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"Had, mother, and I didn’t throw it away. Kyle did by being an abusive asshole. By…by doing what he did to me." Katie loathed herself for the shakiness in her voice. For letting Kyle hear that he still scared her.
"Honey, he was drunk that night...and so were you."
The gravity of her mother’s accusation cut her to the core. "Are you insane, mother? I had two glasses of wine.Two.He drugged me. He raped me!"
"Now honey, all of that’s still up for debate, but he fully admits he went too far."
"Too far? Too far?! That doesn’t even begin to cover it."
"People change, Katherine Marie. You have, and Kyle is working to accept you for it. Why can’t you do the same for him?"
"This is ridiculous. I don’t want him to accept me for anything. It’s been over a year mother. Both of you need to get over it. In fact, you’re both so crazy, I don’t understand why you don’t just date each other."
"You are so ungrate—"
Katie hung up and made a spur of the moment decision to block her own mother’s number. Probably not forever, but maybe. At least until she made it through the banquet.
"Breathe, breathe, just breathe."
One hour. That’s all she had to get through and then she’d be downing whatever wine she had left in a bubble bath.
"Breathe…breathe,please no, just breathe, no damn it! Not now, not now."
Her feet wouldn’t move. She just stood there, prickles clambering into her fingers as she stared at the wall, willing her pulse to quiet down so she could think. Talking to Kyle, actually hearing his voice for the first time in months, it had thrown her. He’d made her world feel out of her control and she couldn’t deal with out of control. Not here at work. Not in her safe place.
"Breathe, think, breat-"
"Katie?"
"Ahhh!" Katie spun around, eyes wild, heart pounding in her throat.
Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, not Landon. Anyone but Landon.How much had he heard? She clenched her tingling fingers into fists, then backed into the alcove under the stairs for extra privacy, too mortified to even look at his shoes.
"What’s up?" he asked, following her with timid steps into the shadowy corner. "You seem kinda frazzled."
"Ha, that’s an understatement," she said, but the purest form of relief flooded through her veins. His voice sounded worried, but it wasn’t laced with pity. He hadn’t heard what she’d said to her mother.
"What’s going on? Lori? Layla?" he asked.
"They’re certainly not helping anything, but no, it’s just good ol’ mom, swooping in to make my day better." She waved the phone to let him know what she meant, then sagged against the wall and dropped her forehead into her palm.
"That bad, huh?"
Her lips tingled to just tell him. Tell him everything she’d told Ellis and Alex. Everything she hadn’t told them. Then she could cry against his tuxedo until she felt strong enough to go back out there and deal with Layla’s next bitchy demand. Until she felt strong enough to watch him go home with Layla, she reminded herself.
Instead, she sighed and said, "It’s nothing. It’s just the same old stuff. I don’t even know why I’m surprised anymore."
"About Kyle?" He took a step closer.
"Landon, please, let’s not talk about this right now."
"Okay," he murmured, but he didn’t move away. He took a hesitant step closer, and when she didn’t stop him, another, until his hands were propped against the wall on either side of her. Their heads hung together in the space between them, her forehead inches from his lips.
"Baby, you look so stunning tonight. You’re breaking my heart in this dress."
The gentleness in his voice sent lovely shivers down her spine, which he amplified by grazing one finger down her neck, then over her collarbone and shoulder. By the time he trailed down the length of her arm, all bets were off. His touch on her bare skin was too tantalizing to resist.
"Landon, I…we…"
