Branna(45)

“I can’t.” She swallowed.

“Why not?” Damien asked, crossing the room, frowning.

Alannah avoided looking in Aideen’s direction, which I found weird.

“I’m kind of seein’ someone,” she said in a whisper.

Everyone went deathly silent, even the kids; it was like they knew something was up.

“Who?” Bronagh asked first.

“Yeah,” Damien said, his voice shockingly low. “Who?”

“It doesn’t matter who—”

“It bloody well does!” Bronagh cut Alannah off.

Alannah looked at her friend. “I was goin’ to tell you, I promise, but I knew you’d tell Aideen, and I didn’t want a big deal to be made out of it.”

“Why would she tell me?” Aideen quizzed with furrowed brows. “And why would a big deal be made out of it?”

Alannah groaned and put her face in her hands.

“Oh, my God,” Bronagh suddenly gasped. “It’s one of ‘er brothers, isn’t it?”

“What?” Aideen asked, her eyes wide. “You’re goin’ out with one of me brothers?”

Alannah looked up, and instead of looking at Aideen, she looked at Damien as she said, “Yes.”

Damien balled his hands into fists. “Which Collins?”

I leaned against Ryder’s shoulder as she said, “Dante.”

Oh, shite.

“I’ve got to go,” Damien said and made a move to walk out of the room.

Alannah grabbed his arm. “Wait. Look, we need to talk.”

“No,” Damien said and removed her hand from his arm. “We don’t.”

“Please, I don’t know why I’ve brought this up, but we have to try—”

“I have tried with you.” He angrily cut her off. “I’ve tried to be patient. I’ve tried to show you how sorry I am for what I did to you. I’ve tried to befriend you. I’ve tried to give you space... I’ve tried to show you how much I care about you, but you don’t want me. I see that now.”

“Damien—”

“No, Alannah,” he cut her off. “You’re with Dante Collins, and I’m done.”

“It’s not a relationship,” she blurted. “We aren’t datin’. He is just... there.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Aideen angrily snapped.

Alannah didn’t look away from Damien’s back.

“He helped me get over you—”

“By getting under him?” he snapped.

Alannah winced. “That’s not fair, Damien. You were gone for so long, and we weren’t on good terms.”

“I left for you!” Damien shouted as he spun around to face Alannah. “When I realised how much I hurt you, when Bronagh told me the things no one else would, I made the decision to leave to better myself but also to give you time. I didn’t know how to attempt to make things right back then, but I was always going to come back for you, Alannah. I was going to fix everything, but you’ve made it so hard.”

Alannah’s voice cracked. “I... I didn’t know.”

Damien shook his head. “I have to go.”

He turned around and walked out of the kitchen, but Alannah quickly followed him while we all stayed rooted to the spot.

“Damien, please,” she pleaded from the hallway.

Georgie began to cry, which prompted Jax to become distressed also.

“Let go, Lana,” he replied, his tone low.

She has hold of him.

“No,” she shouted. “We need to talk.”

“What we need to do is be away from each other,” Damien replied. “Go to Dante; I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to comfort you.”

“Damien, stop. You don’t mean that.”

“Alannah. Let. Go.”

“No, I won’t.”

My eyes slid to Bronagh after she got Georgie from the play area. She tried to hand her daughter to Dominic, but he only hooked an arm around Bronagh’s waist, keeping both of his girls in place.

“Let them figure this out themselves,” he said into her ear.

“Does it sound like they’re figurin’ anythin’ out?” she quipped while bouncing Georgie to calm her.

Aideen took out her phone and began tapping on the screen. Kane, who was looking over her shoulder as he consoled Jax, groaned and looked up at the ceiling when she sent whatever message she texted.

“This is going to be bad,” he murmured to Ryder and Alec.

They nodded in unison.

“Why do you want to talk all of a sudden?” Damien demanded from the hallway. “Why not the first million times I asked?”

“Because I’m ready to deal with all of this.”