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“Oh. Shit, Trina, I don’t know what to say. Other than the next time I see him, I’m kicking his ass for hurting you.”
She curled her arms around her belly, praying that no matter how safe they’d been she would be pregnant, just to have a piece of Ren to carry with her always.
But she knew better.
She knew the math, the statistics.
And she knew he was gone.
“I can’t breathe without him, Justin. I don’t know how.”
Justin reached over and took her hand in his. “Breathe with me. Come on, sis, we can get past him fucking us over. But you need to get out of bed, you need to keep your GPA to go on to college. Maybe he’ll start a Facebook or something and we can find him.”
“I don’t know if he’s cold or sick or hungry. I don’t know if it’s raining where he is and he has no shelter. I don’t know anything.”
“Neither do I and he was my best friend.”
Katrina squeezed his hand, needing the comfort. “I don’t want to get on that bus, go to that school, see him everywhere without him being there.”
“But you need to. C’mon, Trina. For me. We always said we were going to college together. Let’s do this, Cade be damned for what he’s done to you.”
The pain she felt, the stabbing ache in her chest, was unbearable.
“Please, Trina.”
“I’ll never let anyone hurt me like this again, Justin. I can’t take it. I can’t.”
***
Katrina had thoughtthe pain of losing him was the worst she would ever experience in her life.
Until that night.
That night when he’d bared his soul and let her know the unimaginable horrors he’d been put through.
She shuddered with a sigh, trying to will her tears away. She’d taken the time she needed to let her emotions out, but reeling them back in before Lorenzo woke up was proving to be a challenge.
He’d been a child.
No, these monsters had stolen his childhood.
One after the next had taken pieces of his soul, his pride, his dignity.
“Breathe,” she whispered to herself, and she closed her eyes praying to whoever would listen that she’d be strong enough to be strong for him as well. Her tears subsiding, she rose to grab a bottle of water, but her eyes settled on the beer. Maybe one would help calm her nerves. She reached in and grabbed a bottle, popping the top when she heard a voice behind her.
“Could you hand one of those to me?”
Chills covered her arms as she turned towards Lorenzo. His hair was disheveled, and his day’s growth of beard was filling in. Still, there was an allure about him, one that drew her to him.
One that had drawn others as well.
“Sure,” she finally said, handing him the one she’d just opened before grabbing one for herself. Silence permeated the room even as the fridge door closed. They held one another’s gaze, his eyes wary as he looked at her.
“Do you believe me?” he finally asked, and she blinked in surprise.
“Yes.”
He nodded, then turned with beer in hand to walk out to the living room. Katrina let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding before she followed him. He sat on the far end of the couch, beer in one hand, the sketch he’d chosen in the other.
