Chapter 24 This is my town too, Butcher! #2
"Fuck," he growls, but I think that aggression is aimed at himself.
"Konnor," I hear Blesk call out and Konnor's glare instantly breaks.
Quickly standing, he yells, "I'm fine. We're fine. Max was just leaving."
Blesk appears at Konnor's side, flushed from the run across the grass and yet so naturally beautiful.
Her blonde hair bounces around her full breasts as they rise and fall.
I notice, of course, because I've always been jealous of big boobs.
Her sunflower dress sways over her perfectly curvaceous thighs.
She's taller than me, a few sizes bigger, flawlessly proportioned, and simply stunning.
'Is this because I've made out with your girlfriend?
' And now I want to analyse Max's words until I go insane.
She smiles nervously at me. "I'm sorry. Konnor isn't himself."
"Blesk," Max says deadpan.
She barely glances up at him. "Max."
I throw my hands up. "You are both cavemen." I stare at Konnor. "Don't you ever hit him again!" Spinning to face Max, I say, "And you're a fricking menace."
Konnor clears his throat. "Just so we're clear, Butcher. I don't have a problem with you because you kissed Blesk once when you two were teenagers. I'm not insecure about our relationship. I have a problem with you because you walk around the District like you own the fucking place and be—"
"I do own the fucking place."
"And because my little sister is way too good for you!"
Max smirks again. "At least we agree on something."
That throws Konnor completely off his train of thought. "Well... good." Suddenly, he cups his forehead. His legs wobble and then he's flat on his back again.
Blesk and I both squat down beside him.
"Konnor. What's going on?" I ask. As the moonlight hits his face, I'm able to take him all in. The hair on his jawline is long and unkempt and his usually bright and endearing emerald-green eyes are dull and bloodshot.
"He's given up drinking. It's been making him dizzy for a few days now," Blesk says, her concern so deep it's etched into every aspect of her expression.
I turn to watch Max approaching us, a tall silhouette that covers the moon, momentarily casting a shadow over Konnor.
Leaning down, he grips Konnor's forearm and hauls him to his feet.
Hooking his arm around Konnor's waist, he helps him walk towards the house.
I take in a big, slow breath. How do guys go from hostile to helpful in the space of a few seconds?
Once inside, Max guides Konnor over to the couch and Konnor drops down with a grumble. His elbows meet his knees and his hands cover his face. After breathing into them for a few moments, he thrusts his hands through his sandy-brown hair and drags them back down, rubbing his tension away.
"You’re my hero, Butcher," Konnor mocks, but I think there is something other than sarcasm in his voice. "Still don't like you."
Max turns from him. "Good."
As soon as he grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door, my heart begins to ache. He's leaving. Stopping by the door, he takes one last look at me.
I stare up at my menace and touch the little cut on his mouth. "Your lip."
He grins wide enough for the dimple on his left cheek to show. "I get hit worse sparring at the gym."
"Either way," I say, glancing at the ground. "I hate what just happened."
He lifts my chin up until my eyes meet his dark, grey ones. "I didn't want to fight with your brother, Little One. But I have zero tolerance towards anyone who gets involved in this thing between us... If he'd been anyone else, he'd be choki—"
"You could tone down the vulgar things you say."
"I could." He cups my neck with both hands and studies my face. "I will."
I lift a blonde brow at him. "And you've kissed Blesk?"
He softens. "Cassidy. I was just a kid then."
I stroke my nails through the hair on his tattooed forearm. "I didn't like hearing it though. When you said that, it probably hurt me more than it hurt Konnor."
As his hands caress my face, his eyes follow them. Follow them along my warm cheeks. To the swell of my lower lip. To the tip of my nose. He taps my nose softly and I smile that goofy smile. "And I don't want to hurt any part of you," he says.
I sigh, missing him immensely already. "I have to make sure my brother is okay."
He bites back words. "I know," he manages to say with a deep and sexy voice that makes my thighs quiver. He plants a long kiss on my lips. His arms pull my body in to meet his for a moment, tightening on a deep sigh. Then he releases me, leaving me dizzy, and walks out the front door.
Staring at the open door, I feel the physical absence of him all around me. We have become so close and yet, I don't even know where he lives or how to get hold of him. I literally have to wait for him to find me and that makes me feel sick to my stomach—helpless. Insecure.
"Pipsqueak, I'm sorry," Konnor says from the lounge room.
When I make my way back to where he is slumped over the couch, Blesk is now sitting beside him. They both look exhausted.
After everything he went through, Konnor has always needed a kind of inebriation to function normally.
He was on prescription medication for a while, but he'd told us that it had made him feel numb.
I close the gap between us and slide onto his lap, cuddling his neck.
"Forget about what happened out there. I'm so proud of you for giving up drinking.
" I lean back and measure him up with my eyes.
"How long has it been?" I glance at Blesk. "How did you get him to stop?"
Blesk gazes at Konnor, her eyes lapping up the sight of him, full of pride and love.
"It's been three weeks. The day after we left here.
.. after that horrible conversation about Dustin Nerrock.
He poured all his alcohol down the sink.
Just like that. And it has nothing to do with me. He wanted to do it. He's my hero."
"Mine too," I say.
Konnor returns my embrace, his body trembling due to the withdrawal. "It's been fucking hard," he says, his voice weak.
I shuffle off his lap and onto the adjoining seat. "Why didn’t you tell any of us you were going through this?"
He looks to Blesk and shrugs. "I had Duch."
"Thank you so much for being there for my brother, Blesk. You have been so wonderful. I don't know where he found you, but I wanna keep you." I feel myself getting emotional. "We'd all just accepted he'd always be a drinker. Don't say it has nothing to do with you because it does. Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me," she says. "Konnor is the strongest person in the world. He would have done it eventually. I know it."
A single tear slides down my cheek and now I'm jumping on Blesk and hugging her tight. "I think I love you."
She giggles into my hair. "I'm taken." We both laugh as I return to my seat opposite them. I grab my long strawberry-blonde hair, still straightened from the wedding, and pull it down one shoulder.
I smile at him tightly. "Konnor, I'm with Max now. You two are going to have to get along. Why don't you like him?"
"What's to like?" Konnor asks with a shrug.
Could it be possible that he doesn’t remember that day? The day that Max became my secret obsession. "Don't you remember the day we first met him?"
"Cassidy, right now, I barely remember what I had for breakfast."
"You were twelve. That kid across the street, Joshua, I think his name was. He stole my yo-yo. Don't you remember that day?"
"I got the ever-loving shit beat out of me with a cricket bat. Yep. Remember it."
My eyes soften on him. "Do you remember how it ended?"
He rubs his face in contemplation. "Um. I was on the grass. Josh was fucking me up with a cricket bat. Pretty sure, you were screaming. And then some kid we'd never seen before intervened, pulled the bat off Josh and knocked him out—" Realisation crosses his face. "No fucking way... Was that Max?"
I nod slowly. "He's not a bad person, Konnor.
Why would he help you if he was? He just stopped the fight and carried on up the street as if nothing had even happened—" When the front door opens and I hear heels making their way through the foyer towards us, I stop talking.
I'm relieved to see Flick appear, looking a little dishevelled from the flight and drive.
Her face lights up when she sees Konnor.
"Little Bro!" She drops her bags and jumps on him, as such is the Slater way to welcome our family members. She's up straightaway and staring at Blesk. "You must be the famous Blesk."
"I've heard so much about you. I'm so excited I finally get to meet you," Blesk says, shuffling her feet nervously on the carpet.
Flick wanders over to me, hooking her arm around mine. "Everyone in here kinda looks like someone has died."
I cover her hand with mine. "Konnor just got into a fight with Max."
Flick's eyes widen in pretend horror. "And you're still alive to tell your grandchildren the epic tale."
Konnor feigns a chuckle. "Haha. I punched him... once. Fucker barely moved." Looking guilty, he adds, "He was humping Cassidy in front of me."
She pinches my cheek and talks in a baby voice. "No one will ever be good enough for our little Cassidy." I make a silly face at her.
Konnor eyes Flick. "So you're okay with this?"
"I wasn't," she admits. "But Cassidy is eighteen, Konnor, not twelve."
"He gets under my skin," he grumbles. "Like, I can't even explain it."
Flick laughs. "I promise that I have firmly expressed my concerns, Little Bro. I'm doing my job. I've mentioned that he's not the boyfriend type... but he's different with her. She makes him a better person. I've seen it."
"So there's nothing I can say, is there?" He exhales loudly before staring at Blesk and then back at us. "Can you please just be very careful? Keep a bit of Cassidy for Cassidy?"
I smile. "Sure."