“Geez, thanks. Just what I want to hear.”
“I know it’s not, but it’s the truth, and if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that facing the truth head on is better than burying your head in the sand… or between a random girl’s thighs,” he mumbles.
“I wanted to hear that too,” I say with a grimace.
“Honesty is my policy now, and maybe I have told you too much, but I don’t want to risk becoming anything like my mom. She used to lie to me all the time to the point that I couldn’t ever tell if she was telling the truth for once. One time, she had, about how she got us some fish to eat. I didn’t believe her, and she tried to grill the fish, and she damn near burned down our house. If I hadn’t come home from a friend’s house—Gabe’s actually—in time, she might’ve died then. It was two months later that I had enough, and I walked away, and I hadn’t looked back until just now. I… She reached out a few times, always to ask for money, and I never gave her a cent, but I guess I get my resourcefulness from her.”
“Rob, please. Stop blaming yourself.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” he says suddenly, holding out his hand. “I won’t blame myself for what happens to my mom if you won’t try to save your mom.”
“How can you expect me to not try to save my mom?”
“Don’t go to Europe.”
I blow out a breath. “I don’t think I have the money for that anyhow.”
“I have a feeling you’re just as resourceful as I am, and you won’t let money hold you back.”
I swallow hard, hating that I’ve thought about asking Brett and Erika for the funds. They would give it to me, not as a loan, as a gift, even though I would insist on paying them back, and I don’t know if I would make it to Italy in time, and I don’t know where my mom is, and since she won’t answer her phone or contact me, I might go all the way there for nothing.
And if I go, I risk losing so much. I could lose everything, more than just my mom.
“I can’t promise that I won’t try to save her, but I won’t go to Europe,” I say slowly. “That’s the best you’re getting out of me.”
“When it comes to you, Katie Quake, I’ll take what I can get.”
CHAPTER27
We fool around some more,losing ourselves in one another, and yes, he does bury his head between my thighs, and it’s fucking magical, but when he pulls away and enters me, I can’t help starting to cry. His bearing his soul to me, my admitting some of my own messy life… it’s almost too much for me to handle because this isn’t fucking. This isn’t rough and wild and crazy like other times.
This is bonding.
This is glue.
This is too much, far too much.
I think I even see some unshed tears in his eyes, and once we both climax, he peels himself off my sweaty body. Wordlessly, we both get dressed, and we kiss once more before he leaves.
All alone in my room now, I feel as if I’m about to explode. I stand and pace and try to think, but I can’t focus. My thoughts are all over the place, and I try calling Mom once more before opting to call someone else.
My brother.
The phone rings and rings, and I think he’s not going to answer either, but finally, he does. “Katie, hey.”
“Kyle, has Mom contacted you?”
“No.”
“Has Father?”
“No. Why? Did he contact you?”
“No, but Mom did. She’s really freaking out because someone used her old bank account to purchase a ticket for… where she is.” I hate not being willing to even say the name of the country where she is, but I can’t help being paranoid and worried that Father might somehow be listening in to our conversations.
“You think Dad found her?”
“That’s what we both think, yes.”