Page 71 of Relentless Knight
“Killian, no, please,” Quinn begs, scrambling to put her body between us. “Be reasonable. This is Lance, for Christ’s sake. He’s your best friend!”
He reaches out to snatch her wrist that’s not holding the sheets up around her body, and he yanks her out from between us, dragging her away from me. I bristle instinctively at his unnecessary roughness. I know he’s mad, but he has no right to touch Quinn like that, and my hackles rise as I scowl.
“You got something to say?” Killian asks, aiming the gun more pointedly at my head.
Quinn looks around his shoulder, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes wide with fear, and I would give anything to fix that. But I don’t know how I’m supposed to do so without hurting Killian. And that would hurt Quinn too.
“Please, Lance. Just…just go,” she whispers, her voice quavering as her chin trembles. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Like hell you will,” he growls. “You’re never leaving this house again. And you, traitor,” he snarls, herding me toward the door with his gun. “If you ever set foot on this property again, I’ll kill you. You hear me?”
How did my world get so completely flipped on its head in a matter of seconds?
I back toward the door, following Quinn’s wishes, but every bone in my body screams for me to stay. To work this out.
I just don’t know how. And I won’t be able to fix anything if I’m dead. I’ve never believed Killian would shoot me before. I never dreamed anything could drive a wedge between us. I’ve been by his side since the day his parents picked me up off the street. And yet, I’m the one who obliterated our friendship.
I knew he would be pissed about Quinn.
I knew I should have said something.
But it never felt like the right time.
And now it’s too late.
Heart in my feet, I turn and leave. My boots feel like lead weights, each step heavier than the last. And guilt gnaws me from the inside at just how poorly I handled that. Because now I haven’t just lost my best friend, my brother in everything but blood.
I might never see the woman I love again.
And it’s entirely my fault.
36
QUINN
“How could you do that?” I scream, wailing on my brother’s shoulder in my pain and fury. “He’s your best friend, you idiot. He’s been nothing but good and loyal to this family. I’m in love with him, and you just chased him out of our home like he’s some wild animal!”
“As far as I’m concerned, he is,” Killian growls, rounding on me now that he’s certain Lance is gone. “And of course you’re in love with him. You’ve been pining over him since the day you realized you like men. He took advantage of that while you were scared and hurt and vulnerable. He looked me in the eye forweeks, pretending to be my friend while he was fucking you behind my back, and he never said a word.”
“Because I told him not to! Lance wanted to tell you from the start, but I knew you’d overreact, and what with the whole Italian conflict and me being kidnapped and then all this with Natasha?—”
“Don’t you dare make excuses for him,” he snarls, getting right in my face as he points a finger at me.
“Killian, please. Won’t you just listen to me? Lance and I are in love.He loves me.And I get that it could be hard to wrap your mind around when you’ve been friends for so long?—”
“We weren’t friends. We were brothers. And if he were ever truly my friend, he never would have touched you.” Killian towers over me, his rage expanding his size until I feel like I’m craning my neck to look up at him.
But if I won’t stand up to him, who will?I’m his sister, and as such, it’s my responsibility to tell him when he’s being a complete dolt. Like he is right now.
“Of course he’s your friend. He’s the best friend a moron like you could everhopeto have. And he’s felt horrible about it, but that doesn’t give you the right to an opinion about who he or I fall in love with.”
I know I’m being harsh, especially with the weight Killian’s carrying on his shoulders right now. No doubt he’s stressed about Natasha—who’s clearly devastated about her sister’s fate and probably beside herself with guilt. But if I can’t talk some sense into him, then I’m terrified I might lose Lance. Forever. And I feel like I only just found the happiness I’ve craved all my life.
“I do get to have an opinion about it when he’s fucking my baby sister under my roof. He’s over a decade older than you for Christ’s sake!”
“I’m twenty-three years old, Killian! I think I can decide for myself who has a right tofuckme, as you so crassly put it. And if you want to be this unreasonable, then maybe I don’t want to live underyourroof any longer. I’m going after Lance.”
The decision hits me like a bolt from the blue, and I turn toward my closet to throw on some clothes. I don’t need to explain myself. I can talk to Killian when he cools down—if he cools down. In the meantime, I need to make sure Lance and Iare alright. Because this feels so completely far from okay right now, I can’t stop crying.
