“I know. Katherine and I…” Marsh swallowed hard. “She hasn’t looked at me the same since that day. I’m hoping, now that you two are back together”—he gave Matt a look—“you are back together, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Matt nodded. He didn’t consider it a lie, since he planned to make that clear the second he walked back into Kole’s cabin.
Kat’s father nodded. “Good. I’m hoping that will be the first in a long list of steps I know will be required for my daughter and I to make amends.”
“I hope so, too. For Katherine’s sake.” Matt made himself clear. “But don’t think that means I will ever trust you or your motives.”
“Understood.”
Turning for the door, Matt was about to open it when he thought of one final thing that needed to be said. He faced Marsh again. “You’re not the only one with a fierce need to protect Katherine. You hurt her again, in any way, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Having laid everything out on the table, he opened the office door and walked out. As soon as he saw them, Matt let Gabe and Trevor know he was ready to go. More than ready, actually.
A sudden urgency raced through him. He needed to get back to the cabin. Needed to look Kat in the eye and tell her he was wrong. About everything.
Matt just prayed she’d find a way to forgive him. Because if she didn’t, he didn’t know what he was going to do.
Chapter 10
Kat rubbed her throbbing temple as she stared at the moon through the small, bedroom window. Wrapping her arms around her center, she thought of Matt and wondered how she’d let things get so messed up.
Through the years, she’d imagined having that same conversation with him. Over and over, she’d pictured what it would be like—how he would react—if she ever got the chance to tell him the truth.
She would explain everything, and when he realized she’d broken his heart in order to protect him, her mind’s eye always created a scene like that from a movie. One where the man forgave the woman’s mistakes and went rushing back into her arms.
In Kat’s fantasies, they always ended up living happily ever after…forever.
But it never lasted. Reality had a way of seeping back in, and eventually the pointless fantasies stopped. Now she knew why.
Matt hadn’t run to her. He’d runawayfrom her. As fast and as far as he possibly could. The disgusted look in his eyes still played behind her own. God, he couldn’t even stand to look at her anymore, let alone be locked away with her.
Thankfully Zade had given her the time and space she desperately needed. Other than to ask if she was hungry or bring her some ibuprofen for the splitting headache she’d woken with earlier this morning, he’d allowed her to hide away in here. Alone with her torturous thoughts.
For a good while after Matt left, she’d cried. And cried…and cried. Then, she’d slept.
Long and hard, her body and mind had finally shut down for several hours. She hadn’t even dreamed, thank God.
Instead, she’d cried herself to sleep only to wake up with the beginnings of a painful migraine. The aching had eased some now, but it was still present. Hovering in the background, along with her guilt and shame.
She shouldn’t have yelled at Matt like that. Couldn’t believe she’d actually blamed him for any of it.
Sure, it would’ve been nice for him to at least try and fight a little bit, but he was right. It wouldn’t have change anything.
In fact, if hehadcontinued to stand there on the pier that day, had begged her to stay with him like part of her wished he had, she very well may have crumbled. If that had happened, she would’ve broken down and told him everything.
If that were the case, he may still be in prison to this day.
So no, she shouldn’t have put any of the blame on him. This was all her doing. Hers and her father’s. And here she was, ten years later, dealing with the consequences all over again.
Suck it up, Marsh. Time to put your big girl panties on.
Deciding to take a shower to help wash away her sorrows, she was standing under the warm water when she realized that tiny voice was right.
Kat had made her bed a long damn time ago. Or rather, her father had. Regardless, she wasn’t the only one in the world to have been dealt a shitty hand, and she needed to get over it already.
As she rinsed the conditioner from her hair and the soapy suds from her body, Kat finally acknowledged that which she couldn’t change. Apparently, this was the way things were supposed to be, and it was high time she accepted Matthew Turner was not the man for her.
Committed to making her heart believe that, she was about to shut off the water when the shower door swung open. Gasping from the unexpected intrusion, Kat didn’t even have time to react before Matt stepped over the metal threshold, joining her in the small, wet space.
