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I look at Abigail and see honest to goodness regret on her face. Too bad I don’t care right now.
“Are you fucking kidding me with this bullshit?” I try to stay quiet so I don’t disturb Lindsey. I really do. “You know what she went through. What she’sstillgoing through. You should have said no. You should have called Kasey. You should have called me.“ The loud noise of the water bottle being crushed in my fist as my anger rises echoes throughout the apartment. “What should not have happened is me finding my girlfriend on a bathroom floor because you two decided a night out at a bar was a good idea after months of her not being able to leave her fucking apartment.” I practically yell the last part and Abigail jumps, visibly shaken by my outburst. I’m the cool, collected one at all times, never letting my feathers get ruffled. When it comes to Lindsey and what went down tonight, consider me very fucking ruffled.
“I know—” she starts.
“No, you fucking don’t know, and that’s the goddamn problem. You come over and have wine and talk and try to make her laugh, but you have no idea what really happened to her. How broken she actually was when I found her. You weren’t there, so you don’t fucking know, Abigail.” I’m definitely yelling at her now.
Jackson decides to insert himself into the dressing-down I’m giving Abigail. Big fucking mistake.
“You don’t need to blame Abigail. Lindsey played just as big a part in this as anyone else. She called me asking if I would go with her and I said yes. I’m as much to blame as anyone else.” Jackson never did have a particularly strong sense of self preservation.
“Oh, I know you are. Trust me. You both fucked up royally here. Either one of you should have told her no and called me.” I smack my chest for emphasis.
“You don’t own her, Aiden. She’s perfectly capable of making her own decisions in her life.” Jackson is really testing my patience here.
“Besides, maybe she wanted a night away from the fucking fun police. God knows I’m sick of hearing all the ways Abigail and I fucked up,” he scoffs.
And patience,gone.
I can’t hold my temper anymore. With anger coursing through my blood, I see red. Stomping over to where Jackson is standing, my fist hauls back, as though it has a mind of its own, and I punch him square in the jaw. He falls back on the couch and Abigail runs over to him immediately. Fuck, it felt good to finally do that. I’m so goddamn sick of him running his mouth about things he knows nothing about.
“Are you insane?” she screams in my direction as she sits down next to him to inspect the red mark on his face, already swelling from my blow.
“Fuck you and your fun police bullshit, Jackson. That’s my girl in there who has barely spoken two words since the bar. You can both go to hell with your bullshit.”
I walk into the kitchen to grab some ice for my throbbing hand. It’s been a while since I’ve punched someone in the jaw, and I’d forgotten how hard that particular bone is.
“You should both leave. We’ve said all there is to say. I need to check on my girl.” My jaw is clenched so tight I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke a tooth to go along with my hand.
I turn to walk back into the bedroom, not wasting a glance at either of them.
Abigail stands from the couch with fire in her eyes, blocking my retreat. I would never lay a hand on a woman, but she’s standing between me and my bedroom right now, which is making me more aggravated by the second.
“Fuck you for making me stand up for him, but Jackson didn’t deserve that. And neither do I, for that matter. You aren’t the only person who cares about her, Aiden. If you think I won’t be beating myself up for this for the foreseeable future, then you are sadly mistaken.” She moves back toward the couch. “Come on, Jackson.” Abigail leans down and pulls Jackson to his feet as he shoots daggers at me with his stare. He has some balls on him for looking at me like that, considering I just knocked him on his ass.
“God, you’re like moving a fucking cement block.Let’s go.“ Even when she’s trying to help him, Abigail can’t help but give Jackson the shit he deserves.
They make their way out the door and I lock it behind them. My head begins pounding in time with the hand I punched Jackson with.
I make my way to my bedroom door and stand in the doorway, staring at Lindsey. She’s lying on her side toward me now, eyes on mine.
“It wasn’t their fault, you know. I made the decision,” she whispers.
“Yeah, I know,” I admit reluctantly. And I do know that, but they had a part in it too. The anger and frustration needed an outlet in that moment, and Jackson and Abigail made for easy targets. Now that it’s over, I realize I’ll have to make a few apologies in the morning. Or the next day, when I feel less like an asshole.
“Sunshine, I’m trying to figure out why you thought it would be a good idea. We could have gone together. I would’ve made sure you felt safe. Why did you wait until I was out of town to try going somewhere with so many people?” I’m still confused over that part.
I walk to the other side of the bed and lay my phone on the nightstand. Before shedding my clothes and crawling under the covers, I turn it to silent. I’m sure her sister will be calling or showing up bright and early, but right now I just want to talk to Lindsey without the distraction of my phone ringing. Maybe get a little shut-eye after.
“I don’t know. I guess I was excited and felt ready to try something new on my own. Overconfidence strikes again.” She closes her eyes on a sigh. I’ve never seen her so calm, yet so defeated. I hate it.
When she doesn’t say anything else, I reach for her, wanting her safe and warm in my arms. I don’t want to push her, but it would help me feel better if she let me hold her. She doesn’t, though, instead staying rooted to her side of the bed. I pull my hand away from her and lay it on my chest.
“You don’t have to do anything on your own. I’m here to help you deal with all this stuff, Lindsey. You just have to let me,” I murmur into the dark room.
“I’m tired. Can we talk about this in the morning, please?”
“Of course, Sunshine.”
