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Annika was a primary school relief teacher. She’d taken time off when her dickhead ex-boyfriend had talked her into letting him support her. I’d argued with her over the wisdom of that, but she’d been so infatuated with him she hadn’t been able to see straight. That, and she had a burning desire to be at home for her kids, which I understood. In the end, he’d shown his abusive side and I’d gotten her out of that shit. What I couldn’t get her out of was her inability to find a job that worked in with her kids. I was fucking over the moon to hear the education department had called her.
“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” I said. “I’ll be around the clubhouse all afternoon.”
“Thank you,” she said, like I’d given her the world.
I shook my head. “Don’t thank me, Nik. I put you and the kids in this position, and I fucking hate that I had to.”
Her smile lingered. “You really need to stop giving yourself a hard time over stuff. It’s not like you intentionally cause bad things to happen.”
“No, but I’ve made my choices in life and now I have to live with them. And unfortunately, they affect you guys.”
She placed her hand on my arm. “We might bitch and grumble at you, but deep down we don’t mean it. You have always been there for us, and the shit you’ve done to help won’t ever be forgotten. That’s family, right? We get each other through the crap, regardless of any bad decisions we might make along the way. God knows you’ve stood by me through all the bad choices I’ve ever made. I love you, big brother.”
I took all that, letting it sit in me. She was right—that was what family did.
Reaching for her, I curved my hand around the back of her head and pulled her to me so I could press a kiss to her forehead. Letting her go, I said, “Yeah, Nik, that’s family.”
She shooed me away after that and I headed towards Skylar’s room to give her the good news. After that was Kree, but I knew I was in for an argument there, so I chose to visit her last.
Right before I made it to Skylar, another text hit my phone.
Lily: You didn’t let me know about the beer.
Me: There’s plenty still there. You don’t need to get more
She took a moment to reply.
Lily: Oh ok. I just thought I’d keep the fridge stocked for you, but that’s fine if you don’t want more.
In my experience, women only used the word fine when they were shitty about something.
Me: Are you pissed at me?
Lily: I’m fine.
Something was off here, so I called. Fucking texts did my head in.
“Hi,” she said, short with me.
“Have we got a problem?”
Silence for a beat. “No.”
“Lily, don’t fuck me around. What’s wrong?”
“I’m not fucking you around,” she said sharply. “There’s nothing wrong.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. This was the shit I didn’t deal well with when it came to women. The not fucking understanding them or the bullshit that came out of their mouths. “You asked me if I wanted more beer. I didn’t. And then fuck me, you’re shitty about something. What gives?”
“I got the wrong impression, that’s all. Can we just drop this?”
“What fucking impression did you get that was wrong?”
She huffed out a breath. “God, King, why are you being so difficult? Just let it go. It doesn’t matter.”
“Something you need to learn about me right now is that I don’t ever let shit go. Start fucking talking so we can fix this.”
Silence again, and then she finally started talking. “Fine. I thought that you coming over last night and again tonight meant you’d be around more. That made me think you might like some beer in the fridge. And I know there are a few bottles still in there, but I wanted to stock up for you so you don’t run out.”
