Until Harry(55)

Oh, damn.

I licked my lips. “I can’t be alone with you right now.”

Kale rounded on me and got in my space, not caring that everyone in my family was behind us, watching with intent.

“Deal. With. It.”

How? I wanted to scream. How the hell can I deal with anything when it comes to you?

I exhaled. “Kale—”

“Lane.”

I set my jaw and looked up at him. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”

He shrugged. “It gets results when it comes to you.”

What the hell does that mean? I frowned.

I shook my head. “You’re being a complete arsehole right now for no reason. You realise that, don’t you?”

His lip quirked. “I’m aware of it, yes.”

I ignored the snickers from behind us.

Kale’s eyes showed that he wasn’t backing down on his offer to walk me to the inn, so I shook my head, pushed past him and opened the front door.

“Come on if you’re bloody coming then,” I grumbled.

I heard the smile in his voice when he said, “Yes, ma’am.”

I could hear him chuckle under his breath as I exited my parents’ house and walked briskly down the pathway and out of the garden. He was hot on my heels and jogged to my side, where he easily matched my strides because his legs were a lot longer than mine.

“You’re going to give yourself a stitch if you don’t slow down,” he commented.

I grunted. “It’s either walk fast or thump you for—”

“For what?” he said, cutting me off. “Making sure you get to the inn safely? You think I’m taking chances when it comes to your safety?”

I sighed and slowed my pace down.

“You’re taking the decision away from me about whether you accompany me to the inn.”

Kale laughed. “It’s been years since I took anything from you. Let’s call this a catch-up on due goods.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re something else.”

“Yeah,” – he chuckled – “I know.”

My lip twitched.

We walked in an oddly comfortable silence for a few minutes, and when we neared the inn, something clicked within me. Back at my parents’ house, my instinct had been to run away because that’s what I was good at, but now I got it – that nothing had ever been resolved by leaving them, by leaving Kale, by leaving York. For six years I’d felt exactly the same as the day I left York, if not worse. I’d allowed my fears to blind me. I’d let the “what ifs” win.

What if I couldn’t handle seeing Kale happy with a family?

What if I came back home and fell into a deeper state of depression?

What if? What if? What if?

“What’s wrong?” Kale asked, clearly wondering why I came to a sudden halt.

I looked at him and blinked. “I’ve just realised something.”

He licked his lips. “What’s that?”

“I don’t want to stay at the inn; I don’t want to be away from my family,” I said, and shook my head clear as a cloud of confusion lifted from me. “I’ve been on my own for so long that I felt like I needed to get out of the house and away from them, but that’s not what I need at all. I need their love and support, and I think they need mine too.”

A smile broke out over Kale’s face. “Then let’s get your things from the inn, check you out and go back to your parents’ house.”

Could things really be that simple? I wondered.

I nodded. “Yeah . . . yeah, let’s do that.”

We walked to the Holiday Inn, and before we headed up to my room, I informed the lady behind the desk that I would be checking out. It was past checkout time, and I didn’t know if she would charge me a fee, but she told me it was perfectly fine, so Kale and I headed up to my room.

He hovered near the door while I walked into the room and lifted my suitcase onto the bed.

“That is your case?” he asked.

I nodded. “I left the city in such a rush, I just grabbed what I could think of and practically ran to the airport.”

Kale was silent for a moment and then he said, “I’m sorry you’re going through this, Lane.”

He was still the sweetest, most caring person, even with the hollowness within him now.

When I didn’t reply, Kale told me to get any belongings of mine from the bathroom, and he would wrap up my hair appliances, laptop and chargers. I planned on doing exactly what he asked, but the silence between us screamed at me. I didn’t understand why he was being so nice to me. I understood his being kind during my uncle’s funeral, but why hadn’t he so much as hinted at being mad? I’d left on such bad terms and hadn’t been there for him when Kaden died.

I swallowed and said, “Why don’t you hate me?”

He stopped rolling the wire around my hairdryer, and placed it on the desk.

“I’m not doing this in a hotel room, Lane.”

I sucked up my fear.

“And you aren’t leaving here until you answer my question,” I countered. “I don’t want to have our talk right now, I just want to know why you don’t hate me when I have given you every reason to.”

The muscles in Kale’s back tightened before he turned to face me, his hazel eyes locked on mine. “I’ve never hated you, and I never will,” he simply said with a shrug of his shoulders. “You mean more to me than any other living person on this planet, and if you think after not having you in my life for six years that I’m just going to ignore you and play some stupid game, then you’ve got another think coming, kid.”