A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(167)

Carter squeezed Kat to his side when he saw a picture of her, taken the night of the murder. She was wide-eyed, clearly terrified, wrapped in a police-issue blanket that drowned her tiny frame.

“You were so damned small,” he whispered, trailing his finger over her black-and-white face. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “But so strong.”

They spent a few minutes looking over the clippings before Kat suddenly gasped and cursed.

“What?” he asked with a smile. Her dirty mouth was all sorts of hot. He liked that he was rubbing off on her.

“Look at this.” She handed him the paper, ignoring his lascivious glances.

The picture on the article was of Kat’s mother and father, dressed to impress and looking like every other political couple Carter had ever seen. However, the headline caught Carter’s attention: Senator Lane Served Time for Misdemeanors.

Holy shit.

His eyes flicked up to Kat’s before he stared back at the clipping and began to read. The misdemeanors ranged from graffiti, being drunk and disorderly, dope possession, and, most impressively, car boosting. The penalties he’d been given were tame, due to the senator’s age when the offenses were committed, and it was clear from the tone of the article that the senator’s past had only been brought up in an attempt to blacken his name, but still, Carter didn’t know whether to be exceptionally smug or stunned.

Either way, he was definitely intrigued.

“I can’t believe Mom didn’t f*cking tell me,” Kat fumed at his side. “After everything.” Kat dropped back against the pillows. Her voice climbed in pitch. “After everything she said about my job, about you.”

Carter picked up all the clippings and carefully placed them on the side table.

“How can she be such a hypocrite?” she asked through her teeth. “How could she say such awful things about my choices, when she made exactly the same ones?”

“They’re not exactly the same,” Carter countered.

Kat cocked an eyebrow.

Carter shifted. “Look, I’m not defending the fact she didn’t tell you. That shit’s not fair, but your dad boosted a couple of cars and sprayed a few walls with paint.” He shrugged. “Compared to me, he’s as clean as they come.”

[page]Kat’s eyes darkened. “That’s not the point, Carter. She omitted that information and made me feel like crap because I wanted to be with you and I wanted to do a job that would help me overcome my fears and make me stronger. She’s done nothing but belittle me, you, and the decisions I’ve made, and all the while, she knew my father had a criminal record.”


Carter cupped her face in an attempt to soothe her.

“It’s not a competition based on who did the worst thing or did the longest time,” she continued, disgusted. “In the eyes of the prejudiced *s walking around with their judgmental noses in the air, you and my father are the same.” She shook her head. “My mother knew that. That’s why she didn’t say anything.” She moved closer, curling her body around his.

He ran his index finger down the center of her nose, following the outline of her top lip he knew tasted like raspberries. “Are you mad at your dad?”

“No,” she whispered, trailing a finger around his nipple. “How could I be? He made some bad choices when he was a kid. So what? He’s still one of the best men I’ve ever known.” She hesitated. “Like you.”

Carter couldn’t pull his eyes away from her. Her words ruined him. There was no denying it. Christ, she was so damned beautiful, draped across him, with her fervor and fire heating the room around them both.