Never Too Far

Grant shifted uncomfortably and then glanced back at Nan whose eyes had gone as round as saucers. “You made her weak, Rush. All her life you protected her. She relied on you. Then you go and drop her and focus all your attention on Blaire and expect Nan to be okay. She may be an adult but she has been so codependent on you her whole life she doesn’t know any other way. If you weren’t so damn focused on getting Blaire back you’d see this.”

I shoved Grant out of my way and leveled my gaze on my sister. I didn’t need this lecture from him even if there was some truth to it. Deep down I was pleased that these two had finally found common ground. Maybe Grant cared for her afterall. We had lived in the same house for years. We’d been neglected together.

“I love you, Nan. You know that. But you can’t ask me to choose. It’s not fair.”

Nan put both her hands on her hips. It was her defiant position. “You can’t love us both. I’ll never accept her. She held a gun on me, Rush! You saw her. She’s insane. She was going to shoot me. How can you love her and love me? That makes no sense.”

“She would have never shot you. She held a gun on Grant too. He got over it. And yes I can love you both. I love you differently.”

Nan shifted her gaze to Grant and gave him a sad smile. That was even weirder. “He won’t listen to me, Grant. I give up. He is choosing his love for her over me and my feelings.”

“Nan, just listen to him. Come on. He has a point,” Grant told her in a gentle tone I’d never heard him use with her. I was in the fucking Twilight Zone.

Nan stomped her foot. “No. I hate her. I can’t stand to look at her. She is hurting him now and I hate her more for it,” Nan screamed. I glanced around to see if anyone had heard her and saw Woods walking toward us. Shit.

Grant turned and followed my gaze. “Ah, hell,” he muttered.

Woods stopped in front of us and looked from Nan, to Grant and then to me. “I overheard enough to know what this conversation is about,” he said, keeping his focus locked on me. “Let me make myself very clear. We’ve all been friends most of our lives. I know the dynamic of your family.” He shifted his gaze to Nan with a disgusted snarl of his lip then back to me. “If anyone has a problem with Blaire then they need to take it up with me. She has a job here as long as she wants one. The three of you may not like it but I personally don’t give a flying fuck. So get over it. She doesn’t need this shit right now. Back off. Are we understood?”

I studied him. What did he mean and why was he acting as Blaire’s protector? I didn’t like it. My blood started to boil and I fisted my hands at my sides. Did he think he could make his move now? Show up when she was weak and be the hero? Hell no. That wasn’t happening. Blaire was mine.

Woods didn’t wait for a response. He stalked off instead.

“Looks like you have competition,” Nan drawled.

Grant walked over to her and put her behind him again. “That’s enough, Nan,” he whispered then he looked over at me.

I was done with this. I couldn’t deal with the two of them right now. I threw my club down and went after Woods.

He either heard me or felt the anger rolling off me because he stopped just before he reached the clubhouse and turned around to look at me. One of his eyebrows shot up as if he were amused. That just pissed me off more.

“We both want the same thing. Why don’t you take a few deep breaths and calm down?” Woods said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You stay away from her. Do you hear me? Back the fuck off. Blaire loves me; she’s just confused and hurt. She’s also very vulnerable. So help me God, if you even think you’re going to take advantage of her current state I will beat the shit out of you.”

Woods tilted his head to the side and frowned. He wasn’t very affected by my warning. Maybe I needed to make him affected. “I know you love her. I’ve never seen you act this crazed in your life. I get that. But Nan hates her. If you love Blaire then protect her from the venom that is dripping from your sister’s fangs. Or I will.”

I felt like he’d slapped me in the face. Before I could respond, he opened the door behind him and went inside. I stared at the closed door for several minutes before moving. I was going to lose one of them. I loved my sister but over time she’d forgive me. I could lose Blaire forever. I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

Blaire

Bethy reached over and squeezed my hand. She was standing beside me as I sat on the doctor’s table waiting. I’d peed in a cup and now we waited to hear the official results. My heart was racing. There was a slim possibility that I might not be pregnant. I hadgoogled it last night. The home pregnancy tests could have been wrong and I could have been getting sick because my head thought I was pregnant.

The door opened and a nurse walked in. She was smiling as she glanced from Bethy to me. “Congratulations. It’s positive. You’re pregnant.”

Bethy’s hand squeezed my tighter. I’d known this deep down but just hearing the nurse say it made it more real. I would not cry. My baby didn’t need to know that I’d cried when I found out I was pregnant. I wanted him or her to always feel loved. This was not a bad thing. It could never be a bad thing. I needed family. I would soon have one again. Someone who loved me unconditionally.

“The doctor will be in to check things out in a few minutes. We need to do blood work too. Have you been experiencing any cramping or bleeding?”

“No. Just really sick. Smells set me off,” I explained.

The nurse nodded and wrote that down on her clipboard. “It may not feel like it but that’s a good thing. Being sick is good.”

Bethy snorted. “You’ve not seen her dry heaving. Nothing is good about that.”

The nurse smiled. “Yeah, I can remember those days. That isn’t fun.” She shifted her gaze to me. “Will the father be involved?”

Would he? Could I tell him? I shook my head. “No, I don’t think he will be.”

The sad smile on the nurse’s face as she nodded and made another note on her clipboard told me she saw this too often.