A Bad Boy's Brother (Book #2)

9. Fights

Cain's P.O.V.

To say I was angry at my brother would have been an understatement at the very least. He had just ruined my first kiss with Ryder, and made her angry and sad to top it all off. He could have waited to come home, or at the very least he could have just walked away when he saw me with her, but instead he decided to stand there and wait for Ryder to notice him. Corey was so childish. What? Did he suddenly want her back after almost a year and a half of not talking to her, not seeing her, not loving her? No. It was my turn now. She was mine now. And he wasn't going to change that. Not if I had a say in it.

And what was with his rant about thinking he should have gotten a say in whether or not she was allowed to move on from him? He didn't own her. Ryder was an independent woman, and she didn't need permission to date someone that wasn't him. She didn't need permission, and she didn't need him. It was me that was here for her in the past couple of months. Me who had been kind to her and at her birthday and me who had taken her with Emily trick or treating. I had invited her over for Thanksgiving. I was the one that deserved her now.

She was mine, and I wasn't going to let Corey change that.

When I walked in to my parents' house, I slammed the door. Corey was here. His car was outside.

"Cain, why'd you slam the--"

"Is Corey here?"

My mother looked at me, still surprised by my angry outburst. "Yeah, he just got home, why?"

"He is about to get the shit beaten out of him, that's why," I growled.

"Cain! Mind your mouth! What has gotten in to you?"

"More like what he's gotten in to!" Corey yelled, appearing in the living room suddenly, his fists balled. "Did you know that he's dating Ryder? She's my girlfriend! And he's sneaking around stealing her from me!"

"Stealing her?" I yelled back. "She wants me now! You left her!"

He almost flinched; I could see it in his eyes that I had hurt him.

"She wants me now! You had your chance, Corey! You chose to leave her, and she spent ten months trying to get over you. Well she finally got over you! So the least you can do after causing her so much pain is let her be happy with someone, even if that person isn't you!"

"Can I say something?" a quiet voice behind me asked.

When I turned, Ryder was standing in the doorway, her eyes trailing between Corey and I, but mostly staying on me. It satisfied me that she was more interested in my reaction than in Corey's.

"No," Corey growled.

"Yes," I contradicted. "It's your life, and it's your choice, Ryder. You get to choose."

She looked at the ground for a moment before coming and standing next to me, looking up at me, then taking my hand and turning to Corey. "Cain's right, Corey. I spent ten months trying to get you out of my head. For ten months I waited at my phone in case you wanted to call me. For ten months, I let myself be miserable for your sake because I wanted you back."

"Ryder," he said, his face a pained grimace.

"No, you don't get to interrupt me." She took a deep breath. "I want Cain. He's kind, and he's loyal, and he won't hurt me like you did because he's just not that kind of person. Because he isn't you. And honestly, I think that's a part of why I like him so much. He isn't you."

Hearing her words made me very happy; but looking at Corey's face as she said them made me almost recoil. They say twins can feel each other's pain. I don't know if that's what I was feeling, but my chest began to hurt a little bit. If we could feel each other's pain, I was pretty sure that I was only feeling a small part of it in that moment.

"I'm perfectly capable of being around you," she continued, "but I have no intention of doing anything more than tolerating you, Corey."

He stood there, his face torn between anger and pain, but finally he turned his back on us. "Fine," he spat like he had this morning. And just like this morning, he left. Just like he had last year, he left.

But somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt like he hadn't given up.

* * * * *

Ryder had ended up coming back to my apartment with me, and now she was laying on her stomach on the bed as she watched me cook. It was a very small apartment, with only one definable room, which was the bathroom, but it wasn't where I was intending to stay forever. Right now, I had enough money to actually buy a house, but I wasn't sure of where I wanted to live yet, so I was staying in the apartment temporarily.

I could give Ryder so many things that Corey couldn't. I had money, and a job, and a plan. I didn't have a police record. I had plans of college. He didn't have any of those things, and while it pained me to see my brother so unequipped for life, it made me happy to have an advantage over him, because it was winning me Ryder.

She watched me, her head on her hands as she laid there, and she had a distant look in her eyes.

"What are you thinking about?"

Ryder's eyes focused. "Nothing. Everything. I don't know."

I walked over, crouching in front of the bed so that I was eye level with her. "Thank you for choosing me over Corey, Ryder. And thank you for not cutting him out of your life completely. He's my brother, so it only makes sense that we will run in to him now and then, especially if we have a future together."

She nodded absently, then straightened her head so that she could look at me with a more serious expression. "You think we might have a future?"

I smiled. "Yeah. I'd like to believe we do."

"I'd like to believe that too," she breathed.

Cupping her cheek gently, I leaned in and kissed her. Emotions flooded through me when I did, most of them affection, but partly a victorious feeling. She really was mine. He really wasn't going to take her from me. That kiss was full of so much determination that I had become certain that she wasn't going to leave me.

She smiled at me when I pulled back, and I stroked her cheek with my thumb.

Ryder kissed me gently, then started giggling.

"What?"

"Your food's on fire."