Avenged (Altered #2)(38)
She nodded. As they started in, he brought more focus to the task, his determination renewed.
They would get out of here. With this whole mess behind them, then she’d see.
…
Kitty floated above the floor in a cross-legged position. The bed linens from both beds twisted in the air beside her. The cup on the chain at the sink spun, like something in a haunted house.
No question, Nick had mastered this. He might even be better than Blue and Luke. He stood in the middle of the room, his forehead bunched up as he concentrated on splitting his attention and keeping everything in the air.
It was after lunch, and Kenny would be here for them soon. As the minutes ticked down and they waited for their rescue, a layer of unspoken tension lingered in their cell. To battle it, they’d pretended with manic intensity that they weren’t tense, as if everything was completely fine and normal.
His dark eyes remained unfocused, his chiseled jaw tight. With his feet spread apart and his hands at his side, he looked like an avenging angel. More, he looked dangerous, like the elite soldier she knew him to be.
Thinking of him like that made her uncomfortable.
“How did your parents react when you told them you wanted to join the Army?” she blurted the question, trying to break the spell.
Nick’s face split into a grin, full of affection. One of his sexiest grins. The smile made her smile. This was Nick, the Nick she’d come to know. “My mom freaked out.”
“She did?” That surprised her. From everything she picked up about Nick’s parents, they seemed incredibly supportive.
“Sure. She laid into me. It was too dangerous. What about college? I’ll be so far from home, be stationed all over.” He chuckled, still holding everything in the air. “And the guilt. Wow. My mom knows how to lay it on.”
He replayed the scene in his head. His mother pacing in their kitchen, a room Kitty had become incredibly familiar with, as it seemed most of the Degrassi family’s serious conversations happened there. Nick’s dad sat at the table, studying his folded hands in front of him.
The exact words weren’t in the memory. But his mother’s frustration, her concern, her fear, those were all in her actions and on her face.
When his mom wound down, Nick played through his arguments. How he wanted to make a difference, how he would go to college after he’d served. How his father had served and his grandfather had served, and how he wanted to be part of that tradition, that honor.
His mother stood next to her husband, with her hand on his shoulder. Her knuckles were white as they listened to Nick’s explanations. They remained quiet as he talked, and their respect for him made her fondness for them grow. Together, as a team, Nick’s parents studied him.
Finally, Nick’s dad covered his wife’s hand with his own, glanced up at her, and nodded.
Kitty watched in Nick’s memories as his mother’s eyes filled with tears. Then, she rounded the table and folded him into her arms.
That had been that.
If Kitty hadn’t adored Nick’s parents before, she did now. It was no wonder Nick was so generous with everything about himself. His parents, his entire family, they gave without fear. They fought sometimes, and sometimes they got hurt. But it felt as if they opened themselves again and again to each other, and the love they received in return made up for the possible hurts they might receive.
She envied them.
Floating above the floor, she compared the conversation with his parents with the discussion she’d had with her own parents, in the spring of her senior year. She wanted to go to the University of Colorado. She had the grades, she had gotten in, but her father had ranted about what girls do in dorms at college, about articles that he’d read about unwanted pregnancy, about how universities stressed autonomy to young girls who couldn’t make responsible decisions for themselves. He’d believed she’d go wild, that she’d be unable to control herself.
Kitty and her mother had sat through the entire tirade in silence. Looking back, Kitty realized she’d sat through a lot of tirades in silence. When she finally looked at her mom, needing an ally, her mother had found her voice. “I think you should stay here. For a little longer. I don’t think you’re ready to leave yet.”
The words were strong, stronger than she’d ever heard from her mom. Her last hope had shriveled. She’d nodded and retreated to her room. That fall she’d signed up for a couple of online courses, and that had been that.
She noticed one huge difference: Nick had fought for his decision. He’d stood up for himself.
“How did you do that?”
“What?” He lowered everything to the ground, confused. “Holding all this stuff up?” He grinned at her, his cheek deepening into his sexy dimple. “I’m getting good, right?”
“Yes, you are getting good at it. Not like you need me stroking your ego.” She grinned back before sobering again. “But no. Not that. I mean, you disagreed with your parents, yet you made them listen to you. How did you do that?”
He paused, considering. “I don’t know.”
She’d never felt like her parents listened to her. Then again, she’d never bothered to voice her disagreement, either. If she’d wanted them to listen, she might have tried talking.
She could remember the times she had attempted to talk to them, though. It hadn’t ended well.