Page 17 of Fighting For You
Everyone reacted—Dove gasped, Elise let out a low, “Ohhh,” Catherine made a face, and Nikki and Winnie exchanged glances.
“Yeah. He’s just infuriating. And it’s not like, cute. It’s like, we have issues, and he won’t even acknowledge his role in it. It’s like he thinks it’s all me.”
Dove hooked an arm around my shoulders. “Can you tell us what happened?”
I tucked my lips between my teeth, feeling around inside myself for whether I had the explanation in me. But you know what? Yes. I needed to talk this through, and these were my closest friends—these were people who, even while I was gone for nearly half a year, didn’t abandon me. As much as I hated relaying this story, maybe it was time someone else knew what happened.
“Fast version? I was engaged to his best friend back in the unit. He and I were friends, too, though less so after I got engaged. Kurt and Beast went on a TDY and when they came back, Beast claimed Kurt had assaulted a woman. Kurt was forced to retire sooner than he’d planned. When that happened, he—” I cleared my throat. I wouldnotcry over that jackass—not another single tear. “He kind of lostit. Lost his way. Broke off our engagement and ended things.”
Dove hugged me tighter to her and the others made sounds of shock and consolation. Elise spoke quietly when she asked, “Did he do it?”
I breathed through the flare of doubt and pain, the sickening feeling that I wasn’t sure. “He said he didn’t. He said Beast had always been jealous and it was his way of hurting him for things from their past. He promised me he’d never hurt anyone, never cheated, and told me that if I confronted Beast, he’d tell me otherwise.”
Elise deflated and Dove released me, then laced our fingers together and kissed the back of my hand. I chuckled despite myself—this sweet little affection gremlin just couldn’t help herself.
“And you believed Kurt?” Winnie asked, as much kindness in her voice as could be.
“For a long time, I thought I did. I think I still do, though I’ll never stop second-guessing myself.”
“And you don’t believe Beast?” Catherine asked gently.
Frustration shot through me. “If he was being honest, why would he have been so cruel to me for so long? Wouldn’t he be compassionate? Wouldn’t he have—” Wouldn’t he have warned me sooner? If we’d really been friends and he knew Kurt was a bad guy, why was he his friend anyway, and why hadn’t he tried to tell me before everything fell apart?
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” Jo said, everyone mumbling their agreement with similar statements.
I took a deep breath and held up my glass flute. “He was particularly rude and maddening. And I finally let him have it—I finally said everythingI wanted to say.”
And I wished I felt better about it, but I’d decided to take it as a triumph.
Until Nikki dropped her head and Winnie’s face nearly crumpled and she said, “Oh, no.” Catherine sucked in a breath and held it.
“Oh, no, what?” I asked, senses sharpening.
Winnie swallowed and Nikki took a big breath like she might explain, but it was Catherine who spoke up first.
“He’s going through a hard time right now.”
She looked… something. Regretful? Also, why the heck did she know anything about his life? Were they friends?
It didn’t shock me that Catherine would be friends with someone because she was lovely—quiet, yes, but so kind and steady. But friends withhim?How?
“A hard time?” I managed to say while my brain ran through all the reasons it didn’t make sense that she would know anything about his life.
“He’s super private, you probably know. But his grandma just passed away,” Nikki said, genuine empathy etched into her features.
I sucked in a breath and held it, the stabbing sensation between my ribs an ugly byproduct of the news. It’d been years since I’d thought about them, but Beast’s grandparents were everything to him.Everything.They’d raised him. Would he have to travel back to North Carolina for the funeral? Or was that why he’d been out of work a few days last week?
“Oh, no.” I studied my hands, a slew of unwieldy sensations like sorrow and regret and sadness mixing with the frustration and hurt and anger I’d been wallowing in already. He… he’d lost the closest person to a mother he’d ever had. And he loved her, I knew that much if I knew anything about the man. I could picture the soft, at-home smile he gave her the day he introduced me to her, or how he’d hug her first, then his grandpa, whenever he saw them. No hesitancy, no pretense at being too big or old or tough enough. Just… love.
And she was gone.
And I’d effectively shoved every horrible thought I’d had about him in his face while he was grieving.
My stomach pitched.
“Gram said he was devastated. He was there visiting her constantly, and now…” Nikki cleared her throat. “She said he still comes and chats with her friends.”
Gram? “Wait, Gram as in your not-actual-grandmother Rosie? Who lives at Silverton Springs? How would she know that?”
