kiro. I was not going to put Blaire second to anyone else again. I had sworn she came first and I meant it. Yet last night I’d let her down.