Page 93 of Going Home

Glancing up at him, she notices there's more hurt in his gaze than anger. "That if you can't find us, but someone who knows you recognizes us, there's no way you'd ever know we were in trouble. We'd leave to save our kids and potentially get them killed ourselves. We'd have no one to blame but ourselves."

"That hurts worse than what may have happened at that party or almost having an affair with a guy named Gary," Ky says. "I understand both of those. If you were drugged, I can't hold you accountable for anything that may have happened, and I pushed you towards someone else when I lost myself in anger. But believing I couldn't protect you and the kids hurts the most. You were going to take them away and never let me see them again... That shit cuts deep. I wish you'd just stab me with Eleanor."

She shakes her head. "I followed you until that last part. What the fuck... Stab you with what? Who's Eleanor? And how could I... What?"

The pain slips away as he laughs, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "Psycho's machete."

"Oh, that makes more sense. He does seem like the type to name his weapons."

"Yeah, he does."

"I'm sorry, Ky. I don't know what's happened the last couple of years, but things have felt really off. If that meeting had happened even a year earlier, I would've been right beside Lex, ready to fight everyone who disagreed that it was a stupid idea."

He runs his hand over his face. "Is it me? Did we end up getting married too young? Our timeline was expedited because I knocked you up, but maybe you resent me for not getting to experience life more. You were thrust into the club life and motherhood pretty much right away, and I know you weren't sure it's what you wanted. It's why we broke up right before Mom was killed."

"I think it's me," Felicity admits. "I think there's something broken inside me that I never saw or paid attention to, and it got bigger as time went on. Almost like I felt there was something you were hiding from me, or maybe I suspected it because I had secrets of my own."

"How do we fix what's broken?"

We. Ky wants to fix this together.Tears stream down her face as she walks up and takes his hands. "I think I've already started. Reading Vicky's words helped a lot. I still remember the day she and I stopped being friends, and reading her diaries gave me the chance to know her all over again. To know she was still in there, even when she acted like she hated me, she didn't. Not really. I think she hated herself, honestly, and she projected it onto me and anyone else she wanted. Everything she did was either a way to self-medicate or punish herself, and I didn't help because I never gave her any grace."

"You didn't know what she was going through because she didn't tell you. You couldn't have known."

"I should have tried harder," she whispers. "I just wrote her off."

Pulling her to him, he wraps his arms around her, and she welcomes his comforting embrace. "It's not your fault, Felicity. Nothing that happened with or to Vicky had anything to do with you."

"Ky, I need to ask you one more thing."

"I don't have any other secrets, babe."

She smiles and keeps her cheek pressed against his chest. Depending on his answer to her question, she's not sure she has the guts to look at him. "Do you think you can forgive me? Someday?"

He tenses beneath her, and she holds her breath. "Wait...Meforgiveyou?"

Holding back her sob, she nods her head against his chest. "It hurts knowing you lied and kept this secret for so long, but I played a part in it, too. If I'd been there for you, even as just a friend, it likely wouldn't have happened. I wasn't the nicest person to you in the darkest time of your life. That's on me."

"I should have told you, but I was scared you'd leave me after I'd just gotten you back," he says and pulls her away from him to look down into her eyes.

"I might have," she admits and touches the wet mark on his black T-shirt. "Can you forgive me? I haven't been a saint, and I acted like I was. I did terrible things, and I was so cruel."

"I'm the one who needs to be—"

She jumps into his arms, and their lips crash against each other, cutting off the words she doesn't want to hear. When his arms wrap around her and catch her, pressing her chest tightly against his, she remembers exactly why she loves Ky Short. He's always there to catch her.

Even after she threw him out, he came over to tell her about Lane. He convinced her to go to the wedding even though she said no because he knew she'd regret not being there. He treated her with kindness at the wedding, and the day they found out Lane was gone. Today, he approached her to check on how she was holding up. It's time to let all of the anger and resentment go.

"Does this mean I can come home now?" Ky asks, setting her down.

His fingers slowly unzip her dress, and he kisses along her shoulder as he slides it down her arms. The feel of his lips on her skin while his hands slowly undress her sets her ablaze.

She unbuttons his jeans and frees him, taking his hard cock into her hand and shivering as her panties soak through. "I never should have kicked you out. You belong there. With me."

The heat in his eyes as he stares into hers while she slides her hand along his smooth skin has her panting right along with him. "I love you."

Her vision blurs with unshed tears, and he stills her hand on him. Picking her up, he lays her on the bed and untangles himself from the rest of his clothes. He climbs into bed with her and just holds her, his naked body against her underwear clad one. "I'm sorry, Ky."

"Don't cry, Felicity," he says and pulls the blanket up over them.

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