Page 68 of White Hole

He hesitated, then slowly shook his head.

“She…” I was confused. “Shemolestedyou?” I whispered the word.

“Well, I guess maybe it wasn’t, ‘cause I was 15 and a guy and…” He brushed some of his hair back out of his face.

“George, what are you saying? You were underage.Of course, it was molestation. Or… did she do more?” His face fell and my eyes filled with tears as I realized... “Did she? Ugh! She did, didn’t she?”

Rage filled my bone marrow more than when I looked into Barrett Grant’s face. I wanted tomurderthat bitch. Climbing over the bed, I crawled into his lap after untwisting my IV line. We held each other there, but I was still so confused and sat back shaking my head.

“How? How could youbewith her?”

George’s head fell backwards to stare at the ceiling. He sighed. “She’s blackmailing my father. She’s threatened me, which I don’t care about as much as her threatening to hurt my youngest brother. Aaron’s sixteen.”

My face scrunched. “I don’t understand.”

“If my father loses his job, he won’t be able to afford to give my mother money, which she barely has any of anyway. He only pays her because of us, his sons. I’m sure once Aaron is out of the house, he’s going to cut her off completely. She won’t be able to function. She’ll die. Not to mention my brothers. Gianna already hurt Aaron and is threatening to make him impregnate her—threatened to make me do so, unless…”

A little breath caught in my throat. “Unless what?”

George’s light blue eyes darkened to the color of a stormy ocean as his brow furrowed. “Unless I bring you with me next time.”

“What?”

“Kinsley, I haven’t wanted to be with herever. It wasn’t my choice. I love my brothers. It’s my responsibility to care for my mother. I don’t want to impregnate Gianna. I told her that. She said if I didn’t bring you, then she’d force my brother.”

“Why me?”

George ran both his hands through my tangled hair, holding my skull with his big palms so we were eye to eye. “Because I love you.” Warmth spread throughout my body, but I was smart enough not to buy it, no matter how much I wanted to.

“Don’t say shit you don’t mean.”

“You can believe it or not, but that doesn’t make it any less true. You’re my North Star, princess. My guide. My anchor. I was wrong about you being a white hole. I’m the one whose heart explodes every time I’m near you. You sucked me in until I couldn’t escape your pull. And I don’t want to. I love you, Kinsley.”

Hearing the words, I couldn’t accept them and shook my head slightly. I so badly wanted to believe it was true. He pressed his lips gently to mine, then kissed my cheeks to catch my fallen tears.

“Kinsley!” My mother’s voice broke my emotion. Her hand was on my back, and I stood to give her a hug. “Oh my god, what happened?”

I explained a little about what I could remember as George stood behind me with a hand on my shoulder like he wouldn’t break our connection.

“Are you the George who called me?”

“Yes, Misses, uh...” He stuck his hand out to her, but she pulled him in for a hug.

“It’s Miss Monroe, but just call me Jan.” She snapped her finger and pointed at the gurney. “Get back on that thing!”

The nurse I met earlier pulled the curtain back and said, “I agree. You need to stay there. The doctor should be in soon. Do you need anything? Pain doing okay still?” He fussed with my IV line as I got situated on the hard pad again.

“I’m good.” The nurse left, snagging the curtain behind him.

The headache had subsided with an anti-inflammatory, otherwise, I felt fine. My mother stroked my hair off my face, and George stood at the foot of my bed, one hand gently massaging my foot.

“George was there to rescue me,” I told her.

“George, I can’t thank you enough. Kinsley, I’m disappointed you haven’t introduced us yet.”

“Oh, um. He’s…” What should I say? Boyfriend? The guy who’s fucked me several times now? My tutor? I still wasn’t sure. I was still in shock about everything he told me. I didn’t know if I wanted to give him a second chance or not. He had been doing everything for his family, which was admirable. But why wouldn’t he justtellme?

Before I could figure out how to respond, my father breezed in with panic painted on his face.

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