First and Forever (Heartache Duet #2) - Jay McLean Page 0,98

“For years, I’ve stood by her side. I’ve been there for her through everything. Whenever she needed anything, she came to me.”

“This is about Ava?” I ask, confused.

Karen huffs out a breath. “Of course it’s about Ava!”

“And then you fucking come out of nowhere,” Rhys fumes, “and she chooses you! I’ve been on the sidelines waiting for her to—”

I lift a hand between us, shutting him up. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Shut up, Ledger!” he roars. “You go moping around school as if you’ve lost someone you’ve loved for years. You haven’t. I have!”

“Fuck you!” I try to slam the door in his face, but he kicks it back open.

“No, fuck you!” He throws the first punch, getting me square in the jaw.

I hold a hand there, waiting for the pulsing to settle down. But there’s no fight left in me to retaliate.

Rhys squares his shoulders. “Fight me, you pussy!”

I shake my head, adjust my jaw. “No.”

“Rhys, you need to leave!” Dad orders.

But Rhys ignores him and charges at me, his shoulder hitting my stomach until my back lands on the floor. Karen’s screaming; Dad’s yelling. And I try to push Rhys off me, but he’s too fucking outraged, and now we’re rolling on the fucking floor, knocking over the coffee table. Water spills on the carpet, and Michael’s trying to lift Rhys by his waist. Another blow to my gut, and blood pools in my throat, on my tongue. I cough it up, shielding another blow with my forearms.

“She was mine!” Rhys shouts.

“She chose me!” I grunt, finding the strength to throw him off me. I get to my feet, look down at him, wondering where the fuck all this came from. How long has he been hiding these feelings? Through staggered breaths, I yell, “She chose me, okay? And I don’t know why the fuck she did!”

Rhys sits up now, his head tilted back to look up at me.

“Don’t you think I question that every fucking day she’s gone! That maybe I was the reason? That I pushed her to leave?” My chest aches from every physical blow, every verbal admission. “She was fine!” I seethe, my voice cracking with emotion. “When I met her, she was… she was fine, and I—”

“Don’t, Connor!” Karen cuts in. “Don’t let Rhys’s drunk ass convince you that your relationship was anything less than it was. You loved that girl with everything you had, and she—she worshipped the ground you walked on.”

Rhys’s heavy breaths fill the momentary silence.

She adds, “Rhys is just looking for someone to blame; that’s all this is.”

I glance down at Rhys, catch the moment his eyes drift shut.

“And if he really loved her the way he’s acting like he does, then he wouldn’t have gone around screwing anything with spreadable legs for the past three years.”

Michael gasps. “Is this how kids talk these days?” he asks Dad.

Dad runs a hand down his face.

I squat down in front of Rhys, wipe the blood off my lip. “You’re allowed to miss her,” I mumble. “But I can’t fix this. I can’t turn back time and be better to her.”

“Jesus Christ,” Karen sighs out, flopping down on the couch. “You dipshits ever consider that none of this has anything to do with either of you or your giant egos?”

“Girl, preach!” Dad mumbles, handing me a dish towel to wipe off the blood.

“If anyone should be hurting, it should be me,” Karen continues. “You’re both sitting there all boohoo, poor me. She was my best friend. You want to talk about who’s known her the longest? We’ve been friends since kindergarten! And you want to compare who’s been there for her the most?” she asks, and I can hear it in her voice… hear the toughness she carries around with her begin to weaken, begin to fade. “That would be me, you assholes! I was there for her when her mom first deployed, and whenever there was something on the news about the war, and she’d get scared, she’d call me!” She’s crying now, tears are flowing, but still—she holds her head high, her words steady even when her voice isn’t. “And some fucking friends you are, because I’ve been holding both your hands ever since she left, and neither of you—not once—has ever asked if I’m okay. And I’m not, just so you know. I’m not fucking okay… because she was my best friend.”

Silence falls, and so does my heart.

“I’m sorry,” Rhys mumbles. His eyes shift from Karen to