DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(14)

“I recognized some of those names right off the bat. You’re still friends with Ali and Steph?”

“Off and on. We get together a couple of times a year to brag about how great our lives are going.”

“And Tina?”

“She married Curtis. Can you believe that?”

His eyebrows rose. “I thought they hated each other.”

“They did. But then they found themselves alone together at the same university and they became inseparable. They got married two years ago and they have a little boy now.”

“Must be nice.”

I shrugged. “They seem happy.”

We were quiet for a minute, only the sound of cutlery on our plates filling the room.

“I ran into Amanda a few months ago.”

That stopped him. He didn’t move, just stared down at his plate where it was balanced on his thighs. Then he slowly began to chew again, nodding just enough so that I caught it.

“She was there that night, you know. She told me she saw them confront him at the party, that she’d gone to get them some cokes but heard them talking as she was walking back to him. He told her it was nothing. Said they were just blowing off some steam. She asked him to leave with her, but he refused.” I looked down at my food again, suddenly finding it completely unappetizing. “She feels guilty for not pushing the issue more.”

“It might not have done any good.”

I tossed my plate onto the coffee table and watched the potatoes skitter across the thin ceramic and fall onto the table.

“You don’t know what might have made a difference.”

“I know that analyzing every second of that night isn’t going to make anyone feel better.”

“Is that what you think this is?” I looked at him just in time to catch something like a dark cloud pass in his eyes. But then again, it could have just been a trick of the light. “Do you think it makes me feel better to be sitting here with you, all those memories coming back after I thought I’d dealt with it?”

“I don’t like this anymore than you, Kate.”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’m sure you would rather be anywhere else but here. You made that pretty clear when you disappeared all those years ago.”

“You told me to leave.”

“I was grieving!” I stood and moved to the recliner so that I could see him and I wouldn’t feel this overwhelming need to move into his arms. “You didn’t have to run away.”

“You blamed me for what happened. You still blame me!”

I nodded. “I do blame you. If you’d been there—”

“If I’d been there, I wouldn’t have been with you. Is that what you wanted?”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t turn this around on me.”

“I’m not the one who did this, Kate. I didn’t hurt Joshua. The guys who did it are in prison, and they’re going to be there for a very long time.”

“I know that. I was at the sentencing hearing. Where were you?”

He stood up and grabbed my plate, carrying both plates to the kitchen.

“I’m going to bed,” he said. “Don’t try to leave the house.”

And then he was gone. Just like before.





Chapter 7


Kate

I watched television for a while, thinking about sneaking out just to see what would happen. But my head hurt and I was exhausted despite the fact that I’d spent most of the day in bed. I paused outside his bedroom door, my hand on the wood, wondering if he was asleep, if he was thinking about me.

“Don’t be stupid, Kate,” I whispered to myself.

I went into my own bedroom and slipped out of my sweat pants, no longer concerned with the cameras or who might be watching me on the other end. Then I crawled into bed, willing sleep to come quickly, but of course it didn’t. Instead, my thoughts worked their way back in time, to all those moments when Donovan’s constant presence in my house became more than just the boy down the street, more than just Joshua’s friend.

“Take the remote, Kate,” Joshua said, holding his game controller out to me. “I have to piss.”

“Real classy, Josh,” Donovan laughed.

“Why do I have to be classy? This is my house and she’s my sister. It’s not like she’s a real girl.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, tossing my book at my brother.

“See? She doesn’t even know how to spend a Saturday afternoon. We’re seventeen, Kate,” he said, turning to me, “why aren’t you upstairs primping for a date?”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Because I’m a guy. It only takes five minutes to change my shirt and put on some cologne.”

“I’ll have to tell Amanda how hard you work to be pretty for her.”

“Go for it,” Joshua said, tossing my book back at me before climbing to his feet. “Seriously, take over the game for me.”

I climbed off the couch in the game room in the basement of our house, taking my time walking over to the beanbag Joshua had just abandoned. He glared at me as his character lost a life because he was too busy glaring at me.

“I don’t even know how to play this.”

“You’ve watched us often enough. You should.”