Kane(28)

I audibly snorted, and it caused James to shoot daggers my way.

"Don't look at me like that; you're the one who just made me life ten times harder."

"You're blamin' me?" James asked, angrily.

"Yeah, she is," my father snapped, "and so am I."

James threw his hands up in the air. "I defend me baby sister and I get backlash for it? Fuckin' terrific."

I glared at James. "You hit Kane for your own bloody reasons, don't  pretend you were doin' it to defend me honour. I'm twenty-eight. I  shouldn't have to deal with this bullshit from me family."

I turned away from James and walked over to Gavin who was holding his  bloody face. I opened the First-Aid kit and then went and got a bowl of  water. I put some ice in it from the ice dispenser in the fridge and  grabbed a clean cloth.

"Look at me," I asked Gavin when I reached him once more.

Gavin did as asked. He barely even winced when I dipped my cloth into  the ice water and began to clean his face. I was angry with him, and not  exactly for fighting. He was only helping our brothers, but I was  pissed he went for Alec. Alec can be sweet as pie, but he can fight  viciously when need be. Gavin's face was proof of that.

"Big tough lad now …  aren't you?" I muttered to Gavin.

Gavin's eyes shot to our brothers and father, his demeanour relaxed when he saw they paid us no attention.

"Why are you so nervous? They're gonna find out sooner or later."

Gavin grunted, "You'll tell them?"

I shrugged. "Depends."

"On what?" my stupid brother asked.

I moved my head down to his. "On whether you leave Brandon's circle willingly or if I've to drag you from it."

Gavin pulled away from me. "Bloody hell, Aideen."

I stowed my itching palm and instead placed it gently on Gavin's shoulder.

"I love you, and makin' sure you have no part of that life is my job as your-"

"Sister!" Gavin cut me off on a growl. "You're me sister, not me ma."

I swallowed down the hurt that Gavin's statement made me feel and played  it off with a shrug. "You're right, I'm not Ma, but I'm the closest  thing you've ever had. You would want to start remindin' yourself of  that."

I pressed a cotton ball hard against a cut over his eyebrow and it  caused Gavin to hiss. I cleaned up the rest of his face and pushed the  kit over to my other brothers as they began to clean themselves up.

"So," James mumbled from across the table, "when are you goin' to have... the baby?"

Fuck, that sounded so strange.

I cleared my throat. "In six months. I'm three months gone so it will be a short while yet before I start to show."

"What's that mean?" Dante asked me.

I snorted as I moved away from Gavin. "It means before I start to show a bump. A pregnant belly."

"Oh. Right," Dante said and pressed a pack of frozen peas to his jaw.

"Six months' time will be in January," Gavin commented.

I smiled. "Yep, and you won't believe when my due date is?"

My brothers all smiled. "Ma's birthday?"

"The very one. Can you believe it? Out of all the days for me to be due a baby, it falls on Ma's birthday."

"I told you she is watchin' over you-all over you." I looked at my  father when he stepped next to me. I smiled when he folded his arms  around me. "Congratulations, babygirl."

I squeezed my father tightly. "Thanks, Da."

"Yeah, congrats sis," Harley's voice rang out.

I smiled as I pulled away from my father and found all my brothers up on  their feet and moving towards me. I laughed when they surrounded me and  we had us a big group hug.

"We're goin' to be uncles!" Gavin said, his voice sounding like a child's.

I laughed and moved away from my brothers and over to the sink where I  got a drink of water. "Yep, you will be uncles but so will the Slater  brothers, so I'd appreciate you four not attackin' them when you see  them in the future."

James smirked at me. "No promises."

I shook my head. "Everythin' is crazy right now for me and Kane. Please  be considerate. He only got out of hospital ten days ago."

"For what?" Harley questioned.

"He has diabetes," I explained.

My father shook his head and glared at James.

"I didn't know he was ill!" my brother snapped in his defence.

I exhaled.

"Besides, he didn't hit like he was weakened in any way."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. My brothers and father followed suit.

A few hours passed by with just myself, my father, and my brothers  talking to one another. We went down memory lane and discussed our  futures with smiles and laughter. Around nine pm I began to feel really  tired. Harley offered to drive me home, which I happily accepted. I  hugged everyone goodbye, let them know I thought they were dicks for  fighting, but that I loved them anyway.

Harley drove me home and walked me up to my apartment door. He bailed on  my invite for a cup of tea because he knew I was tired. He left when I  was safely inside my apartment with the door locked.         

     



 

For a few moments inside my apartment I was calm and collected but all  of a sudden, I couldn't help it when tears welled in my eyes and spilled  down my cheeks. I wasn't much of a crier-I grew up with four brothers  and a single father, it toughened me up-but with everything on my mind, I  couldn't keep it together.

I was going to have a baby, and my family hated the father of the baby.

I looked up to the ceiling and whimpered, "Whatever game you're playin', Ma, I don't find it one bit funny."

I could hear my mother's rich laughter in my head and for a moment, it  soothed me. I walked into my kitchen, flipped on the lights, and put my  bag on the kitchen table. I filled my kettle with water and set it to  boil.

I needed a cup of tea.

I actually needed something stronger, but seeing as I was pregnant, tea  would have to be my go-to stress reliever drink from now on, and I could  see a lot of cups of tea being made in my future.





"Aideen? Open up, it's me."

I blinked my eyes open and couldn't help but smile a little as I got up  from my sofa and lazily walked over to my apartment door and opened it  wide for my best friend.

"I'm so sorry, babe," Keela said as she stepped into my apartment and  wrapped her arms around me. "I would have come over this mornin' had I  known."

I hugged her back. "It's fine."

"It's fuckin' not!" she stated and pulled back.

She closed my door and led me into my sitting room where we sat on my  sofa. I tucked my legs under my bum, and Keela did the same.

"Your face!" she gasped.

I waved her off. "It was an accident."

"I promise I would have been over this mornin', but the lads went back  to Nico and Bronagh's house to clean up and they stayed away until  twenty minutes ago. They thought it would be better for us to hear what  happened without seein' them covered in blood."

Flashes of the lads fighting this morning flooded my mind.

I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. "It was horrible, Kay.  They beat the shite out of one another. All of me brothers will have  black eyes."

"The lads have sore jaws and bruises, that's for sure. Kane and Ryder's  jaws are swollen to hell, the bruises are up on their cheekbones and  jawbones. Nico's nose bled for ages he said, his eye is darkening and  Alec... well, Alec only had two cuts-he was perfect compared to the  others."

I couldn't help but snort. "That's because Gavin stepped up to him, the little eejit."

"He was helpin' his brothers, which is what Alec was doin'. They're both as bad as each other."

"Men."

"Yeah."

We sat in silence then until Keela said, "From all the violence, I take  it your brothers didn't take Kane being the baby's father well then?"

I burst out into unexpected laughter. "You could say that."

Keela smiled at me. "Who was more pissed?"

"James," I sighed. "He hates the brothers, so do the other three, and  now me da definitely does. He threatened to kill Kane with a baseball  bat."

Keela gasped, "The steel one?"

"That's the one."

"Fuck me."

"Yep."

Keela shook her head. "I don't understand why this shite happens to the lads, they can never just talk stuff out."

"The day they talk somethin' out, is the day pigs fly."

"I second that."

I smiled, but it was forced and I couldn't hold it for long.

"Are you goin' to stay here for rest of the weekend?"

I nodded my head. "No offence to you, but I just want to be on my own to  wrap me head around everythin'. I still can't quite believe I'm  pregnant. It's just so crazy."

Keela let out a little squeal, "I'm so excited."

I genuinely smiled at her. "This might be the start of a baby boom in the Slater family."

Keela nodded her head. "I think it will be. I'm perfectly content with  Alec and meself goin' at a slow pace, but I bet when the baby is born it  will be me wantin' to speed things up this time and not Alec."