My breath caught in my throat at his unspoken accusation, knowing the truth he�d seen last night. For some reason, a spark of anger came.
�Why?�
I could hear him getting up from the floor, coming towards me. Biting into my lip, I tasted a trickle of salty blood ooze into my mouth from the wound I�d caused last night. Before I had a chance to gain control of myself, his hands were resting on my shoulders and his voice growled in my ear.
�Do it.�
*
Kara stiffened against me, and her hands balled into fists.
�I don�t have to do whatever you tell me to do.�
She reached behind her and pushed me away, nearly knocking me off balance while surprising me at her sudden strength. Walking towards the door, she stopped just inside the room, grabbing the doorframe as if it were holding her up.
�He hits you. Have you told anyone?�
*
Everyone knows. That�s the point. No one cares.
What would you do if I told you Mike gave me one of those black eyes?
�It doesn�t matter.�
My voice broke and I felt all my control slip out of my hands as my knees threatened to give out from underneath me.
Nick brushed his hand over my hip and pulled me towards him, and having no strength to fight, I let him.
Don�t, Nick. I don�t want to cry in front of you the entire time I�m here.
�You don�t deserve this, Kara.�
He turned me around and pulled me against him. His arms tightly wrapped around me, I buried my face in his shirt and broke the moment his cologne filled my head.
*
I love you and I�m never letting you leave me again. You aren�t going back there. Ever. I won�t let you. No one is ever going to hurt you again.
My chest tightened when she stopped fighting me and started bawling, her face buried in my shirt and her arms around my waist. When her shoulders started shaking and her breath began to come out in gasps, a sense of d�j� vu hit me.
I want to take away all of this and make you happy again. I love you, but the moment I say that, you�re going to freak out and run.
�I�m not going to hurt you, Kara. Believe me, please.�
I pulled away slightly and forced her to look at me.
�I wanna help. I�ll do anything. Just don�t push me out.�
Her lips continued to tremble, and it took everything I had in me not to kiss her in hopes of stopping their shaking.
�Why don�t you hate me?�
Oh god, baby.
*
I could feel more tears coming to my eyes when he didn�t answer immediately, taking his time to study my face. He scrunched up his forehead, looking down at me as he brushed away from my face the strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail.
�Why should I hate you?�
Huh? Why shouldn�t you hate me?
�Because I just� left� and� I� I didn�t even� I hate me.�
I couldn�t talk anymore as I closed my eyes even though the tears streamed from under my eyelids. Holding my breath, I waited for him to come to his senses.
�I never hated you.�
His hands were on my face still, his thumbs brushing against my cheeks as if he was trying to stop the river of tears running down my cheeks.
�I was upset, depressed, maybe even a little angry, but I knew there had to be a reason. You wouldn�t have left without a reason. I just didn�t know what it was. I�m still not too sure what it was.�
You don�t know me, Nick. I do a lot of things without reasons.
His voice cracked as if he might be on the verge of tears himself, and when I opened mine, his eyes were so blue I just wanted to drown in them.
�I never could hate you.�
*
The phone started ringing down the hall in my bedroom, making us both jump. Her eyes fell and she started to blush over whatever she�d been holding in her mind.
�Go answer that.�
No, I don�t want to leave you, especially when you�re still shaking and teary eyed.
�Please?�
Hesitantly, I pulled away form her and left the room, turning back once to find her watching me go, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach once again as if her internal organs were trying to kill her.
One more piece of the puzzle.
Now the puzzle just happens to be bigger.
�Something has been taken
From deep inside of me
A secret I�ve kept locked away
No one can ever see
Wounds so deep they never show
They never go away
Like moving pictures in my head
For years and years they�ve played�