Selcouth

[54] - three words, eight letters

KIARA

"Kie?" his voice breaks.

I avoid his eyes. "Santi thought I should come and see how you were" a tiny white lie never hurt anyone. Besides it's a half-lie.

"Right." his stare drops and his jaw clenches "Here I was thinking you had finally stopped avoiding me."

"Damien I-" my mouth closes when he flinches at the name.

"Don't." he shakes his head "You clearly don't want to talk to me or even be here and Santi isn't here so you don't have to."

"That's not what I meant. Santi might be pretty insisting but he does not dictate what I do, that's still in my control. I want to be here." my words are supposed to be reassuring but he takes them in a complete other way.

"That's the thing, princess" there's nothing soft or gentle about his tone anymore "You do whatever you want without thinking of how it might affect others."

I frown, taking step back. "You're one to talk, Stone. When have you ever cared about the consequences of your actions?!"

"Guess we're more similar than we thought, Rivera" the look he gives me has me narrowing my brows at him.

Why the hell is he mad out of the sudden? One second he's all puppy eyes and hurt, now he's throwing shit at me?

"Similar?" I scoff, stepping closer "I did it to protect myself from getting hurt. By you. You don't even realise when your actions make an impact on others"

"Enlighten me, Rivera, what was that I did that hurt you so badly?" he steps closer as well.

"You took everything from me." my voice becomes so quiet I'm not sure he hears me "First my brother, than my mother. You took the life I wanted and didn't even care."

"I didn't-" I cut him off.

"From the moment you walked into my brother's life, you became the golden boy. The second son my mother always wanted, a miracle." I finally meet his gaze.

Continuing, I say "My brother stopped being around because of you and she got worse towards me. You took him away when I needed him the most. The worst part was you believed she was truly amazing."

"Last year, you had the nerve to say that it didn't sound like my mother when I told her she didn't fought for me on court." I let out a laugh of disbelief.

"I didn't know" his gaze fills with regret.

"Of course you didn't." my shoulders drop "She was to you everything she should've have been to me. And I thought I had finally moved on from it, really, until-"

His eyes lift to mine, "Until what?"

"Until you took me to your house and showed me all I wished I had. A present father, a mother figure who cares deeply about you. The simple habit of having dinner together." I ignore the tear that falls down my cheek.

"You had everything" my throat hurts "And yet it wasn't enough, you had to take mine too"

Stone stares at me in silence for a couple moments, all types of emotions flashing across his eyes. It's the first time I've said it out loud, everything I've been bottling up all these years.

Yet nothing could have prepared me for what he does. Damien wraps his arms around my body and pulls me into his chest.

I want to pull away. Make him say something. Anything. But at the same time I find myself clinging into his embrace like my life depends on it.