Chapter 3 3 - Dahlia

"I don't think you hate him at all." I frowned at him, studying his face. "I know he doesn't hate you, I just don't think you two know how to speak to one another."

"He had a mate, for a while a demoness named Mia. They have four kids together. Pyro, i'm sure you've seen him at the bar with me. Ember, Flare, and Ashe." I finally breathed out. "Mia up and left them all when the twins were a few weeks old. Left Isa for her ex, refused to come back into the kid's lives at all and never has since."

This wasn't my information to give out exactly but I didn't want Jude to just sit here in the dark and know nothing about Isa. I didn't want him feeling anymore lost than he probably already did. It wasn't fair to him any and frankly, it wouldn't have been fair to Isa either because somehow I could see it stemming far more fights.

Clearing my throat some, I shrugged, "I just really think you two need to calmly talk to one another. Honestly, I think he needs you but doesn't want to acknowledge that." Without much thought on what exactly it was that I was doing, I reached my hand out and curled my fingers around his hand, lightly running my thumb over the top of his hand. "But maybe, do that when things cool down. Because right now I don't think it'll end well."

Watching him silently I could see him practically getting lost in his own thoughts as he listened to the words I said. I frowned for a second until I saw his eys shift to look down at my hand and then my face. It was like he had come out of his haze suddenly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I gave him a small smile, silence filling the space between the two of us. Leaving my hand where it was, I felt a small chill run up my spine when I felt the contact of his thumb clasping down on my own. It was almost sad how just literally his touch caused that reaction from my body. Did I seriously like this man that much? At first I just enjoyed seeing him nightly but it was like somewhere along the way it changed and I don't even know when it happened.

"He reminds me of my ex mate..." He said suddenly and I blinked a few times getting caught off guard by that. "They were uh, close. Always hanging out and talking and shit."

He cleared his throat and his eyes fell towards our hands. "I don't want to go into details... not yet. But, seeing him again it just.. Brought back those emotions that I'm not ready to deal with just yet."

The fact that he was opening up at all made me the smalles bit happy, I wasn't sure how serious he took anything with us but if that wasn't a good sign then I didn't know what was. It wasn't like we were dating or anything but... I never knew if making a move was a good idea or not. My gaze softened some as I looked at him, shifting my hand so I could grip his lightly to let him know I was thre.

Isa and Jude, they were both going through their own hell's weren't they?

"Then, look..." I started, offering him a smile. "What you should try doing and I'm not saying do it now or tomorrow or even this week but, you should tell him you don't hate him. Just let him know that you need some time to sort out things and that you are trying. Let him know you're still there, that he's still your brother, just that you've got a lot going on too."

People in general were absolutely horrible, being a bartender you saw all of it constantly. The bad and the absolutely disastrous of people showed up. These women though... Just... Who in their right minds would so happily destroy someone like they both did and still sleep peacefully through the night? It was absolutely sickening to me to see the pain others lived with from people who did things like this. Neither of them deserved what they had to go through, things that they were still trying to actually heal from.

It felt like this topic was going on for a little too long, it was starting to almost feel suffocating because of it. Shifting the way I was sitting, I leaned forward just a bit and looked him in the eyes, tilting my head a bit.

"Are you hungry? Want anything to eat or drink? I'm more than sure I can go and grab you something." I shrugged. "I can stay back here with you as long as you want, there's more than enough people staffed tonight, they won't be missing one bartender, I promise."

This by no means was anywhere near a normal night for me. Usually helping with any of the patrons issues resulted in me sitting down at the bar, giving them a beer or two and listening to them simply vent to me about the bullshit that had happened recently in their lives but when it came to Jude? I wanted to give him the f*cking world. I wanted to let him know someone was there, to listen to him, give any advice I possibly could.

If I were honest, I'd fallen for the man months ago. Considering my job though, I didn't ever make a move because I didn't want to make it awkward for him but every time I saw him it was like things instantly were better. The night always flew by, I was always a thousand times happier. Even Pyro would comment on it. Tease me about it even. He just, brought out the better side of me and that was a scary thought because if he didn't feel the same at all? Then I was just caught up in my own feelings and that wasn't a good thing.

That's also why I wanted any excuse to leave for a moment because I couldn't think straight. All I could think about was how much I wanted to bitch slap whoever the f*ck his mate had been for causing the pain that lingered in his eyes. I wanted to strangle her and I didn't even know the woman and that for me? That wasn't a normal emotion. I was normally far more rational than I was being right now but thankfully he didn't know that. He didn't need to know that.

Also who the f*ck abandoned their child? Regardless of how angry they were at their ex, who in their right mind took off going 'It's ok he's an adult now.' seriously? Did she even know how to be a f*cking mother? Nope, i was doing it again. Calm down, Dahlia.