"You don't get to touch her!" Cal yelled, pinning Kei against the table, fist raised for another blow. Kei blocked it, elbowing Cal in the side, sending them both tumbling to the floor in a tangle of limbs and fury.
Fists flew.... Cal’s connecting with Kei's shoulder, Kei's knee driving into Cal's thigh. Blood smeared the floor from Kei's lip, Cal's knuckles splitting open. Grunts and curses filled the air, raw and animalistic.
"Stop it!" I shouted again, tears streaming down my face, terror clawing my throat. "You're hurting each other!"
The front door flew open again. Holland rushed in, eyes widening in horror. "What the hell...?"
He grabbed Cal from behind, hauling him off Kei with brute force. "Enough!" Holland barked, his voice sharp and commanding, muscles straining as Cal fought against him.
Cal shoved wildly, chest heaving, eyes red and tear-filled. "She kissed him!"
"I did not!" I yelled, sobbing now. "He kissed me! I pushed him away!"
Kei wiped blood from his mouth, breathing ragged, regret etched deep. "That's true. She didn't want...."
"Oh, shut the fuck up," Cal snarled, lunging again but held back by Holland. "You've been circling her for months. I saw it."
"That's not fair..." Kei started, voice hoarse.
"You think I didn't notice?" Cal shouted, his voice cracking with pain. "The late talks? Her looking at you like you're safer than me?"
"Because she trusted me!" Kei shot back, frustration boiling over. "Because you made her feel like she had to earn every scrap of your attention!"
Cal turned to me then, something inside him fracturing completely. Tears spilled down his cheeks. "You lied to me."
"I didn't...." My voice broke.
"You knew how I felt about him," he continued, hoarse and devastated.
"Knew it triggered every abandonment fear. And you let him get that close."
"I didn't let him kiss me!" I cried. "I stopped it!"
"You kept him around!" Cal screamed. "Leaned on him while I was fixing myself for you!"
"I needed someone who actually talked!" I yelled back, sobs wracking me. "You shut down every time it got real!"
"Because this is why I don't do this!" he roared, tears flowing freely. "I try, and it explodes!"
"You think you're innocent?" he added, voice breaking. "You manipulate with your vulnerability. Playing broken so we protect you. Syd warned me."
The slap of his words stung deeper than any punch. "You're being cruel," I whispered, shattered.
"I'm being honest!" he shot back. "You're a fucking liar and a whore if you think you can play both sides!"
Holland stepped in sharply. "Cal. Enough."
Silence fell, broken only by heavy breaths.
I turned to Kei, shaking. "Get out."
"Hadley...." Pain in his eyes.
"Get. Out."
He nodded, defeated, and left without another word.
The house felt hollow.
