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And when I came? I was pretty sure my family downstairs could hear me.
I couldn’t find it within me to give a good goddamn about it.
21
SISTER TALK
Christian
Ally whined in her sleep, the sound ripping at my soul. I looked up from the patient folder in front of me to where she was asleep on the bed with Caiden. Caiden had been playing a game on his phone, but he quickly set his phone on the nightstand and rolled onto his side, hugging her tight to him as he whispered soothing words in her ear, coaxing her back into a dreamless sleep.
My brother had always been the wild one—constantly in trouble, never got along with our parents, and rebellious as hell. When he went into the military right after he graduated high school, he was constantly in trouble with his drill sergeants and getting privileges revoked for doing dumb shit.
And he was hot-headed as fuck. He always reacted with his fists, not his brains. But seeing him around Ally from the very beginning? He was completely different with her—almost as if he could sense from the moment he met her how fragile she was.
Growing up, Caiden had taught me how to defend myself, and he always told me “don’t ever start something, but you better fucking finish the shit.” I never had to fight growing up. I could—Caiden made sure of that. But Caiden allowed me to be the golden boy everyone loved, and it didn’t bother him at all.
Caiden ran by his own book. Always had. His rules were the only ones that mattered to him.
Our parents had hated it, but Caiden and I were close as fuck—always had been. Even when he got kicked out of the house on the night of his graduation, he still made plans with me, and I was the first and only person that he told that he was leaving for the Army.
Only now, his career was cut short due to being shot.
“She okay?” I quietly asked him.
He nodded and then brushed his lips to the top of her head. “She’s good, bro,” he told me quietly. “Go ahead and finish work.”
It was quiet between us for a little while, the only sounds in the room being my pen as I made some side notes, and his grunts of annoyance as he continued dying on his game.
Eventually, I finished looking over my patient files, and I locked them away in my briefcase, setting it aside afterward. I stood and stretched, a soft groan falling from my lips when my back popped. Caiden looked up at me. “I’ve been offered a position on base,” he told me. I arched an eyebrow at him. “They’re willing to let me work at the one here in the city.”
“I thought you were getting discharged.”
He nodded. “I am. But I can still work on base. They have civilian jobs.”
“What’s the job?” I asked him.
He grunted. “Can’t talk about it,” he told me. I nodded in understanding. “I just thought I’d let you know.” He looked down at Ally. “I don’t want to leave her side, bro.” He looked back up at me. “I’ve got some money in savings, enough to help you with half of the down payment on a new house and to also help you do the repairs on the current house so that you can put it on the market.”
I shook my head at him. “Caiden, bro, I can’t let you do that.”
He shrugged. “Not giving you much of a choice.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I plan on staying with you guys. She needs me as much as she needs you, Christian.”
I nodded and slid onto the bed behind Ally, wrapping my arms around her, protectively splaying my hand over her belly. Caiden sat up and leaned over, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he got off of the bed completely. He snatched a shirt from the floor and pulled it on. “I need a cup of coffee, and then I’m going to see if Axel and Julian want some help cooking.”
“Alright,” I told him. “I’m going to get a few minutes of shut-eye.”
Caiden snorted. “Few minutes, my ass. Hard to only do a few minutes when someone as soft as her is in your arms.”
I opened one of my eyes, looking up at him. He was smirking, laughter shining in his eyes. “Caiden, go fuck off.”
He snorted. “Your girl did that for me earlier.”
I sighed and shut my eyes again, ignoring him. He snorted. “Get some sleep, Christian, and then, when she wakes up, get some pussy. You obviously need it.”
I grunted. “I’m going to kick your ass in a minute.”
He laughed and left the room. I tightened my arms around Ally and allowed myself to relax, holding her in my arms.
And Caiden was wrong. She wasn’t just my girl. She was his, too. She was going to fight him on it; I could feel it in my gut.
