Ryder smirked as he put his arms around me. “Nope.”
“Ryder,” Kane snarled.
Ryder moved away from me and to the fridge, laughing to himself. I snorted too because it was too easy to wind Kane up when it came to me. He easily got jealous, but I had to admit that I liked it.
A lot.
I looked at Ryder as he dug out a bunch of food from the fridge and put it on the counter. I laughed and asked, “Hungry?”
“Starving,” he replied as he worked on making a huge sandwich.
I was just about to look away from him when I spotted some white powder on his jacket. I reached out and swiped some powder onto my fingers.
“You have white stuff all over you,” I mused.
Ryder looked over his shoulder to me, then to my fingers. I saw his eyes widen as I brought my fingers to my nose so I could sniff my fingers to see if I could identify the powder that covered them. But just as I brought my hand to my nose, Ryder stuck his arm out and smacked my hand away from my face.
I screamed with fright, and the sudden pain that radiated from my hand.
“Don’t sniff it!” Ryder bellowed and quickly grabbed my hand.
He pulled me to the sink and thrust my hand under the tap he’d turned on. He pumped some handwash on his hand and spread it all over my hand and scrubbed. He finished washing my hand until there was no trace of powder stuck to my skin.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I shouted at Ryder and pulled my hand from his, cradling it against my chest.
I felt hands on my shoulders then a growl, “Explain that. Now, Ryder.”
Kane was angry.
Ryder looked at Kane, then to Nico. “I couldn’t let her sniff it, she’s pregnant. God only knows what would have happened to her.”
Kane’s grip on me loosened. “It’s okay,” he breathed.
It was okay?
“Excuse me?” I questioned and turned to face Kane. “Did he smack you and pull you around by the hand?”
Kane licked his lower lip. “It was for your own safety.”
What?
“How is hittin’ me for me own safety?” I asked.
“I’m so sorry if I hurt you, Ado. I panicked.”
Why would he panic?
I turned to Ryder. “Why? I just wanted to see if I knew the scent of the powder, that’s all.”
“You wouldn’t have known,” Ryder replied.
“How do you know?”
“Have you done coke before?”
I reared back. “No, I haven’t. What type of fuckin’ question is that?”
“A valid one.”
What was going on here?
I furrowed my eyebrows together. “Are you tryin’ to say that powder on your jacket is cocaine?”
Ryder was silent.
“Ryder.”
Still, he said nothing, and that, in turn, gave me my answer.
“Oh, my God!” I breathed. “Why do you have cocaine on your jacket?”
Ryder rubbed his face. “Kane.”
“I’ll talk to her-”
“I’m standin’ right here! Don’t talk about me like I’m not!”
“Aideen,” Ryder sighed. “For once, I’m going to need you to mind your own damn business.”
Oh, hell no.
“Fuck you, Ryder!” I snapped.
Nico tried to change the subject, but I was too hyped to allow it.
“I fuckin’ told you he was up to somethin’!” I snapped to Kane and Nico. I looked at Ryder then and bellowed, “I have no idea what the fuck you’re up too, but I know it’s connected to your old life. That powder is a drug! I swear to God, Ryder, if you hurt me friend with your bullshit I’ll never speak to you again, and you will never be around me child.”
“Aideen!” Kane snapped. “Don’t threaten him with the baby. It’s my kid too and my brothers will be around him.”
I glared at Kane. “You wanna bet?”
Kane drilled his eyes into mine. “Yeah, I do.”
Wanker.
“Take me to court then.”
Kane’s face hardened. “I would if it came to that.”
“Go for it. I’m sure a judge will favour a mother with a good, steady job over a father who batters people to a pulp for a livin’.”
I hated myself the instant the words left my mouth. The look of hurt that settled on Kane’s face broke my heart.
“Guys, please,” Ryder pleaded. “Don’t fight over me.”
I was about to cry, and I didn’t want to do it in front of the lads so I turned and exited the kitchen. I got the fright of my life when I shut the front door behind me with no attempts from Kane to try and stop me from leaving.
He never let me leave so easily... but this time he just seemed to let me go.
“Miss Collins?”
I looked up when Caleb Marks called me. He was a sixth-year student and was also the only student in detention this evening. I didn’t particular like the kid that had me sitting in my classroom at five pm on a cold winter’s evening.
Couldn’t he have been a brat on another day?
Preferably one when I wasn’t pregnant and feeling like utter crap.
“Yes, Caleb?” I sighed. “What is it?”
“I think the school should invest in new tables. This one is really old and has a bunch of names carved into it.”
I inwardly rolled my eyes. “I’ll be sure to bring that up at the next staff meetin’, Caleb.”
He snorted as he read something on the desk he was sat at. “They’re degradin’ to women, too.”
That piqued my interest.
“Go on then, read out loud what it says.”
Caleb snickered, “It says, ‘Bronagh Murphy has a phat ass’. It's spelled with a ‘ph’ instead of an ‘f’. Is that correct?”
I burst into laughter, but quickly had to cover my mouth.
Nico.
This was Kiera’s classroom, and she was both Nico and Bronagh’s tutor when they were in sixth year. That must have been one of their old desks.
“Miss, why’re you laughin’?”
I looked at Caleb, still smiling. “I know the lad who wrote that. He goes out with the Bronagh written on the desk. They’ve been together since they were in sixth year.”
Caleb blinked. “If he goes out with her, why did he call her fat?”
See? It wasn’t a compliment.
“He is from New York, and apparently in America if the word fat is spelled with a ‘ph’ at the start it means it’s a good big. He really likes her big arse.”
Caleb laughed, “Okay, that makes sense.”
No, it didn’t!
I shook my head and stood up from my seated position. I walked over to the desk and looked at the writing Caleb was talking about. Bronagh Murphy was written in capital letters while the rest was in lower case letters.
I’d bet my life that Bronagh carved her name into the desk over the years in school, and Nico added the rest to it when he moved here.
What a fucker.
I snickered to myself as I took out my phone, took a picture of it, and sent it to Nico and Bronagh with the caption: Vandalising school property. I’m ashamed to know both of you.
Nico instantly replied with a ton of laughing emoji faces and it made me snort.
“Why did you take a picture of it?” Caleb asked me.
“So I could send it to them. Chances are, Bronagh will kill Nico for writin’ it in the first place.”
Caleb snorted, “You’re a shit-stirrer.”
Usually, I’d scowl at a kid for using bad language, but in this instance, Caleb was spot-on.
“I know. It amuses me.”
Caleb laughed as I returned to my desk and sat down with a sigh.
“When is your baby due?” he asked.
I counted on my fingers. “Nearly ten weeks left.”
“Ah, that’ll fly in.”
I grunted, “Not when you’re the pregnant one.”