“When her foster license was coming up for renewal, I guess she was ready to be done. I don’t blame her…but I miss her.” My eyes begin to fill with tears. Pushing them away, I continue.
“Anyway. Bounced around a lot after that. The homes were all shit. Mostly neglectful, until the one where I met you. Abusive and neglectful, but you know that.”
“He paid for that,” Karson mutters. Sitting up, I turn to look at him.
“H-how do you know that?”
“I came back.”
My heart slams in my chest. “You did?”
He nods. “It took longer than I thought it would, but I did. You were already gone. And I beat that mother fucker within an inch of his life.”
It shouldn’t make me smile, but it does. Climbing on top of his lap, I straddle him and throw my arms around his neck. My fingers grip the hair at the back of his neck, dragging his lips to mine. It’s not hurried, not needy. It’s slow as I try to make him feel the gratitude behind it. His lips caress mine tenderly, and my insides melt at how soft he’s being.
My enigma.
He breaks the kiss first and leans into the couch.
“Finish your story, doll.”
My head spins as I try to rein in my ragged breathing.
“A couple weeks after you left, I got moved again. This time, to the Steele’s. To make a long story short, they were cruel. No yelling or physical abuse, but they brought me to their house and just…ignored me. They only really ever acknowledged my existence when it came time for the gala, or some other stupid charity event where they could look like heroes. If I behaved, I got rewarded in the form of attention,” I shrug. “Shopping trips, fancy school. Jack was always a little detached, but Melissa would at least treat me like her daughter. Until I said or did something that she didn’t like. Then, I was back to being a ghost.”
“She groomed you,” he says low, understanding. I’ve never been able to say it out loud, but I nod slowly.
“Tried to mold me into the perfect daughter. Be the poster child for their foundation,” I smirk. “I wasn’t very good at it.”
Karson’s fingers flex around my hips. “You deserved so much more, doll. I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. “It’s not your fault. And, you helped me break free from them. Without you, I’m not sure if I would have ever found the courage to do it myself. They were awful but I think maybe a small part of me hoped one day they’d just accept me for me. They went through the hassle of adopting me, so why wouldn’t they?”
“I made you a promise the day I met you. Life might have separated us for entirely too long, but I’m going to keep that promise, doll. I never meant to break it in the first place.” I see it then, something I’ve never seen on Karson’s face. Guilt. The man is violent, impulsive, brutal. Guilt is not something he’s ever felt for any of it.
He thinks he let me down, and it eats at him.
“We were kids-”
“You hated me,” he growls low, pained.
“I did,” I don’t bother trying to soften the blow. That’s not us. “I hated you for leaving me, I hated that your face reminded me of a time where I felt safe and it was taken away.”
My hands cup his cheeks. “But you were right. I hated that I didn’t hate you at all. As much as I tried to cling on to that anger, that hurt. I held onto it for so long, I didn’t know what I’d be without it. But I do now.”
“And what are you, doll?” he asks with a smug grin. I roll my eyes.
“Yours. I think I always have been.”
Hurricane eyes glitter in excitement. “Told ya,” he whispers, touching his forehead to mine. My body shivers as his lips touch mine, and I melt into him. But before I let the storm sweep me away, I pull back.
“What about you? What happened to your parents?”
His gaze roams my face and he shrugs.
“I was left at a hospital.” There’s no emotion in his words, just fact. My lips part and I blink at him.
“What?”
