Page 123 of Protector

Daddy, hold me on yew awm like Spidewman…

“I’ve got you, Katydid. You’re not makin’ any sense. Let’s get you back in bed.”

I gently laid her back in bed before bringing the blankets up to her shoulders and pushing them under her body like a burrito. It was just like before, only she was twenty-six, not six.

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up at me. “Nate…where did Nate go?”

“Nobody’s been here but me.”

She shook her head sternly, and I half-expected her hand to pop out from under the covers, going to straight to her hip. “I saw him. Nate. He was here, and he wanted to take care of me.”

I wanted to take care of her.

It was no one else’s job but mine.

I sat down and, ignoring the fact that she was as warm as an oven, pulled her body up against my chest. “I think you’re hallucinatin’, darlin’.”

When she was four, she’d had the flu, and I’d stayed awake all night, holding her in my arms, just like I was now. Her shoulders shook as she released an anguished sob and I tightened my grip, wishing like hell I could take her pain away. Any good feelings I had about letting Nate live were gone, leaving my monster aching for a kill.

“Which one heard voices? Was that Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf?”

Jesus, she was her mother’s daughter.

I chuckled. “Well, I think it was Virginia Woolf. In your case though, I’d blame it on pneumonia and not any mental break on your end.”

“So, Nate hasn’t been here at all?”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, debating on whether or not to tell her the truth. I badly needed a cigarette but would wait until I was away from Kate. I wasn’t doing anything that would make her worse.

My lower back ached from the position, and I toed off my boots before pulling her closer and settling back against the pillows. “There was someone who dropped by earlier—dressed like a cowboy? You were sleepin’, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“That was Garrett, Nate’s brother. Nate must’ve not told him that I’m insane yet.”

It was official.

I was sending Nate to the Reaper.

My jaw tightened. “You know, when you were a little girl, you would refuse to go to bed until you’d had a bedtime story. Your mama would offer to read it, and you’d throw a fit—it had to be me. You loved for me to read comics to you—”

Daddy, wead this one!

“I think you’re mixing me up with Dakota.”

I shook my head, recalling the exact face she used to make to get what she wanted. She’d always had me completely wrapped around her finger. “No, it was you. Dakota wasn’t even around then. You were picky about them too. You always requested the same comics. They had to be Spiderman, or they were no good. I once asked you why and do you know what you told me?”

“Not a clue,” she rasped before coughing into her hand.

I rubbed her back until it passed before continuing. “You told me that you liked him because he wasn’t perfect. He lost his uncle and the love of his life, but you said somethin’ that day that’s always stuck with me:‘he’s been through so much, but he just keeps tryin’ to do the right thing—even when it would be easier to give up.’You’ve always had a soft spot for broken things, Katydid. I can’t imagine that Nate is much different. You were drawn to Peter Parker’s story because it’s your story too.”

Fuck, I sounded like I was selling her on the idea of staying with the prick.

“No, I’m uptight, rigid, unyielding—I’m nothing like your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. I’m just‘Not So Fun Kate.’What a terrible superhero I’d make.”

I growled, “No matter what life has thrown at you, you’ve taken it all in stride, knowing that with great power comes great responsibility.You were Dakota’s keeper when your mama left, but you don’t need to do that anymore. You’ve shouldered that burden for too long—if I would’ve known things were that bad, I would’ve stepped in a long time ago.”

She fell silent before asking, “What are you going to do? Shower me in money? Break anyone who crosses me? Because I’ve got quite the list, starting with my grandparents. And then Nate…obviously.”

Kate could’ve named anyone, and I would’ve put them down for her. Her grandparents had yet to be held accountable for their actions, but their day of reckoning was coming.

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