Page 60 of Falling for the Unexpected

“What the hell is he doing here?” Kyle asked through gritted teeth.

“He was here when I came home. He said he wanted to talk.” I glared back at Brad. “I was just getting ready to ask him to leave,” I answered.

Kyle pushed the door open and stomped over to the couch. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, glowering at Brad.

Brad got right in Kyle’s face. “I could ask you the same thing,” he said. Then he turned toward me. “So this is the douchebag you’re seeing?”

“You don’t get to question her or her actions,” Kyle growled, clearly pissed off and getting angrier. “You lost that right a long time ago. Now you get to deal with me.”

I was worried this was going to get out of hand quickly.

Suddenly, Brad started laughing, like hysterically laughing. “I can’t believe this,” he managed to get out between laughing fits. “How in the world did this even happen? Wait, is this how you paid your legal fees. A fuck for every few billable hours?”

Brad couldn’t spew another vicious word from his mouth before Kyle’s fist was crashing into his jaw. Brad fell backwards onto the carpet but that didn’t stop him from getting in one last jab, this one directed to Kyle. “How can you possibly want to be with the whore I cheated on your sister with?”

I saw Kyle start to charge so I jumped in front of him. “Stop!” I pleaded. “He’s not worth it.”

“He’s not, but you are,” Kyle declared, and lunged toward Brad again.

I placed my hands on his chest and gently pushed him back. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to physically move him, but I hoped my touch would calm him a little. “Please, just let it go.”

He finally made eye contact with me and relaxed a tiny bit. “You need to get the hell out of here,” he said, looking around me at Brad.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Brad said to me as he pushed up off the ground and moved toward the door.

“No, you won’t,” Kyle sneered.

“Dude, you can’t keep me from talking tomydaughter’s mother,” he said, emphasizing that Stella was his, and then he slammed the door behind him as he left.

“Is your hand okay?” I asked, carefully grabbing hold of the hand he had used to knock Brad to the ground.

“It’s fine,” Kyle said, tension still radiating off him. “So what did he want to talk to you about?”

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of peas out of the freezer for his hand while he went to the sink to run water over his knuckles. “He said he wanted to get back together,” I answered truthfully. I examined his knuckles but the skin hadn’t split and it looked okay. I put the peas in a towel and placed it over his right hand, just in case.

“Are you serious?” he asked, incredulous and fuming. “The nerve…”

“Well, that’s what he said, but I don’t believe him for a second,” I explained. Holding the frozen veggies on his hand, I looked back at Stella’s quiet room, surprised she had slept through the chaos out here. I glanced back up at him. “There had to be more to it. There is no way he decided he wanted to suddenly play house. If I had to guess, Tiffany kicked him outagainand he needed a place to crash.”

He looked at me, then down at his feet. “What did you tell him… when he said he wanted to get back together?” he asked cautiously, but his face was tense, ready for bad news.

I didn’t like his expression or the tone in his voice, like he knew what I’d say and it wouldn’t be what he wanted to hear. In my heart, I knew I would never go back to the type of relationship I had with Brad. The feelings I had for Kyle went beyond anything I had ever felt before. Maybe he didn’t feel as strongly about me and therefore didn’t understand that I no longer wanted any part of that.

When I didn’t say anything right away, he continued. “I know how much you wanted things to work out with him—for Stella’s sake.”

“Are you serious right now?” I asked with a hint of anger. How dare he doubt what I would do in this situation!

He hesitated and tossed the bag of peas aside. He ran a hand through his hair. I could see the doubt in his eyes as he faced me. “I’m just saying—”

“I know what you’re saying. I just thought what we have together meant a lot to both of us. The fact that you think I would give that up to go back to him—well, it hurts.” I was trying to keep the sadness out of my voice and tears out of my eyes.

I started to move away from him but he reached out and grabbed my hand.

“Hey, come here,” Kyle said, pulling me into his arms. “You’re right, I’m so sorry, babe. I shouldn’t have doubted you for one second. Just seeing him here made me crazy. The thought of losing you freaked me out. Please forgive me.”

“Kyle, of course, I forgive you,” I said, sinking into his body. I looked up at him. “But I need you to trust that I’m not the same person I was when I came to you seven months ago.”

“I won’t ever question you on this again,” he said. We stayed there in each other’s arms in the middle of kitchen for a few minutes.