Page 62 of Bound By Fate
She nodded next door. “Take it easy on her.”
“Always.”
Forgetting everything but getting to Katie, I walked through the door to see her laying on the bed with her back toward me. Without a second thought, I crawled in behind her. Her body stiffened just a bit before she relaxed, telling me that she knew I was there.
Wrapping my arm around her, I pulled her as close to me as I could get her. Her small frame started shaking like she was crying.
“Wild Kat, I’m here. Not goin’ anywhere. You tell me what you need, and I’ll do it.” I meant that with everything inside me. Whatever I could do, I’d do it.
She shook her head. “I’m jacked in the head, Dry.”
“We’re all jacked up in one way or another. See, I have times when I close my eyes and I see Carter.”
“Who’s that?”
I smiled, really loving that she’d interrupted me. It showed me she was in the room with me.
“Guy in our unit. We got into some heavy fire and had to fall back. Carter was young, like me, but he still had a little boy in him. When we pulled back, he got struck in the thigh and went down hard. Micah and I dragged his ass to shelter so we could patch him up. Problem was the bullet went through his femoral artery, and he was barely hangin’ on. He gripped my hand so tight and said, ‘Don’t let me die out here.’ I hear those words all the time. When he was fading out, I asked him to tell my momma hi from me. He blinked once and was gone.”
Katie turned around and faced me, our noses only inches apart. “That’s horrible.”
“Sometimes I think we’re put on this earth just to see how we stand up to challenges. Like if we could be warriors or something.” Her lip tipped. Liking that, I kept going. “There are those of us who have a steady stream of shit happen, and there are some that have none. I started life with none. My parents were great. Then my mom died, and everything went to shit. Each thing, though, made me the man I am today.”
“I get that, but I almost killed my sister. That haunts me,” she whispered, and I was happy she was talking.
“That’s the thing. You don’t think for a second that your death would haunt her, knowing she could’ve helped you?”
“That’s what she said.”
“She’s smart.”
“And I bet that makes you smart too,” she teased, and I smiled.
“Damn straight.” I stared into her blue depths wanting to take every bit of pain away from her and put it on my shoulders so she didn’t have to carry it any longer.
Reaching up, I pulled a strand of her brown hair away from her face. “I wish you would’ve told me about those assholes and what they did to you. Our time last night would’ve gone a lot different had I known.”
“What we had last night was perfect. I wouldn’t change a single moment.”
Warmth filled me.
“I thought it was because of the scars, but you had others that you’d never talked about. I’m sorry for that.”
“Stop it.”
“What,Ican’t feel guilty?”
The light dawned in her, and she let out a heavy breath. “Alright, I get it. Doesn’t mean it’s just gonna gopoofand magically go away.”
“It won’t, but I’ve gotta know, Wild Kat… How can you not be as upset about being assaulted than the guilt you have for Ensley?”
She blinked, taking a moment to think. “I still think about it. Dream about it. It’s not that I’m not upset about being violated because I am. Ensley is the only family I have here in the outside world. She’s all I have. Losing her would be worse than dying a thousand deaths.”
I understood that in some twisted way. She still had a few wires crossed, but the kinks would come out in time.
“She loves you. She’d never hate you or hold any grudge toward you.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “I know that, and it made me mad. I thought that if she yelled at me or called me names it would make things better.”
