Brutal Kiss

His face turns ashen and I know I’ve overstepped. I turn and storm away before he can do something stupid, which is extremely possible. Aiden has a temper, especially with his family, and back when we were kids, we’d fight like cats and dogs and he’d never hold back.

I reach the living room and stand there seething. Several people glance my way, and I feel their questioning stares. Gossip travels fast in this family, and I’m sure everyone’s curious about what just went down.

Screw them all.

“Dale, you good?” Callum frowns at me from an easy chair. He’s got a big glass of whisky, and his cheeks are flushed with drink.

I nod to him, then walk down the front hall, out the front door, and onto the lawn. I stand there breathing hard, trying to get myself under control, sucking in cool air. My back’s prickled with sweat and I’m seething mad.

This is what they do to me. This is why I didn’t want to come back. Aiden likes to torture me and Dad isn’t much better. It’s all done under the guise of what’s best, but it’s not what’s best for me but what’s best for the clan.

But in some ways, Aiden’s right. I know he is, and that’s what pisses me off even more. I’ve been living a charmed life up until now, all because Dad is afraid of how bad I was after Megan’s death and he’s desperate to keep me from spiraling back down that hole again.

Unfortunately, he has no clue why I’m really here, and how close I feel to that blackness taking over my life one more time.

Footsteps on the driveway. I look over, and there he is, lurking near the cars. He’s looking at me, no smile on his face, just a tilted head. I drift over toward him.

“What are you doing out here, Rian?”

He shrugs, hands shoved in his pockets. “Needed some air.”

“Aiden’s already trying to get me to quit my job.”

“How’s that going for him?”

“Not great.”

He laughs once. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. You two are going to kill each other before this is all over. I’m not even sure why he wanted you to come home.”

“He thinks I’m of marriageable age. Like I’m some kind of spinster in Victorian England or something.”

“He can’t help himself. You two are always at each other’s throats.”

“It’s his fault. He keeps needling me.”

“You’re right, but you know how this goes. The clan before everything else.”

“I’m sick of the clan.”

He smiles and nods slowly. “That’s good, because I was thinking we might fuck things up for them a bit.”

I drift closer. My hands stop shaking, and though I’m still sweating and angry, my heart’s marginally calmer. Which is strange, because Rian used to have the opposite effect on me. Seeing him would drive me wild with rage.

But after what he told me, it’s like the world’s been turned inside out, and now I don’t know how the hell I should feel about him.

I believe he’s telling the truth about the accident. There’s too much that doesn’t make sense for the original version to be the only story. It’s always bothered me, those little loopholes and questions, and I think that’s part of why I’ve never been able to accept what happened. Why I haven’t been able to move on.

If Megan really was driving, that’d clear a lot up for me. I believe him when he says he didn’t kill her. That he was in the passenger seat the whole time.

Which means I’ve hated him for no reason for eight years.

Eight years I’ve thought of him as the worst possible human in the world.

As the bastard who stole away my best friend, my other half. My sister. The only person that ever really loved and understood me.

He was the cause of all my problems.

And in some ways, it was easier that way. I could blame Rian for all my pain and anguish. He was the villain, the killer, the monster in my closet.

Now, suddenly, he’s not.

He’s a victim like me, and maybe even worse.

Everyone’s been treating him like he got a girl killed when it didn’t happen that way at all.

The thought twists my guts and a deep self-loathing lodges in my chest.

“Listen, we need to talk.” Rian watches me carefully and I look away. I can’t meet his eyes right now. I’m too emotional and on edge from that fight with my brother.

“What’s going on?”

“You remember what I said back in your apartment about looking into Megan’s accident? Well, I want to start tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Megan’s cousin Fiona. I want to have a chat with her, and I think she’ll be more forthcoming with you around.”

I chew on my thumbnail and shrug. “Yeah, okay, I can do that. Where and when?”

“After work. We’ll go visit her straight from the train.”