She looked me over, and her eyes landed on my neck and her face turned red.

"You better not have touched her without permission-"

"I didn't! I'm not a fucking rapist!"

Branna growled. "You better not be because I'll fuckin' rape you if you harmed her in any way!"

Dominic's smirk was enough to put me back in a bad mood with him.

"You can rape me anytime you want, gorgeous."

I gasped.

The fucking prick!

"You're a prick!" I snapped.

He flicked his eyes to me and rolled them while sighing. "I'm kidding, don't be mad at me for that. I prefer you over your sister even though she is smoking hot."

Was that meant to be a compliment or something?

"Piss off, Dominic."

I turned to Branna and grabbed her hand. "We're leavin'!"

She nodded then looked back to the figure behind her. "Move!" she snapped to him.

"I'm not letting you leave until you hear me out!" Ryder said in a firm voice.

I scoffed. "You can't keep her here, arsehole."

He flicked his eyes to me and narrowed them. I sort of moved behind Branna because it was only then that I realised how much bigger he was than me; he was even bigger than Dominic.

"Don't look at me sister like that, do you hear me? You're scaring her!" Branna shouted.

Ryder scrubbed his face with his hands. "Bran, baby, I didn't know Bronagh was your sister. You called her Bee when you talked about her. If I had known who she was I would have told you, so you didn't look at me like you did last night."

I widened my eyes.

They knew each other?

"Hold up, rewind and freeze. Branna… are you seein' him?" I asked, blatant shock laced in my tone.

She looked to me and frowned. "I wasn't keepin' it from you, sweetie. I met him at Darkness a few weeks ago when he was there with Alec and Kane. We hit it off and went on some dates since then; I wasn't goin' to tell you about him until I was sure about him. I know how you feel about people, and I didn't want to bring him around unless I was sure he was goin' to stick around." She cut her eyes to Ryder then, and he was looking at her with such intensity that I gasped.

"What is your deal with people, Bronagh?" Dominic's voice asked from behind me, making me tense up.

Branna felt my hand grip hers so she looked at Dominic. "It's none of your business," she snapped then looked back to Ryder. "I'm not doin' this to her; she doesn't like you, and that means it won't work between us."

Ryder looked beyond mad as he reached for her and pulled her away from me so they could talk in private, but it was pointless because I could still hear everything that was said.

"You can't just dump me because you sister doesn't like getting close to people, Branna. I really like you, and I care about you a lot. I know you feel the same way about me. I don't want to end this; I want you to be my girl. We can take things slow; I won't press Bronagh out of her comfort zone but please don't give up on me, on us."

My heart broke for him; I didn't know he and Branna had a thing. I thought he just pulled her last night when I found her sitting on his lap at the table, but I guess they were sort of a couple, and that's why they were sat the way they were. It made sense when I thought about how Branna said she wanted to introduce me to Ryder before I cut her off in the club last night. Things had clearly escalated since then because they weren't smiling and acting all loved up with each other anymore like they were before all hell broke loose last night. They had obviously fought over me and Dominic, and that made me feel like crap. They shouldn't not be together because of us or more importantly because of me.

"Branna," I mumbled.

She looked at me, tears in her eyes.

She clearly felt the same way about Ryder; she didn't want to break up with him, and I didn't want her to.

"Don't break up with him. I'll… I'll try harder for you; I promise," I said, lowering my head.

Branna cried then and said, "Baby, you don't have to try for me. Try for yourself, this outlook you have isn't healthy. I want you to let other people in; you can't only have me in your life. If anythin' ever happened to me, you would be all alone, and that terrifies me Bee, more than anythin'."

I nodded my head; I knew it was weird to only limit myself to one person in my life but I was afraid to allow anyone else to become a part of my life simply because I knew they could leave as quick as they entered, and I hated the worry that came with that.

"Okay, I'll try harder. I promise." I nodded my head.

She kissed my cheek and hugged me tight. When we pulled apart, I looked at Ryder and awkwardly met his gaze.

"Sorry for causin' trouble for you, Ryder."

He smiled at me. "I think you just saved me a lot of trouble, Bronagh."

I smiled a little at him then, because when he looked at Branna, he looked really happy.

I couldn't believe I didn't know about him.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about him. You usually can't keep shite to yourself, so how you didn't let on about him is beyond me."

Branna laughed, sniffled, then rubbed under her nose. "It was horrible. I wanted to tell you so many times but had to bite my lip or talk about somethin' random."

I chuckled. "So, you're both like a real couple? Boyfriend and girlfriend?"

They looked at each other, smiled, and nodded.

I snorted. "This should be interestin'."

Ryder looked to me. "Why is that?"

"Because she is a freak, and you will soon learn things about her that will have you runnin' for the hills. For example, she is an OCD cleaner and has multiple personalities. I'm not even jokin', she could be me sister one minute then me ma and da the next."

Branna slapped my arm while Ryder laughed.

"Why would she be your mom or dad?" Dominic asked from behind me.

I instantly looked down; I had forgotten he was there.

He just overheard all of that conversation.

Oh, my God.

"Our parents both died nine years ago, Nico, I've been her guardian since I turned nineteen. I took over raisin' her when our parents passed away, so she considers me her sister, her ma, and da all wrapped into one. Her memories with them are limited, because she was so young when they passed. She doesn't talk about them at all."

I squeezed my eyes shut when the image of my mother's pale face framed with her dark chocolate-coloured hair flying in the wind as she ran while my tall father chased her around our back garden filled my mind. Branna looked like mam with her heart shaped face and blue eyes while I looked like my dad with his pale white complexion and bright green eyes. That much about them I could remember without seeing their pictures. I didn't know why but I couldn't remember anything but that single memory of my parents messing around in our back garden. I refused to see a therapist when I was younger but one made an educated guess to Branna that the impact and trauma of losing them made my mind completely block them out.

I loved my parents, and my chest hurt when I thought about them which was why I didn't do it often. I thought it was good that I could barely remember them. It made losing them sort of bearable even after all these years. Some people liked talking about their lost loved ones and decorating their house with their pictures but not me and Branna. We acknowledged certain things like their birthdays, their wedding anniversary, and their death anniversary but other than that, we didn't have reminders of them, because it was just easier that way. It hurt less.