Page 35 of What the Heart Wants (Desires of the Heart 1)

No secrets.

Secrets have the power to break relationships.

Kyla

We all finish eating before I tell them my story. I’m honestly nervous to tell it to them. What if they start treating me differently? I won’t know until I finally open my mouth and tell them.

My stomach is a bundle of nerves when everyone starts to get quiet. Maybe I really shouldn’t have ate. I look down at my hands when I speak because I don’t think I would have the guts if I looked at them in the eyes.

“Okay, well here goes nothing. For as long as I can remember, I had been sick. I spent more time in the hospital than I did at home. I never went to school since I was too sick. When I was born, I had a heart condition. It had taken most of my life. I spent so many days in pain and sick that I didn’t see a life beyond the disease. I gave up hope. One night, I thought it was the end of the road for me and was saying my goodbyes when the doctors and nurses rushed in and said that they had a heart for me. It was finally my time from being on the transplant list for so long that I was finally able to get my turn. I had a match. I spent some time in the hospital after that. When I was well enough, and with the doctor’s okay, I went travelling with my friend Holly. We came home once in a while, but we spent most of the time out seeing the sights and doing things I had always put on my bucket list. We wanted to make sure that we got everything on it. We almost did.” I say the last part softly.

I can feel the tears falling down my cheeks. I let out a sniffle.

The room is completely silent. All you can hear is everyone breathing.

“Fuck,” Levi says roughly, causing me to look up. I take in all four of them and see the wetness in their eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby,” Asher says.

“Are you still…” Ethan begins to ask.

“I’m fine, or as fine as I can be. My body accepted the new heart and I’ve been living a pretty good life since. My parents are protective because of my disease. They had spent so many years thinking that they were going to lose me,” I tell them honestly.

“I’m sorry, baby. I can understand where they are coming from though,” Grayson says honestly.

I nod my head at his words. “I know. So can I to a point, but it still doesn’t mean it’s not annoying.”

Levi doesn’t say anything else, but pulls me into his arms and hugs me tightly.

“I’m okay,” I whisper into his chest.

I feel him nod his head, but he doesn’t say anything.

The rest give me a hug. I already feel emotionally exhausted from everything.

“Can we relax a bit? And then I need to go home, or my parents will really freak out,” I ask.

“Anything you want,” Ethan says grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the living room where they have a pretty awesome setup.

“How about some movies?” Asher asks.

I nod my head. “Sure, let’s watch a movie.”

We lay back.I have this feeling that everything just drastically changed, and I’m not sure that it’s a good thing.

Chapter Fourteen

Levi

I pace the bedroom after Kyla leaves with Asher who is driving her home. I almost don’t want to let her out of my sight.

Fuck, this was more than I had ever thought. I thought maybe she was hurt or in an accident as to why her parents were over-protective, and that’s why she never took her shirt off. This was completely different though. She had gone through a lifetime of sickness and came out on the other side.

I think I would have a hard time letting her out of my sight too.

Heck I didn’t want her to leave tonight, but I know that she needed to go home.

Grayson and Ethan sit down on the bed not saying anything. They are absorbing the information like I am.

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