Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 26

Jaime
Tony had left so I was on my own waiting for her. It'd been 2 hours and I knew Kelsey's break was soon. She walked out of the shop and straight past me.

"Kels!" I yelled out to her and she stopped and turned around sighing.
"You're persistent I'll give you that" she said folding her arms in front of her.
"It's one of my many talents" I said making her smile a bit until she stopped herself.

"Look I'm sorry. What I said was awful and I didn't mean any of it I swear" I said.
"He told me that" she muttered under her breath.
"Who did?" I asked her.
"Mike. You know, the friend you forgot about" she said bitterly.

She got me there.
"Look I'm sorry I haven't been helping him out, I realise how stupid it is to hold a grudge against him because of a drunken mistake" I said moving closer to her. She didn't move away which was a good sign.

"What you said - " she started to say but I stopped her.
"I know it was a dick move and everyone has lost a lot of respect for me because of it, but I didn't mean it I don't even know where it came from" I said looking at the ground.

We stood there for a while.
"Mike is really bad, isn't he?" I asked after a while.
"He's doing most of the damage to himself. He thinks I don't realise it but I've seen the blood on the shards of glass" she said trying not to cry. It looked like she's been doing that a lot lately.

"C'mere" I said wrapping my arms around her in a hug and kissing the top of her head. She stiffened for a moment but then hugged me back.

We stayed there like that for a while until Tony found us and cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I hate to break up the reunion but I said we'd go and see Vic so..." he said trailing off.

I glared at him as Kelsey pulled away.
"It's okay I have to get back to work anyway, I'll call you when I finish okay?" She said looking up at me.
"Okay" I said pecking her on the lips before getting into Tony's car.

As soon as we got to Storm's house, she gave me a knowing look.
"It's all fixed, okay?" I said to her.
"She may forgive but I don't forget Preciado" she warned.
"You've got a feisty one there Victor" Tony said winking at Vic.

Vic just shook his head and laughed to himself. After a while the topic of conversation turned to Mike.
"Look I don't care if you guys don't want me to do it, but I'm gonna help him" I said nervously.

"Just because your girlfriend is besties with him, doesn't mean you have to be" Tony argued.
"I know that Tony but from what she's told me, if someone else doesn't step in soon...he won't make it" I said quietly.

They all nodded signalling a mutual understanding. I looked at Vic who looked conflicted.
"I'm sorry Hime but I just can't do it yet. it's still too raw, you know?" He said. I nodded, hoping they would be able to become proper brothers again one day.