Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(119)

Nathan

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Nathan entered Lily’s white house in the middle of nowhere. It’d taken him hours to figure out to come here after the fight with Gabriel. He’d stopped a few places, off of main roads, just to sit in the car and try to figure out what to do next.

And here he was, hours later, looking at Liam, looking for answers, help, anything.

Help him save their group from splitting.

Help him stop what could be the biggest disaster of his life. He’d messed up enough. He needed to know what to do. There had to be someone who could help him fix what he’d done.

Liam looked him over, at the blood on Nathan’s hands, dried up now and mostly flaked away but still there. The bruises and split lip at his face, the messed up clothes...He was a wreck.

“Maybe you should clean up,” Liam said. “Then we can talk.”

“I want to talk now,” Nathan said. He couldn’t control his shaking. He was running on fumes, hungry, tired, worn down. But he couldn’t stop. The foyer to the home was all hard surfaces, and his voice echoed through the space. “I messed up.”

Liam painfully looked up the steps and then back at Nathan. “Fine, but come with me.”

He led Nathan to the right, through a set of double doors. It was some sort of formal room, a library or office of some sort. There were two sets of sofas facing each other, a table between them. A fireplace was along the back wall, unlit. There were shelves of books around him, built-ins on every other wall.

“I’d offer for you to sit on the couches,” Liam said, “but don’t be offended if I say you should sit here.” He pulled a chair that was near the desk away from it, offering it to him. “Easier to clean.”

He didn’t even want to sit, but he did. His body ached as he bent down. He’d spent hours in the car alone. He winced and leaned forward as he sat.

Liam sat on the coffee table so he could look at him. The room had a bit of a chill, coming perhaps from the unlit fireplace. The lights overhead were off, the only light coming from a couple of lamps in the corners.

Somehow this new place was intimidating, perhaps because of all the white surfaces. He wasn’t sure who else was here. The rest of the house was quiet.

Liam leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and waited. “Well?” he asked. “What’s the problem?”

“Shouldn’t I be talking to Lily?” Nathan asked. “I...heard I was supposed to talk to her.”

“Talk to me, first,” Liam said. He pressed a palm to his own chest. “I’m right here. But I think I know what this is about.”

“You’re...”

“One of her husbands,” he said and showed him the ring on his left hand.

One of.

He was like them. Maybe this was better. He could understand not wanting to wake Lily to talk to some crazy person walking in bloodied and insane. He’d do the same thing for Sang. He’d want to make sure the person wouldn’t hurt her before even bothering.

Nathan told him everything. The whole story from what started a few days ago. He’d told pieces of it to other people, but never the full of it. Not how he felt about Sang. Not how the relationship had troubled him from the start. He rambled on for a good long while, sometimes jumping back in time, to before he knew about the relationship, but he tried to stick to what happened within the last few weeks.

“So I ran out after she yelled at me,” he said at the end of it all. He dropped his shoulders, looking at the floor. “I’m sure they all think I did it on purpose. Getting into a fight like that? Over her? Hurting him so bad? I’ll be kicked out for sure.”

“But you didn’t do it on purpose,” Liam said. He’d asked a few questions of him from the moment Nathan started talking, but for the most part he let him rattle on. “I know you’re worried, but you know the Academy doesn’t operate like that. And your friends, since they are Academy, they don’t react to just how things looked. We listen. We listen to your side, your intent.”

Nathan swallowed thickly. He knew that. “That might not make it better.”

Liam shook his head and smirked a bit. “Are you kidding? Intent makes the difference between someone being convicted of murder or let off for self-defense. Don’t tell me context and intent don’t matter. That’s what we do.”

“I don’t mean that part. I mean...I mean she was so mad at me.”

“Are you telling me she’s the type of person who won’t listen to you if you’re trying to tell her the truth?”

“No...”

“So are you telling me Sang isn’t an understanding person? That she lacks sympathy for anything that doesn’t reflect what she initially wanted to believe?”

Nathan didn’t answer that, wanting to say no to him.

But part of him couldn’t come to terms with how he possibly made her feel through all of it. When it came to telling Erica about the truth, they’d all hesitated.

They all thought it was too far to tell someone they trusted. So he wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

And Sang. After seeing her face...His mind couldn’t let go of the hurt she’d had after it all. Could she forgive him after this? After seeing Danielle like that and then looking like he’d punched Gabriel?