Page 74 of After the Storm

“You can call me Kat, you know?” she adds.

“Kat, right. I can do that,” I add. This is so awkward, the kind of awkward that if there was less at stake here, I would probably turn around and go home.

“So, I came to talk. I see now that I’m not the only one hiding things,” I say, throwing a hand on my hip. A smile dares to make an appearance at the corners of Ares’ mouth.

“We’re not—I’m not—” Ares pauses, searching for words. “If I say we’re good, will you come back another time?” he asks, looking at Katrina and then back to me. Clearly, he has some business he’d like to finish with her. So I nod, even though I’m dying to talk this out.

“Yeah. I can go,” I say, throwing a thumb over my shoulder. Katrina stands to her feet quickly.

“Wait, no. I’ll go,” Katrina calls out, stopping me in my tracks. “You guys should talk,” she adds. I turn my attention back to Ares, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Don’t leave,” he pleads with her.

“Then talk to her. Or I’m going,” she says, throwing her hands on her hips. He groans, pulling himself off of the bed.

“Fine. Let me put some clothes on,” he says.

“Right. Yeah. I’ll wait in the hall,” I say, walking out of Ares’ bedroom and closing the door behind me. I turn to my left, and Roman is standing there just to the left of the door.

“What are you doing out here?” I whisper-yell at him.

“Listening. Obviously.” He shrugs. I grab him, turning his body toward his own bedroom.

“You’re going to piss him right back off,” I say, giving him a shove toward his bedroom. He huffs and walks into his bedroom. A few seconds later, Ares pops open his bedroom door.

“C’mon, we can talk,” he says, standing out of the way and letting me walk past him into the bedroom. I feel like a doctor just called me back to an appointment. Katrina is sitting on the papasan chair in the corner of Ares’ bedroom. She’s curled up into herself with a book, unbothered like we aren’t about to hash out all of our problems. Not that I particularly mind, I’m not an overly private person.

I walk over and consider sitting on the bed, but then I remember the scene I walked into, and I decide to just sit on the floor. Ares walks over, and I expect him to take a seat on the bed, but instead, he joins me on the ground.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, starting the conversation. “I shouldn’t have told people before you.” He rolls his eyes.

“Why do you guys think this is some fit I’m throwing over being the last to know? That’s not what this is.”

“I don’t know, I just assumed. I don’t know what else you’d be upset about,” I admit.

“Really? You don’t know what else I’d be upset about?” He pauses, waiting for a response that I don’t give. I don’t know what to say. “I’m mad because after everything with Tyler you kept it from me. I don’t care about being the last to know. I care about knowing you’re okay. I care about trusting you’ll tell me when things are going on. I just can’t believe you’d keep such a huge part of your life from me again.” Realization smacks me in the face. Of course, that’s why he’s upset.

“I wasn’t intentionally keeping it from you. It just snuck up on me. It just kind of happened—” He cuts me off.

“I asked you, more than once. You lied. You didn’t just not tell me. Youlied, Audra,” he adds.

“It was so fresh then, I didn’t know what was going on with us. I knew there was something there, but I didn’t know what. We hadn’t even kissed yet. I just wanted to be sure before I threw a wrench in things,” I admit.

“Why wouldn’t you just tell me that? Tell me you didn’t know what was going on?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug sheepishly. I should have, I know that. I learned my lesson about lying, especially to my best friends. I shake my head as if to shake that answer away. “That’s not true. I guess I do know. I felt as though if anyone knew I moved on that fast, they might feel like I deserved what happened. Or, think that I was exaggerating what happened with Tyler if it was something I could move on from this quickly.” All of his edge washes away, and his face softens.

“What?” Disbelief threads into his tone.

“I know.” I run my hands down my face. “I know. It’s stupid. I just really couldn’t handle anyone thinking I earned it or that I was lying.” He doesn’t say a word he just pulls me into a hug.

“Audi. I would never think of you that way. I don’t think anyone ever does anything to deserve what you went through. I think people like him just have issues that they take out on innocent people,” he assures me. It’s something I know now. After months of Roman pounding it into my head, I know that I didn’t do anything to deserve it. I know that it was no one’s fault but Tyler’s. Still, hearing it from Ares’ voice and reflecting on the last few months causes tears to prick at my eyes.

“I love you,” I sniffle.

“I love you too. Stop keeping shit from me, though. I’m not trying to be in your business; I’m trying to protect you. It makes me sick when I think about all the time you were with Tyler, and I just had no idea what was going on. If I had just known, I could have done something,” he says, pulling out of the hug to gauge my reaction. Tears slip down my cheeks. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, but maybe this is okay since they aren’t exactly sad tears.

“It’s not your fault that you didn’t know. I hid it. We’ve talked about this,” I say. I hear Katrina snap her book closed beside us.

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