“Katy,” he yells. She ignores him as she runs up the steps of his house and slams the door behind her. “Shit,” he groans, leaning against the open van door. “Well, I fucked that up,” he grumbles, looking straight at me.
I nod and agree. He certainly did.
“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I overreacted. I know I did, but with everything that happened…and then she was gone. I just thought the worst.”
“Come on, get in,” I whisper, my throat still tender from last night.
I wait for him to get in the passenger seat and buckle up.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Just drive, Sorrow. Take me somewhere, anywhere, away from here for a while.” I pick up the hint of desperation in his voice and start the van and drive away.
He doesn’t make small talk. He leans back and closes his eyes. I don’t have a destination in mind, but I guess autopilot kicks in somewhere along the way, as I find myself back at the docks. I pull up next to a short wall that separates us from the pebbled shoreline. I turn toward him and find him watching me with an odd expression.
“You always did have a thing for the water, didn’t you?”
It’s true. There is something comforting about watching the flow and ebb of the waves washing away the remnants of the day. Sometimes I felt that if I sat here long enough, it would help cleanse me.
“It’s soothing. Come on.” I climb out of the van and wait for him to follow me. I lead us down to the spot I like, far away from everyone else, and plonk down onto the grass.
He stands beside me for a second, looking out at the dark churning waters, before sitting down beside me. He crosses his legs, which makes his knee lean against my thigh, diverting all my attention to that one spot—the place where we are connected. We sit quietly, drawing in the sun’s rays as children play on the bank near the edge of the water.
“I missed you, you know. Even when I was so angry at you, I still missed you. I thought I was betraying my brother’s memory by feeling that, but he betrayed me first by hurting you.” He turns back to look out at the water, giving me a chance to swallow the lump in my throat. His hand is resting on his knee, the one that is still pressed against my thigh. I put my small hand over his larger one.
He turns his hand over and laces his fingers through mine. “Thank you for bringing me here,” he whispers. I nod with a slight smile.
And that’s how we spent the rest of the day, sitting hand in hand on a sandy beach in comfortable silence.
When we’re done, I drop him off at his house and head back to my mom’s place to continue boxing things up, much to Banner’s annoyance. But he needs some alone time with his sister.
I’ve just finished packing up the last of the trinkets when there’s a loud banging at the door. I place the box on the coffee table and head to open it, brushing the dust from my tank top and sweats before peeking out the curtain at the side of the door. It’s Banner, and he looks devastated. I hurry to unlock the door, terrified that something has happened to Katy. I swing it open and find myself chest to chest with him. He steps forward, nudging me back gently with his body until he is inside far enough to close the door behind him.
“Did you know?” His voice rumbles, anger clear in his tone, even though he is being nothing but gentle with me physically. I cock my eyebrow in question. Did I know what?
“Did you know what Alec did to Katy?” Ah, she told him then. Good for her.
I nod and watch as his face turns purple, before all the air rushes from his body, and his shoulders slump.
“How long have you known?” He sounds so defeated that I hate Alec all over again.
“She told me today, at the cemetery.”
“Today?” he whispers. “She suffered all alone. Fuck, she was just a little girl. Why wouldn’t she tell me, Sorrow? Why didn’t she tell Mom or Dad?”
I wince before I can hide it, and of course, Banner never misses anything.
“What? What was that look for, Sorrow?”
I gaze down at the scattered photos on the table and feel the sadness well up within me. I never wanted this for him or forKaty. I never wanted this for any of them, but secrets never stay buried for long.
He follows my eyes to the table. His brow furrows as he scans the images before he snaps his head back to look at me in shock. “They knew he was hurting you,” he chokes out, horrified.
I nod and step forward again, rubbing my hands up and down his arms, trying to offer him a little comfort.
“They knew he was hurting Katy, too, didn’t they?”
I nod again.
