Page 12 of Broken

Kim went to her. The mugs of coffee were alreadyplaced on the counter. Kim gripped her head and looked into her eyes. “Youdon’t have to fight it. I’m here. You don’t need to be strong. I am here.”

She shook her head. “No, this is not right. Ican’t … no.”

Her vision began to go blurry and this was thelast thing she wanted to do. She refused to cry. She refused to fall like this.

Today was going to be a fucking good day. She wasnot the kind of woman who cried over everything. She was a lot stronger thanthat. Those fucking tears were not going to fall.

Only, Kim’s admittance had taken her completely bysurprise. Fear and panic began to curl up inside her. She had to fight it.

Petal lost, as the first tear fell from her eyes.She squeezed her eyes tight and as she attempted to fight it, Kim wrapped herarms around her. It felt so good to have someone hold her. She couldn’tremember the last time her mother had held her like this, comforted her. Petaltried to ignore it, but then she wrapped her arms around Kim and held on,embracing the comfort the other woman was giving her.

“Rosalie doesn’t know, does she?” Kim asked.

“No one knows.”

“Apart from you, me, and Dirty,” Kim said.

Petal pulled away. “You know about him?”

“Yes, I mean, I didn’t know you two were doinganything, but I put two and two together. He knew at the shooting to bring youstraight to the hospital. When I read the report, I knew.”

“They don’t always put everything in that report,”Petal said.

“What did they miss?”

“Oh, the part where Dirty didn’t want to haveanything to do with the baby.” She gave a sharp laugh. “When he found out, heasked if it was his.” She shook her head. “It was his, there was no doubt whothe father was. I’d never been with anyone else.”

“And you’ve been dealing with this all byyourself?” Kim asked.

“Rosalie lost her mother, and with everythinggoing on, I couldn’t spring this on her. She had been through so much already.I didn’t want to add to it.”

Kim sighed.

Petal nodded. “I know. I know. We’re best friends,and this is the first time I’ve not told her something. It’s just a smalllittle detail. It’ll be fine. We will be fine.”

“This is not a small detail, Petal. You’re closeto tears a lot of the time.”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t even know why I am so sad.I mean, I knew long enough to panic, like I said, but I didn’t even know if itwas a boy or girl.” She shrugged. “It makes no sense.”

“It makes sense. You may not have known about thechild for long, but that didn’t stop you already loving your baby. Also, isthere a possibility you might also be in love with Dirty?”

Petal shook her head. “No, that is not possible. Idon’t love him. He’s … no, that is not possible.”

She refused to believe she could love that man. Noway. But, deep down in her heart, she knew she did, and that was the scariestthing of all.

“It’s okay,” Kim said. “It is okay to love him.”

“No, it’s not, because he is … horrible.” Shepulled away from Kim and picked up her mug of coffee, taking a sip. It wasstill hot, but not too hot to scold her. She couldn’t stop shaking her head. “Theonly reason he was interested in me was because of Colt. He asked him to keepme busy so he’d have some time with Rosalie. I get it.”

“That doesn’t stop you from enjoying his companyand falling for him.”

Petal took a deep breath and shook her head.“That’s a problem because that makes me a doormat.”

“No,” Kim said. “What would make you a doormat isif you allowed him to come back around here and do whatever the hell he wanted.That is what makes you a doormat.”

“I don’t think I loved him, but I think I wasfalling for him.” Petal pressed her lips together as she felt sick to herstomach, because she knew it for the lie it was. “Holy crap, is that why thishurts so damn bad? I fell in love with him?”

“It’s not wrong to fall in love.”

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