"We have to talk about what happened," Mike spoke first, meeting Tessa's gaze before diverting his eyes to the narrowed one's of Kane. Kane rolled his eyes, raising his chin and looking down at his step-father, his arms folded but ready to leap over if he needed to. "Last night was crazy, and I didn't like the fact that you both slept in a motel. We're a family, so we need to figure this out as a family."

"I'm telling you guys I'm not in a good mood," Kane grumbled, exhaling a long breath, "so watch what you say."

"You don't have to act tough all the time Kane," Ally spat, leaning forward. "At the end of the day, you're my brother, not Jay's."

Kane tilted his head, "Excuse-me?"

"Guys, we don't want to start another argument," Tessa placed her palm on Kane's shoulder, attempting to calm him. "We came back to sort things out—"

"You think I'm going to defend you beating the shit out of a skinny guy that has done nothing to you?!"

"You don't know anything though!" Ally shrieked, widening her arms violently, "You just got here! You don't know Jay the way that we do!"

"I know that he didn't deserve to be beaten up because he's friends with me—"

"We were protecting you—!"

"I don't need your fucking protection Ally—!"

"Calm down!" Mike stormed to his feet, his chair slamming against the ground, "Both of you!" The room fell into a tense silence, Kane pulled his glare away from Ally and shaking his head in disbelief. He was unsure how his sister could have no remorse over what she had done, beating someone as small as Jay.

Tessa interlaced her fingers, leaning over the table, "We need to find some sort of resolution, we can't stay at that motel."

"You guys both need to figure this out," Mike eyed Ally and Kane, "this marriage was built on love and unity—either agree to disagree or avoid one another until you can both move on. But regardless, that's my wife and I love her, so she's not going anywhere—"

"And that's my mom, trust me she'll always choose me over you," Kane snapped, squeezing his hands against the top of his sweats, "and I promise you, the way she loves you is nothing compared to the way she loved my Dad."

"Kane!" Tessa's voice grow, deepening with authority as she shoved his shoulder, "You stop it now! I never taught you to be disrespectful—you better apologize right now!"

"I'm not apologizing for shit! If anything, Ally should apologize for what she did—"

"I will apologize to Jay, okay?!" she stormed to her feet, veins forming along her neck. The disrespect towards her dad was tugging at her nerves, knowing what he had been through after their mother left. She was not going to let her step-brother treat him this way, "I will apologize, but my dad has been nothing but good to you. So you need to apologize to him right now—he didn't deserve that."

Kane turned to Tessa who nodded her head firmly, "Kane, say you're sorry."

"Fine, I'm sorry for being disrespectful."

"No," Mike shook his head, "I'm sorry you were the one that had to see Jay's bruised up face and comfort him, that must have been tough for you and I completely understand why you're upset."

Kane stayed silent, lowering his gaze to the dents on the wooden table.

"I love both of you guys, you guys mean the world to me," Mike's voice was starting to crack, and he met Tessa's gaze, his eyes glinting from the dining room light, "so please, figure this out. I can't lose either of you, I can't go through this again."

The way Mike's bottom lip began quivering, staring deeply into Tessa's soul as he reached forward and clamped her palm, Kane knew that this was the family he had to stick with. As much as he despised Ally at the moment and wanted to beat her up, she was his sister now, and there was nothing he could do about that but move on.

***

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Ally sighed, resting her forehead on one of her palms. She had never known this would be as hard as it was; staring at the swollen cheek with the nasty vomit green and the wounded lip starting to heal, she felt a sudden twist in her stomach. Even then, she could not find any trace of hatred or anger, pure innocence and want for acceptance.

The few seconds that passed were awkward, and Kane bumped Ally's shoulder, clearing his throat as signal to start her apology.

Jay sight was blurry from his broken glasses, but he could see her eyes, and the sincerity behind them was something he had never witnessed before.

They had decided to meet Jay at a coffee shop nearby their home, as Jay refused to have Ally know where he lived. Although Kane was still unsure as to why since neither of them wanted to give him a concrete answer, he still wanted Jay to hear his well-deserved apology.

"I'm sorry I got you beat up—you didn't deserve that..."

"It's oka—"

"No," Kane stopped Jay, narrowing his eyes at him, "it's not that simple. Let her finish."

Ally grumbled a curse word under her breath but continued, "We felt threatened by your friendship with Kane, and that day when Kane was grumpy, Jamie mentioned that she had seen Kane walk out after you. So we figured you did something to him, and that's why he was grumpy. That's why we decided to make sure you never go near him again."

"Which was stupid," Kane inserted quietly.

"But Kane values you, a lot. We had a whole family war happening for two days, him and his mother slept in a motel because of this—"

"You didn't have to tell him that..."

"That's true, Kane?" Jay's eyebrows raised in guilt.

"Point is, I'm sorry. You mean a lot to him, and it's my turn to respect that."

When they were leaving the coffee shop, Ally went ahead to the car and Jay and Kane stood by the entrance, Kane with his hands shoved inside his front pockets. "I know that's not going to change the way you see her, or make anything that happened better, but I wanted you to at least hear it."

"Thank you—" he was interrupted by his cellphone started to blare. He reached in his pocket, the familiar phone number causing a sudden redness to poke his cheeks, and Kane couldn't help himself but ask, "Who is that?"

"Oh, no one..." Jay replied, shoving the phone back into his pockets, but his eyes appeared unfocused. "Anyway, thank you. I'll see you tomorrow at school—"

"Who was that, Jaylin?"

His voice had tightened, and Jay gulped, stressfully sending his fingers through his blond curls before he admitted, "It's Ava."

"We met her this morning and she's already calling you?"

"Yeah," Jay seemed to be having butterflies by the mere thought of her, and he felt his stomach starting to warm, all the emotions he felt this morning washing over him suddenly, "I called her when I got home."

Kane furrowed his brows, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"Because you said you didn't want to know anything about it—"

"I'm still your friend, Jay."

"What is this about?" Jay raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders. "I thought you would be happy for me, that there's actually a girl who wants me. But you just have been bashing me ever since this morning."

"Because you don't know the girl."

"And I'll get to know her—"

"That's not how it works."

"That is how it works—"

"For Christ sakes, you're gay!" Kane exclaimed in the middle of the sidewalk, widening his arms as he stepped towards Jay, "You kissed me!"

Jay's lips sealed close, staring at Kane's parted mouth, his heavy breaths exhaling with such rapidity that he wondered if any of the air was reaching his lungs. He wasn't sure what to say, because that was true, the kiss did happen. And as much as he wanted to convince himself it was a mistake, he felt like it wasn't. Kane had not mentioned his feelings regarding that kiss, and that's why he had distanced himself from that moment.

But all his own feelings were still there.

"Why do you keep bringing that up?"

"Because I...!" Kane stopped himself, squeezing his bottom lip with his teeth before shaking his head and lowering his gaze. He needed to recollect himself, to simply organize his thoughts and focus on the truth, and the truth was that, "I don't have these feelings for you—I've been wanting to tell you that but I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry..."