Nick handed her another tissue and she blow softly. “Thanks,” she said huskily, her voice still raw from her sobs.
“You okay?”
“Nope.”
He chuckled. “Honest to a fault. I dig that.”
She rolled her eyes. “You ‘dig’ that? What are you? Some hippie leftover from the 60’s?”
“Peace baby.” He gave her the finger.
“Wrong gesture, Nick.”
“Oops, how did that happen?” he smiled, flapping his eyelids vapidly.
Kat chuckled. “Stop making me feel better. It’s annoying.”
“Look, I am used to girls crying all over me, but not like this,” he grimaced as he wiped a hand across his chest. It was still damp from her tears.
“Poor thing. Must be rough to be you.” Kat gave a small sob hiccup then swallowed it down.
Nick pretended not to notice. “Yeah, well you’re approach is much better. They declare their undying love, but you get me all wet…” His voice dropped to a deep husky level and he rubbed his chest with a sexy, sloe-eyed smirk. As he had expected Kat dissolved into giggles. He pulled her into his arms. “See? Much more effective.”
“You’re a good man, Nick Carter,” she sighed.
“Good enough to tell what’s really upsetting you?” She stiffened in his arms and he cursed himself inwardly for pushing her too early. “I mean, if you want to…”
Kat was quiet. “Jay’s sleeping pills aren’t going to work, are they?”
“He said they were the best out there,” Nick said quietly.
“Yeah.” She was quiet for a minute. “Maybe I should go.”
This time it was Nick who tensed. “Whatever,” he replied feigning indifference.
“What?” Kat turned and looked at him.
“Nothing.”
She reached up and pulled a lock of his hair. Hard.
“Oww! What did you do that for?”
“I am so not going to do that freaking passive aggressive shit,” she glared. “Tell me what ‘whatever’ means.”
“You’re
one to talk,” he retorted. “Every time something goes slightly wrong you pull
that ‘I better be going’ shit. It’s getting old. You want to bug out, just do
it. All I asked was what was upsetting you. I think I’ve been pretty fucking
understanding…”
“You can’t understand this.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you’re real heavy with the mystery shit. You’re right. You should leave. “Cause I’ve had enough.” He pushed her aside as he moved to get up. Kat’s hand pushed him back down.
“You think I’m not telling you because I want to do some big ‘mysterious Kat’ thing on you? You self-centred asshole! I’m not telling you because I don’t know how to tell you! I don’t frickin’ know how to deal with it myself. Hello? Nightmares! Real doozies!”
“Yeah, well letting it out would probably take care of all that. Ever think of that?”
“Ever think that the shit I’m keeping hidden is hidden for a damn good reason? Ever think that it scares the fuck out of me?”
“Oh get real. I’ve read your file. So your fiancé left you. Big whoop. You haven’t got a damn thing to be scared about. Try my life on for a while then we’ll talk about scary.”
“Oh yeah, all those horny 12 years old. Really scary. And who gives a shit about some lameass fiancé? I was over that a long time ago. It’s the other stuff…”
Nick got off of the bed and pulled the dossier that Jay had given him out of his suitcase. “WHAT other stuff? There isn’t any other stuff. Jay would have found the other stuff. There ain’t a damn thing in this.”
Kat scrambled from the bed and grabbed the file from his hand and ripped it in two. “Try reading between the lines, asshole.”
“There are no fucking lines,” he shouted as he bent down to pick up the pieces of paper. He gathered them up and then a line on one of the pages caught his eye. He read it again, and then looked at her. He looked down again and then back at her. “Your parents,” he said softly as illumination kicked in.
Kat went white as a sheet. “W-w-what?” She took a step back.
“Your parents,” he said again. “They’re dead. Your parents are dead. That’s it, isn’t it?”
She took another step back. “They just did.” She looked around quickly then grabbed her jeans from the floor. “I’m gonna go. You’re right, it’s better that way.”
He dropped the file and walked towards her. She had started to pull the pants on and his movement, and her attempt to move backwards, caught her off guard and she stumbled. He caught her, holding her arm firmly. “It’s your parents isn’t it? What happened, Kat?”
“No…” she replied fearfully. “I can’t.”
“Tell me,” he commanded. “You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?” He looked at her.
Kat started to crumble under his continuous assault. “I didn’t kill them, I didn’t,” she moaned.
Nick cupped his hands under her chin. “Hey, I know that. I didn’t think you had. No, but it is something about their death, isn’t it?”
“But I could have. I could have…” she sobbed.