Page 57 of Ruthless Blade

“While you may not have said it, it’s clear in the way you’ve been acting. Not talking to me. Selling the house. Trying to merge two families together that clearly don’t need to be. You don’t do something like that if you aren’t trying to erase what you already had.”

She didn't answer. For the first time in years, this was the first time she didn’t have something to say.

A rebuttal.

An excuse.

A lie.

Tears gathered in her eyes, and my fingers itched to hug her. Because even though I was pissed at her, I did love her. Always. I wanted her to love me back. For once to put me first.

“I think we should go,” Mr. Daniel said as he stood up, helping Mom out of her chair. The sad thing was, he may have been good for her. I could see that he cared. I wasn’t sure how much, but it was there. The thing about it though, they weren’t supposed to be together.

Really though, does it even matter? Kayden and I obviously weren’t going to happen. Maybe it was time to let them be and leave well enough alone.

Even if they did stay together, that didn’t mean I could be around them like a big happy family. No, if they stayed together, they could build their own family. One where I wouldn’t be included.

“I think that’s a good idea,” I mirrored, ready for them to be on their way. I needed to be alone, away from everyone.

She nodded, letting him help her up. She grabbed her purse and leaned into him, her eyes blinking back tears. “I’m sorry, honey. For everything.”

They left, closing the door behind them. The silence was suffocating, and as I collapsed against the counter, I let the tears fall.

Wishing for things to go back to the way they were. When Dad was here.

Kayden

I was lacing up my skates when I noticed Dad making his way over to the benches.

"We need to talk," his deep voice was almost a growl. Jeez, who crapped in his Cheerios.

"Kind of in the middle of practice, Dad."

"This can't wait." He glanced around the mostly empty rink, a few stragglers from the early session still clearing out, and lowered his voice slightly. "Nora wanted to confront Alexis after the whole dinner fiasco, and I thought I’d stop by while we were here.”

Yikes. That’s a disaster if I’d ever seen one.

My eyebrows rose, “I’m sure that went well.” Not. Lexi probably bit their heads off.

He sighed, “Not really.”

I let my skates be, setting my elbow on my knee. “What happened?”

"Nora went in there demanding an apology. I’m sure you can guess what happened next.”

Oh, I can only guess that shit hit the fan.

"Kayden." His voice dropped, "I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me. You’ve been around that family more than I have. Is she normally like that? With Alexis?”

I leaned back against the bench, weighing my thoughts. “She reminds me of Mom. Abandons people when things get tough, treats people like shit. The fact that you’re wanting to get back into a relationship with that kind of tension is beyond me.”

His face paled as if he were about to puke, “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

I scoffed, “We did. Hell, we both did. Neither one of you listened, too caught up with your own crap to realize your children were in pain. It’s not a good idea, Dad. Never has been.”

He didn’t say anything. My gaze narrowed, and as I looked at him, and I mean really looked at him, I noticed something was changing. He didn’t seem to be the hardened man I grew up with. It was like he was growing right along with me, and seeing that, kind of freaked me out. He was supposed to be the one with the answers, not me.

“I’m going to take Nora back to the house; it seems there are some things we need to talk about.”