Touching Scars(81)

There was a little nudge on the back of my knees that caused me to spin around. I was facing the short nurse again, and she had pushed a chair up to Kat’s bed so I could sit. I relaxed a little at her kind gesture.

“Thank you,” I said to her.

“You’re welcome. I’ll just be down the hall if you need anything. Press that button there if she wakes up.” She pointed to a little red plus sign on the bed rail. I nodded and she left.

Picking up Kat’s hand, I rested my forehead on her smooth porcelain skin. So delicate and fragile, and yet she’d been abused like a disposable object. She wasn’t a fucking object, she was my girl. I loved her so much that it made my heart ache. I couldn’t stop the feelings rolling through me.

I’d failed her again. All this time, it had been my friend that had done this to her, and she’d never told me it was him, probably to protect me. I laid her hand down before I crushed it in my palm. I was so angry. My hands fisted my hair and I yanked viciously on the strands. “Why didn’t you tell me, Kat?” I barely whispered.

“Because you would have internalized it and made it your problem,” a soft voice spoke.

I let go of my hair and looked at her beautiful face. Her lip had dried blood crusted where it had split, and her cheek was starting to turn a purplish shade. Christ, I could kill him for hitting her. Reining in my frustration, I willed myself to relax.

Sighing, I picked her hand back up, opening her palm and placing it on the side of my face. “You’re awake. What can I get for you? Are you thirsty?”

She tipped her head. “A glass of water would be nice.”

Getting up, I filled a blue plastic cup in the sink and came back to her. She tried to push herself into a sitting position but winced. I jumped into action.

“Here, let me help.”

I slid my arm behind her back and pressed the button to raise the back of the bed. “There you go.” I carefully leaned her back on the cushion. She took the cup and drank it down quickly, ending it on a cough. Her eyes squeezed shut. Shit, did he hurt her elsewhere and I haven’t seen those bruises? “Where else are you hurt?”

She looked at me. “Just my eye and wrist hurt.”

“Did he hit you on your stomach?”

She looked confused. “No.”

I exhaled. “Thank God.”

Kat looked down at her hands and started picking at her fingernails. “Hey,” I asked softly. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” I asked.

She let out a small, sarcastic laugh. Still looking down, she said, “Pretty. Not so pretty when I’m black and blue.”

“What are you talking about?” She still wouldn’t look at me.

“Give me your eyes, Kat.” She tilted her head up, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “You’re beautiful, regardless. Blue, purple, pink, red, it doesn’t matter to me. You could be in a paper sack, or in a car wreck that leaves you disfigured, and you will always be beautiful to me. You’re still Kat. My Kat.”

The silent tears fell onto her cheeks. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away. “Are you mad at me?”

Now I was the one coughing. Why on earth would I be angry with her? “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I didn’t tell you, Timber. I kept my mouth shut and now look where we are.”

“Hmmm…” I grunted. Yes, I actually was mad about that. But I wasn’t necessarily mad at her for it. “I’m not going to lie. If you had told me, I would have never brought him in the bar. Hell, I would have killed him on the spot when I first saw him. But my anger isn’t directed at you. I crazily understand why you didn’t say anything to me. I’m upset because you felt the need to hide it from me and I couldn’t prevent him from,” I paused and swallowed hard, “I couldn’t keep him from touching you again.”

“He would have found a way to get to me. He promised.”

“What?” I hissed.

She turned her eyes away from mine and stared out the window at the blackness outside. “He told me that he’d be watching me. All those years ago… I knew I’d never escape him. He was just keeping his promise.”

Holy shit, this was so messed up. I didn’t even know what to say. My hands were clenching and unclenching at my sides. She’d never felt safe. All this time she’d been hiding from him, biding her time for him to come for her again.

“Fuck!” I shouted. She jumped and I immediately felt bad for startling her. Cupping her cheek without the bruise, I said, “Sorry. I just don’t know how to deal with all of this information.”