Page 108 of Mimic
“Fuck you.”
“August, let him go.” Thorne turned to look at her. Our mother. He was so angry. Cash wrapped his arms around my shoulders and whispered in my ear, “You’ll get through this. I’m right here.”
I leaned into him as my brother stormed out, Indie hot on his heels. I had to trust that she would take care of him.
“Johnny, follow him,” King called out, before moving to his chair.
Bane went to my mother. “He doesn’t get to talk to you like that.”
“He’s hurting, August.”
“That doesn’t mean he gets to hurt you.” He cradled her face and kissed her gently. Then she leaned into him and he held her as she cried silently against his shoulder.
This was the man Val said she was in love with. The man she had two children with when she was sixteen years old. The man she was obsessed with. But the way he spoke to my mother, the way he held her, comforting her the way Cash comforted me... all at once Val’s words came rushing back.
“She seduced August away from me. She trapped him by getting pregnant with you.”
“You’re my father,” I whispered.
Bane turned to look at me. His eyes filled with sadness and he nodded. “I never knew about you. I never knew she had twins.”
“You knew she was pregnant?” I asked, my voice harsher than it had been a moment ago.
“Rosie, please sit down and let me explain everything,” my mother pleaded.
“We should wait for Thorne to come back.” I reached down without thinking and scratched at my leg. Cash covered my hand with his.
Bane’s eyes followed Cash’s hand, and I saw the moment he remembered. His face contorted with pain. He was in this very room the day I told everyone what happened to me.
My bottom lip trembled as I looked at my mother, and then Bane. “Did you tell her?”
“No, that’s your story.”
“Tell me what?” my mother asked.
“I can’t. I can’t do it again.”
“You don’t have to, baby,” Cash promised.
“If you want me to tell her, I will,” Bane offered.
“She knew. She knew it was happening. She told me in the warehouse. I believed her when she said she didn’t know.”
“That fucking bitch,” Bane cursed. He stood up and walked over, standing in front of me. He looked at Cash before looking down at me. Holding my face in his hands, he kissed my forehead.
“She didn’t know who you were. When she found you, she didn’t know. I don’t know whether that makes anything better or worse, but she didn’t know you were my daughter.”
“Well, considering she wanted to kill me and Thorne, I guess it’s better that she didn’t know.”
“I’m so sorry, Kytten.” I winced at the name. I didn’t know how to feel about my name anymore. Val gave me that name. On the one hand, I didn’t want anything from her. But on the other, it was who I was now. It was a part of my identity as a Nyght Nymph.
“We should wait for Thorne.” Bane dropped his hands and stepped back. I was struggling to understand what I was feeling. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the feeling wheel Dr. Dunaway taught me to use.
“Kytten, we don’t know when he’ll be back,” King pointed out.
I shook my head. “No, I can’t hear it without him. We were together when she was taken away. We need to be together when we hear everything.” I looked at my mother. “She told me your real name.”
My mother’s eyes dropped to her hands.
