Don't You Ever Fear I'm Always Near

Before, I was being way too nice when I was calling Josh an idiot. He has now upgraded to total jerk face! What I wouldn’t do to punch that guy right in the face right now. Make my sister cry like this… HOW DARE HE! It took everything I had not to jump in Tanner’s car and hunt that stupid greasy thing down. If Kirstie didn’t need me right now, I most definitely would have!

“Kirstie, this just proves that you don’t need him. He’s a total jerk… and he’s controlling. I bet if you stayed in that relationship, he would have turned out abusive!” I rattled off in pure anger.

“Ky… too much,” Tanner softly spoke.

“When’s the last time you got upset with me for hanging out with a guy?” I shot back at him.

“Ok, but this isn’t about us. It’s about Kirstie,” he said in the calmest tone he possibly could.

He looked over at me with that calm, glacier gaze. It made me take in a deep breath to try and work myself down. I get a little too hyped up sometimes; especially when someone I care about gets hurt for selfish reasons.

“I love him, Ky,” she said, her voice muffled from being pressed against my shoulder.

“If he loved you, he would realize that whatever Wil is doing is not wooing you. Oh my dear lord, that boy ticks me off!” I tried so hard not to shout as I got to my feet.

Tanner scooted over to put his arm around Kirstie and she rested her head on his shoulder now. If I weren’t so irate, I would think that was cute, but I’m frickin’ livid right now.

“Ky, calm down,” Tanner said once I started pacing back and forth.

“I can’t!” I groaned while unzipping my suit to take my arms out.

“You getting this upset over this isn’t going to help anything. It’s not going to make Josh take what he said back and it sure isn’t helping your sister,” he replied, getting a little more sternness in his voice.

“I just want to…” I gritted my teeth before punching the side of my trailer, leaving a small dent… and hurting the crap out of my knuckles.

“Kirstie, we’ll be back,” Tanner sighed before walking over to me.

He hooked an arm around my waist and tugged me outside. We walked a little more to be out of Kirstie’s hearing range. Once we stopped, I turned and crossed my arms to face Tanner.

“What is wrong with you?” he started.

“He just rip Kirstie’s heart of her chest and slammed it to the ground, making sure to stomp it out before he left her. You expect me to be ok with that?” I replied, losing all control I had right now.

“So, what are you going to do? Punch things until… what? They’re back together? I don’t see that happened right away with the way things panned out with them,” he shot back.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, sucking in big gulps of air. Tanner let out his own sigh before pulling me into a tight hug. How does this guy know how to handle me so well? After a few more seconds, he removed his arms from me to cup both of my cheeks with his hands gently, running his thumb across my skin to soothe me more.

“Kirstie needs you right now. You getting all worked up like this is only making her feel worse. What she needs right now is a shoulder to cry on and for someone to listen to what she has to say. I know I could do that, but… I think she rather have her big sister than her sister’s boyfriend,” he softly spoke.

I sighed again before taking one of his hands to leave a soft kiss on it. He smiled before leaving a gentle one of my forehead. As we started walking back, he put his hand on the small of my back, making me smile as I took in another big breath of air.

Once we were back at my trailer, I walked in and stood in front of Kirstie with my arms opened for her. She blinked back more tears before standing up and hooking her arms around me.

“I’ll be ok, Kirstie,” I told her while smoothing over her hair.

“No, it won’t,” she cried.

“Yes, it will. I promise I’ll do every I can to make you forget about that… sorry excuse for a man. You don’t need that in your life, Kirstie,” I replied.

“But I still love him,” she started crying harder.

“Kirstie, I know it’s hard, but… you’ll get through this. You have Tanner and I. I know you probably don’t think Tanner’s as cute, but he’s a super sweet guy,” I smiled from boasting about my man.

“That doesn’t help,” she said with a small smile, but her tears were still falling.

“Then why are you smiling?” I shot back playfully.

“Tanner has a cheesy grin on his face that you can’t see,” she giggled softly.

I turned around and shot him a look, but it made me smile. He’s so cute. But I didn’t want Kirstie to see. I know what seeing couples happy together can do to a person who just went through a break up.

The three of us stayed at the track a little longer until Kirstie’s crying stopped. I took this time to get her to my house. I drove her truck with her in the passenger seat while Tanner followed us in his Beamer. I know the next few days wouldn’t be easy for Kirstie…or me, but like Tanner said, this wasn’t about anyone else but Kirstie. My sister needs me and I’m going to be there for her.