He sighed, seemingly tired, and took me in his arms again.
“Is she alive?”
Harris giggled into my hair.
“Yeah, she still is, but if she pulls another stunt like that, she won’t be so lucky.”
“I wouldn’t mind so much if she wasn’t.”
He took a step back and looked at me.
“Tell me what happened? Where did you disappear to? Why were you at Amber’s house?”
From what he had told me, he had only found her there. My father and Roberta were already gone.
I blinked, still confused, and I noticed how closely he was analyzing me, but he didn’t say anything yet.
I took his hand in mine and we sat on the edge of the bed.
“She’s my stepsister,” I said simply, looking down at the floor.
Harris didn’t make a sound, and when I looked at him, it was as if he was trying to figure out if I was serious or just in the mood to make bad jokes.
He looked at the floor too, frowning, as if making the connections on his own.
“You have the same last name, but I didn’t expect the connection between you two to be so…”
“Yeah, me neither.” I finished the sentence for him when he couldn’t find the words. “Did you know?”
He looked at me immediately.
“You looked at my file, my past. Ty’s an expert. Did you know we were stepsisters?”
He cupped my cheek with his warm palm.
“I stuck my nose into your life more than I should have, I will admit that, but I didn’t know about this, baby. You were the only one I was interested in, so I didn’t go looking for information about your father, too. Yes, Ty would have found out quickly, but I didn’t ask him to.”
I believed him, and even if he had known something, it didn’t matter now.
I told him everything I’d found out since I’d left school with my father. I couldn’t hold back the tears as I told him about my mother, about my parents’ past and about Amber, mystepsister and his ex-girlfriend, who still wanted him back and who was probably trying to destroy me by any means necessary.
“Look at me!” his voice sounded almost demanding as he took my chin between his fingers and pulled my face closer to his.
I lifted my eyes and wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I would have preferred it if he hadn’t seen me in this pitiful situation.
“Katherine, you’re not alone,” he murmured slowly, moving closer, “I’m right here.”
I gulped.
“For how long?”
I couldn’t suppress the sigh of pain that escaped my throat like a hiccup before another wave of tears flowed down my cheeks. After everything that had happened, I didn’t trust anyone anymore. All the people I loved kept betraying me.
“Forever!”
He was so close that I could feel his breath on my face and I gulped as I heard the seriousness in his words.
He pressed his lips to mine.