Page 128 of Shattered

“But in a way, I’m glad it happened the way it did.”

“And why is that?”

He lifted her chin to make sure they were staring directly at each other. “Because, if we hadn’t broken up then I would have never met you.” He gave her another kiss, then turned back to face the ceiling.

When she realized he had said his piece, she knew it was time to say hers. She could have kept her mouth shut. She knew that if she changed the subject and never said a word, he would be okay with it. He would never truly push her. But she needed to get it out. He had trusted her with a very important part of him, and it was now time for her to do the same.

It was now or never.

She took a deep breath and then placed her hand on his chin, pulling his gaze back to hers.

“I’m an orphan.”

She wasn’t sure why she started to cry. She hadn’t cried over it in years. It just was what it was.

He reached up to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

“I grew up in foster care, and I lived in so many different places. My life was this chaotic shit hole that I was desperate to get out of. The scholarship was like my ticket to freedom.”

He looked at her for a moment and then shook his head with a smile. A sudden burst of relief seemed to fill his features.

“I don’t care. I don’t care who you were, or where you lived, or how much money you did or didn’t have. I don’t care about your past. I just want to be a part of your future.”

She really started crying then. Why did he have to say the most perfect things? Why did his every word cause her stomach to tighten and her heart to skip? He thought she was too good for him, but he had it all backward. He wasfartoo good for her.

He tried to pull her in tighter, but she pulled back.

“You might think differently once you know everything about my past.” Her lips were trembling.

Callum took her face in his hands and said, “I won’t. But you can tell me if you're ready.”

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Her face turned back to the ceiling.

She couldn’t look at him while saying this.

“Not everywhere was bad. There were a few homes that I wish I could have stayed in permanently, but things don’t always work out the way you hope. There are two families I still keep in sporadic contact with even now, so please know that it wasn’t all bad.”

He nodded.

She wanted to say something else. Something to prolong the truth from being let free, but she knew there was nothing else. With a final breath, she let it all out. This truth that she had never told anyone but Kristin.

“When you asked me earlier if I was a virgin…the answer I gave youishow I feel. The concept of virginity is bullshit. But what I wasn’t saying was that the answer to your question would have been…complicated.”

Callum tensed then; she felt every muscle in his body go rigid.

“The first time it happened, I was eleven, and it was another boy in the house. He was sixteen. He convinced me that in order tobe agood sister”—she swallowed at the words—“I had to do certainthingstohim. I didn’t even knowthatwas a thing you could do. But I was so scared and alone, and I just wanted to be perfect so they would love me. That lasted for a little over six months. Christian finally found out and beat the absolute shit out of him.”

She steadied her breathing before she went on.

“Then, when I was thirteen, my foster father would sneak into our room at night. It was only Sara and me in the bedroom at that time; Christian was down the hall. She was older and took the brunt of it, and whenever he tried to come to my side of the room, she would entice him back to her bed.” Her voice shook with the words. “Most of the time, that worked. But some nights, he sent her to sleep on the couch so she couldn't intervene. I think I blacked out most of it. To be honest, I’m not one hundred percent sure what exactly happened. Sometimes, it feels like I’ve just made it up in my head.” She ran her hand over her face. “That lasted for over a year.”

Callum grabbed her hand and squeezed, letting her know he was there.

“I would hear her crying sometimes”—her voice started to break and her lips began to quiver—“but I just turned over, covered my ears, and pretended it wasn’t happening. That’s why I thought something was wrong with me. I only cried when it happened to her. I never cried when it happened to me. I think he took that as me being okay with it. It took me a long time to realize I wasn’t crying because I was just shutting it all out.”

She paused for a moment and closed her eyes, willing the memories she did have to go away.

“Sara aged out while I was still at that house. I was transferred to one other house when I was fifteen, but then I was sent back to that house when I was sixteen. I joined every club and team I could find that didn’t cost any money, and I only entered the house when it was absolutely necessary. He barely touched me then. I think I was too old.” She heard Callum swallow, and she knew he

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