Page 163 of Beautifully Shattered
“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe,” she tries to calm Tahli, who obviously had a nightmare.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Tahli cries, clinging to Abbey.
Fuck. I don’t like the sound of that.
“Do what, Chook?”
“She said I just had to sit on his knee and give him a kiss. That he was more than my grandpa. So I did what she said.” Tahli pulls back, and I finally get a glimpse of her face, so much like Abbey’s, but her features a little darker.
Her cheeks are beet red and blotchy, soaked from the tears streaming down her face as she shakes her head, a shudder rippling through her.
“It’s not right, Abs. Kids and grown-ups aren’t supposed to kiss like that.”
I freeze, my heart practically staggering to a stop, but it’s nothing compared to how still Abbey is right now. If it weren’t for the rapid rise and fall of her chest, I’d think she’d stopped breathing.
“Are you saying…” Abbey can’t finish, but Tahli nods, shame washing over her features.
“We’ll find them, Angel,” I say, dragging her attention to me, her gaze cold. Distant.
“Abs?” Tahli murmurs on a sob, her little hands coming up to cup her big sister’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
That snaps Abbey out of the cold trance she was in, her eyes going wide.
“Chook, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Abbey shakes her head, dragging Tahli back to her chest. “What they did is wrong. Everything they have done is wrong. But don’t you worry. You’re safe now, and I won’t let anything bad happen to you ever again.”
33
Ifeel like I’m losing myself. A month ago, I wouldn’t have cared. I was happy to flip the switch and turn into a badass with barely any feelings, because it was easier than letting the crushing weight of them drown me.
But now I have Tahli to think of.
And if I’m being honest, I have Ringo to think of as well. He means more to me than I ever could have imagined, and while he does like the darker side of me, it’s not something I want to subject Tahli to.
Not that she hasn’t already seen glimpses, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. She needs to learn how to toughen up too. She just maybe doesn’t need to see me go full psycho like I wanted to when I realised what she was telling me two nights ago.
Banes, that fucking prick, had Tahli on his knee… and he kissed her. Likekissed, kissed.
The thought makes me want to hurl.
My poor sweet Tahli.
I guess I should be happy it didn’t go beyond that. Tahli assured me that was it. And aside from cooking for him and serving him dinner, nothing else happened, but she was scared it would.
Mum had started preparing her. Tahli told me that Mum was teaching her how to be a wife.
Ugh, that bitch is going to die. And soon.
If we ever find them.
“She’ll be fine out here with Millie and Lans.” Jols shoulder-bumps me, dragging my attention away from my little sister as she paints rocks by Bobbi’s and Hope’s graves.
She wanted to make the ground pretty for them, so Riggs, of all burly men, wandered around the pond with her and helped her collect a bucket of rocks. Now she’s painting them with rainbows and butterflies and flowers on their smooth surfaces, laying them in the grass around the graves.
“Look, I’m the last person who wants to talk about my brother’s sex life,” Lans leans in on my other side, lowering her voice like it’s a secret. “But he needs to get laid, andyoudefinitely need to get laid. You’ve been a moody bitch the last couple of days.”
I grin, shaking my head. “You know why I’ve been moody.”
“Well, a little bump and grind will take your mind off things for a while.” Lans wags her brows, and we all giggle.
