Page 37 of Bound By Secrets

“Kat!” I shout. She snaps her mouth shut, halting her rambling. “Slow down. What are you on about?”

She glances between Callum and me, and a breath of relief rushes out of her. “Oh, thank God,” she mutters. “We were talking after you’d come out here, and Nate and Brad were just a little shocked with what you’d said…” She pauses as Callum scoffs and pushes away from the bench, stalking across the parking lot. Her hands run through her hair as she stares after him regretfully.

“I’m gonna go check on him,” Connor grumbles from beside me. I nod my head in acknowledgement and wait for him to leave before I speak to Kat.

“Hey, sit down and tell me what’s going on.” She complies, sitting across from me and burying her head in her hands.

“They were just trying to figure out some things, I think, I don't even know. I can’t make excuses for them because I don’t understand how or why the thought even entered their stupid brains…” My brows furrow, she lifts her head, and our eyes connect. Hers are glossy and wide. She looks nervous, maybe even a little scared. “They didn’t realise Callum had come into the diner. None of us had. They were thinking out loud, and they were discussing whether it could be the twins that are hurting you.” My head immediately shakes from side to side, and Kat places her hand on mine.

“I know, I know. I told them that the twins would never hurt you… but Callum overheard what they said, and he kind of lost his shit in there. I promise you, Callie, I never once thought-“

“Are you fucking kidding me?” My gaze jumps over to the twins as Connor's bellow echoes across the lot. His face contorted with anger.

“Oh shit,” I mumble, quickly standing from the table, planning to walk over there. The little bell above the door of the diner chooses that moment to ring as the door is pulled open, stopping me in my tracks. Kat’s sharp intake of breath and her panicked stare are enough to tell me who’s exiting the diner.

I keep my eyes trained on Connor as he slowly turns to glare in our direction. His deep dark blue eyes are cut into slits, his thick eyebrows drawn down and his face is tinted red with fury. This is not good.

I quickly flick my gaze to the sheepish pair who are standing frozen in the doorway of Ruth & Norman’s diner. Nate’s looking at me like a kicked puppy and Brad’s eyes are ping-ponging between me and Connor. He looks like he’s unsure of what to do, but he looks ready to run if one of the twins starts to kick off.

Callum is shooting daggers at the pair with a smug grin on his face as he stands behind Connor’s fuming form.

My eyes connect with Connor’s, and past the anger, I can see the hurt swirling around in them, too. He hasn’t exactly warmed up to these guys, and he hasn’t been particularly friendly, but he’s tolerated them. He’s seen that I care about them, and he could have made a good connection with them after some time.

But now, this little miscommunicated accusation has hurt him deeper than anything else ever would. Connor’s very overprotective. He’s strong, fierce and somewhat scary. But he’s also sensitive, especially when it comes to me and Callum. He does everything he can to keep us safe, yet he blames himself every time one of us gets hurt. He always thinks that he could’ve done more to protect us. So, with Callum no doubt telling him that Nate and Brad thought he could’ve been one of the people hurting me, I know that’s got to be cutting him deep.

I subtly shake my head at him, silently telling him to back down. His hands fist at his sides, his jaw clenches and he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before turning and slamming his fist into the door of the jeep. That wipes the smirk off of Callum’s face.

“Dude, what the fuck! You can’t hurt my baby like that.” He pushes Connor away and rubs his hand along the metal, caressing the car. “It’s okay. Daddy won’t let him hurt you again.” I cringe at my brother. What an absolute weirdo. How am I even related to this guy?

I huff out a frustrated breath and face Brad and Nate. Both of them straighten as my eyes fall on them. Brad takes a step towards the bench, quickly glancing above my head to see my brothers across the car park. He motions with his head for them to come over to us, and then he sits down on the bench, Nate following suit. Once the twins have made their way over, he solemnly glances between us all.

“I want to say sorry to both of you. I was out of order, and I’ve realised that I was stupid to assume that you two would’ve hurt Callie.” He clears his throat and his gaze nervously drifts over to Nate. Nate nods his head, agreeing with Brad.

“It’s just that Callie was explaining things to us, and she mentioned how your dad wasn’t the only one who had been hurting her. We jumped to conclusions without even thinking about everything properly. It was a shock, and we were just trying to connect all the dots,” he rushes out. Brad pats him on the back as if telling him well done, and I feel a small smile creep up on my face. Connor scoffs from behind me and I can’t contain my eyeroll.

They’re both obviously remorseful. Nate’s guilt is rolling off of him in waves and it’s so strong it’s almost suffocating me. I can’t even look into his eyes because of the glossy film acrossthem. Brad’s more put together than Nate but I can see that he’s nervous as hell.

Their words both seem sincere and apologetic. They’ve both had some time to think whilst we’ve been outside and they’ve obviously come to the conclusion that the twins aren’t the ones that are hurting me. I understand the twins being pissed but I also understand why Nate and Brad would’ve come to the conclusion that they did.

I feel as though I can’t hold a grudge against them for their assumptions, I’m partially responsible, I didn’t explain much to them; I was finding it too difficult and I’m still terrified of them all looking at me differently if they find out the whole truth about what happens at home.

“I think we should all go somewhere and talk about everything properly, somewhere that’s not out in the open where anyone else could hear us,” I say to them. I then turn to my brothers, “You’re coming with us. We need to talk about this because it’s kind of my fault for them assuming that, but we also have to talk about Mum,” I mutter. Callum’s head draws back and his eyes round in shock. Connor shifts uncomfortably beside him, his eyes trained on the floor.

“We can contact her, send her a letter,” I say softly. Connor's head snaps up, his eyes zoning in on me.

“What? For real?” he asks.

“Nate’s dad is the detective who’s been helping keep Mum and Crystal hidden. He said that he could get a letter to her.” Connor and Callum both look at each other, silently communicating in that weird way that twins do. Connor breaks their connection first and his eyes travel over to Nate.

He tips his head down, giving him a slight nod and then pivots on his foot, stalking across the car park towards the jeep. Callum steps towards me, but his eyes stay trained on the two guys sitting on the bench behind me. I guess he’s still angry.

“Can we trust them?” he whispers, his gaze finally connecting with mine. I look over my shoulder to see Kat, Nate and Brad all staring at us intently. I turn back to Callum and nod.

“I remember being with Mum one night when she met Colin, and he’s the one that Ryker told me about as well. We can trust him, Cal. He can help us,” I whisper back. He scans my face, then looks over at the table again before blowing out a breath.

“Okay, fine, we’ll trust them. But I don’t think you should tell them everything, maybe hold some things back.” I wince at his words, and he pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. “I’m only saying that because I know how much it affects you, Little C. I don’t want you to have to explain everything to them if it’s going to hurt you.” I squeeze him tighter before I disentangle myself from his arms.

“I’ll decide whether I need to tell them or not. You go check on Connor and make sure he’s okay. I’ll text you where to meet us, and then we can all sit down and talk this out.” He nods, drops a light kiss on the side of my head and then walks off to join Connor in the jeep.

---