My back is still against the tree, my legs shaking, and I couldn’t move if I wanted to.
He glares down at me like I’m his worst enemy before he runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck!”
He kicks a pebble, facing away from me as if my mere view repulses him. “Fucking fuck.”
“What the hell?” I murmur out loud, although I mean to say it internally.
He’s at my face again, his eyes glimmering with deep-seated rage, and this time, he looks about ready to unleash it on me. “Don’t you ever, and I mean ever tempt me again.”
“What?”
“Get the fuck out of my sight. Your face disgusts me.”
A sob catches in my throat as his same words from that day years ago cut me open all over again.
He started to mend those wounds only so he could rip them open.
I hate him.
I hate him.
I hate him so fucking much.
“Now!” he growls and I don’t have to be told twice as I turn on my heels and run out of the garden.
My lips are swollen, heart slaughtered, and head swimming with that memory from seven years ago.
11
Kimberly
Age eleven
“Over there?” Xan points at the path between the trees.
“Yeah,” I say without smiling, even though I want to. Badly. “Go fetch her.”
“Luna!” he calls for our cat as he disappears behind the trees. “Come out!”
His voice slowly fades, and I huff, throwing green M&M’s into my mouth. I’ll leave all the other colours for Xan.
Luna isn’t there. She’s at home sleeping by the fireplace – his, not mine. Mum would kill me before allowing me to have any pet.
But Uncle Lewis let Xan have Luna and after that, she became our cat.
She’s not missing, but I told Xan to come look for her because he was being a meanie. Since he hates the cold, I brought him out when it’s about to snow.
I sit at the rock at the entrance to the forest and grab a stick, then twirl it on the ground as I wait.
Earlier, I told Xander how much I hate being Mum’s daughter and that she’s stopping me from eating my favourite food.
“Ignore her; you’re beautiful,” he said while he was watching Kirian sleeping.
“I am?” I asked, staring at him with wide eyes.
His cheeks turned red before he nodded. “You’re the most beautiful girl I know.”
“Even more than Silver?”