Page 34 of Shattered Vows

I watch him stumble his way up the hill. “Is he okay to be alone?”

“He’ll be fine. Probably go pass out somewhere and sleep it off.”

I think back to what a mess I was the day I left Atlanta. “He must be upset about ending his engagement, even if he’s the one who called it off.”

“You’d know better than me what that feels like.” Kol meets my gaze. Rather than the hatred I’m used to seeing, this time there’s only hurt.

I sigh, shoulders sagging. “I’m tired of looking back, Kol. I can’t change the past any more than you can. Maybe if you’d told me the truth from the beginning, we’d be happily married right now. Maybe if I’d come to ask you about what my mom told me, I wouldn’t have run away. I don’t know. Neither of us does. I’m sorry I hurt you, but I hurt myself in the process too. You seem to forget that part.”

Kol rips grass blades up from beside him and tosses them forward. “You’re right. We both could have done things differently, I guess.”

“I just know that I need to look forward. You’ve given me the chance to figure out what I want for my life, and to do that, I can’t keep looking toward the past. I need to look ahead, figure out what I want. I understand if you can’t do that, but if that’s the case, then I should probably leave.”

His penetrating gaze meets mine. “Where would you go? Back to Alistair?” Kol says his name as if it’s a curse.

I shake my head. “No. That’s one good thing to come from you kidnapping me, I think. I shouldn’t have ever said yes to marrying him. I didn’t feel about him the way…” The way I felt about you. “I was marrying him for the wrong reasons, and that’s not fair to him. Though I should probably call him at some point to resolve things.”

Kol’s eyebrows draw together at that suggestion, so I drop the topic for the time being. “You can stay here as long as you want, Rapsody. I’ll stop bringing up the past. Let’s start fresh.”

Hope springs buoyant in my chest, like a life raft floating on the water. “Really? You think you can do that?” I hold my breath, waiting for the answer, realizing that’s what I want more than anything.

The corners of his lips press in, but he nods. “Yeah, I think I finally can.”

Without thinking, I draw him into a hug. “Thank you, Kol.”

His body is rigid at first, but he wraps his arms around me slowly and returns the hug. The sun peeks from behind a cloud and warms the top of my head and my shoulders. We draw back, and the light makes the amber flecks in his eyes sparkle.

Tension draws taut between us, and I clear my throat and reposition myself with my legs crossed in front of me, leaning back on my hands.

“So, what do you plan to do to figure out what you want next?” he asks.

I raise my face to the sun, closing my eyes. “I’m not sure exactly. Try things I’ve never done before, I guess. Experience life. That sounds stupid probably, but I’ve never had any of the experiences that most people have at my age. I’ve only ever seen them in TV shows or movies.” I lower my chin when the sun goes behind a cloud, and my attention snags on the bottle of whiskey. “Take that for instance. I’ve never even had a drink before.”

Kol’s eyes widen in disbelief. “You’ve never had a drop of alcohol in your life?”

I shake my head. “My mom didn’t keep any in the house. If she did, I probably would have snuck some just to see what it feels like to be drunk.” I chuckle.

Kol picks up the bottle by the neck and holds it out to me. “Probably not the best experience, drinking it straight from the bottle rather than in a mixed drink, but here.”

Excitement bubbles in my chest. “I shouldn’t…”

“But you want to?” He arches an eyebrow. “Nothing is stopping you from doing what you want anymore. You said so yourself, you wanted to know what it’s like.” There’s a gleam in his eye as if he’s daring me.

But he’s right. I don’t have to be the cowering little girl anymore. I’m sticking around here so I can make decisions for myself, good and bad, so be it. One drink isn’t the end of the world, right?

I take the bottle from him, hesitantly bringing it up to my lips. I swallow a mouthful and cough immediately, my eyes watering. Kol laughs and swipes the bottle from me, taking a swig of his own.

“That’s awful!” I bring my hand to my throat, willing the burning sensation to go away.

He shrugs and hands the bottle back to me. “Like I said, probably not the best introduction to alcohol, but you made the decision for yourself.”

A grin spreads across my face because he’s right. No one told me what to do, no one insisted I do one thing or another. I got to make the call. The grin remains on my face as I tilt the bottle to my lips again, taking a smaller sip this time.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Chapter

Seventeen

---