“Your question from before. About my father,” I start.
Kat remains silent and still, but I know she is listening closely.
“My father… was a fucking monster. He hurt my brother and me, hurt our mom. Mostly our mom.”
Her arms tighten around me for an instant, then relax. She gently drags the backs of her fingernails up and down my arm. The slight scratch of her long nails produces a pleasant sensation, and I shiver with the pleasure of it.
“One night, he had been hitting her again. And he, he tried to strangle her. Hewasstrangling her. And I just flew at him. Across the yard. He fell and hit his head on a rock.”
“Was he…?” Kat whispers, now sitting up and turning to face me.
I say nothing, but nod in reply. Her gentle hand cups my jaw and I turn my head to kiss it.
“Dead,” I reply quietly.
Katherine’s eyes widen to two round orbs. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers.
“Don’t be,” I say against her palm, “he was a fucking tyrant. It had to happen. And it just happened to be that way. By my hands.”
“Not your fault,” she whispers softly.
“I know it wasn’t,” I answer. “After… after he was gone, my mom could finally pour into herself and us boys like she had always wanted to. She read to us every night. She always supported my dream of having more for myself, for us.”
Kat leans forward and kisses my forehead, soothingly. Just as my mother had done that night. And something clenches behind my ribs. Almost painfully. My arms clutch her to me, not allowing even an inch of space to exist between us.
Fuck.She is always so kind to people, so good.A trait that is in rare supply these days.
I know she deserves better than me. But in all my haste and obsession to claim Kat as my own, I never once stopped to ask myself if I deservedher. And despite my questionable and less than honorable methods with her, I am not willing to put her in any further distress now—not for any reason.
Meaning, I should tell her about Lachlan. I should tell her everything, every dark corner of my past and every hidden chamber of my heart. And I should do it right fucking now.
But with her warm head now resting over my heart, and her long, dark hair splayed across my chest, I can’t bring myself to.
Now’s the time, Zayn.Prove you're not an asshole like your father. Just level with her—no more bullshit.
My chest rises and falls faster. I feel my lips part, ready to speak… and then suddenly—CRACK. Thunder splits the quiet as a bolt of lightning flares white-hot through the room. A sharp light casts over our entwined bodies. Katherine jolts in my arms and I press my lips to the crown of her head to soothe her.
The universe—or maybe Lachlan sayingnot yet.
Wait.
I pull Kat closer to me as rain lashes against the window, a curtain of sound between us and the world.
And I wait.
____________________
The next morning dawns clear and cloudless. I stand in my mother’s garden and turn my face toward an elusive ray of sun, my eyes closing for a beat. I breathe in the fresh, rain-washed air, a sense of lightness spreading over me.
I told Katherine so much last night. Nearly everything. And it felt like a leveling up for us. We were in a different place this morning. A more vulnerable one to be sure, but also one closer to the heart of the truth.
I slide into my car and turn the engine over.I love her. With every bit of my bruised and battered heart, I love her.And I cling to that thought as I speed away.
20
WILD ROSE
KAT
