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“He’s been dead for years,” Liam said defensively.
“Seriously?” Kat’s incredulous expression echoed her tone. “Liam, your parents have been dead and gone for nearly twenty years. Are you going to honestly try to tell me that their shit doesn’t affect you today?”
The blood drained from his head. Shit. He hadn’t thought of it like that.
Relentlessly, she drove the point home. “Eight years in foster homes didn’t erase their crap. All the years since haven’t done it, either. You’re still trying to create stability around you. You need that stability because you didn’t have it with them. Do you really think Hunter’s dad didn’t affect him just as much?”
“Leave that bastard out of it,” Hunter repeated.
Kat turned on him. “How? Are you really going to tell me he had nothing to do with you running?”
“That’s past. He’s dead. That’s dead.”
“It’s not dead as long as you let him have power over you.”
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing here, Kat? I made my peace with my old man years ago.”
“Fine. But Liam didn’t know that, did he?”
Hunter looked at her for a long moment. “No. No, he didn’t.”
Liam closed his eyes. “I didn’t...shit. I didn’t think about it that way.”
Silence fell over the table. When Kat spoke again, her voice had lost some of its razor edge. “No, you didn’t. That’s why you can’t make decisions for other people. You can’t know everything. No one can.”
He opened his eyes and gave her a wry smile, though it hurt. “I guess that’s your way of telling me I’m not omniscient?”
“No. It’s my way of telling you to stop making decisions for other people.”
She was going to forgive him. If she were going to cut him loose, she wouldn’t bother laying down the rules. The last of the tension slid away.
“You’re a tough lady.”
“I’m right. You just don’t like it.”
“This is why I don’t fight with her,” he told Hunter.
Kat frowned. “We rarely fight.”
Liam nodded. “Yeah. Because you win. And I really hate losing.”
Hunter barked out a laugh. “Yeah, you do.”
She frowned at both men before pointing one perfectly manicured nail at Liam’s chest. “I’m forgiving you, but you can’t do this again.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his palms over his knees under the table. He felt like he needed to reaffirm his connection to her, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. “Thanks. I love you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you, K-K.”
“Let’s hope you never have to find out.” Kat looked away from Liam and spoke to Hunter. “I do know what I would do without you but I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t know if I even can go back to that after tonight. If you’re not going to stay—to be with both of us—you have to go. Liam and I are a package deal. But I believe you’re meant to be part of our package, too. It’s your choice to make. You can’t turn around down the line and accuse me or Liam of manipulating you. So...choose. Choose now. I’m going to make coffee.”
Kat picked up her plate and carried it into the kitchen, leaving Liam and Hunter staring across at each other.
Hunter spoke first. “What just happened?”
“She put her cards on the table. It’s good that she’s talking. It means she’s not supremely pissed anymore.” Liam thought about asking Hunter to lay his feelings out there, too, but decided he’d pushed enough for one night. Since Hunter hadn’t immediately bolted when Kat told him to choose, Liam held on to a measure of hope that Hunter shared their desire and willingness to explore their potential.
“Yeah. How did you do that, by the way?”
Liam frowned as Hunter brought him back to the moment. “Do what?”
