Page 143 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
I glance around the small space we’ve crammed our stuff into. The rubber bands she uses to pull her hair back are on three different surfaces. Her library books were dropped in the passenger seat of this hell on wheels. Her backpack is on the floor, taking up precious space in the three feet of walkway that we have here.
“My life is no longer black and white, Kara. You and Lottie have burst through my world in colors so bright they’d give a clown a headache.”
She stares at me with a trembling lip.
“That doesn’t sound like a good thing.” She looks away, but her words make my chest expand.
“Two months ago, it would have sounded like a nightmare to me. But it’s not. Not even a little. You’ve taught me to live, but to always have sunglasses in my back pocket, so when your light blinds me, I can at least fumble through the world beside you.”
She leans back and scowls at me. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
I chuckle and drop back into the seat across from her. My knees instantly slam into the pole holding the tabletop upright. “Damn it, that hurt.”
“So what you’re saying is that you need me so you don’t turn back into a robot?”
Reaching across the table, I pat her hand awkwardly, but she pulls it away.
I shrug. “Guess I’ll always be a little robotic.”
She gives me a hint of a smile, and I hate that I still have to tell her about our father. That man ruins every good thing he touches.
This time, she pats my hand. It sounds less like a slap when she does it, so I suppose I’ll need some lessons on affection too.
“I was only teasing, Brad. Dad is the robot. You’ve tried harder in my time with you than he’s done in thirteen years.” Her eyes fill with tears, and she drops her chin to her chest, breaking our connection. “I’m just so scared all the time. Like, I don’t know where I belong or where I fit, and it makes me so angry sometimes. I’m sorry I take it out on you.”
“Kara, I’ll be your punching bag any day. I won’t always respond appropriately, and I won’t always get it on the first try, but I will try. You deserve a better life than being ignored and raised by bodyguards who don’t give a shit about anything except keeping you physically safe.”
“So did you, Thane.” She says it softly, but the words explode in my heart like dynamite.
“Yeah, so did I.”
She squeezes my fingers, then places her hands in her lap.
After a deep exhale, I look her square in the eye. “Jonah was at the event last night. He’s going to take me to court over you.”
“I know. When he texted me to, and I quote,pack up my shit because he won’t allow me to ruin his image by leaving him, I was pretty sure you were going to force me back there. I was mad about Lottie, but I was terrified of going back to Dad.”
Jesus. She’s just a kid. No child should be terrified of their father. “This will get messy, Kara, but I’m willing to fight for you. I’ll always fight for you, if that’s what you want. I can’t promise that living with me will get any easier, but I can promise you that I’ll try my hardest to give you the very best version of myself every single day.”
She swipes at her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweatshirt, harsh, aggressive swoops that make me fear for the delicate skin on her face.
When she returns her gaze to mine, I hate all the uncertainty she’s trying to hide. “You already do, Brad. I don’t need you to change who you are. I just need someone who cares enough to see me for who I am too.”
“I see you. I’ve always seen you. I’ll probably never understand you, but I see you.” That draws a laugh out of her, at least.
She sucks in a breath and takes in the tin can I’ve moved us into. “There are such things as hotels, you know that, right?”
“Obviously. But I made a very big mistake with Charlotte, and I need to be here to fix it.”
She raises a brow, and I frown.
“Fix it, or steamroll through Lottie until you get your way? And before you answer, they are two very different things.”
She’s too damn smart.
“You can’t bully her into a relationship, Brad. You don’t want that anyway. You want her here because she wants to be with you, not because you made her or tricked her, right?”
“I’d really like to hear the answer to that as well.”
