Page 91 of Untouchable
Pressing her lips together, Reese insisted, “Promise me.”
Caleb had once said the exact same thing, in the exact same tone. It felt like ages ago. Endless, aching years.
“I can’t promise you, Reese, but I think I will be here.” She let out a long breath. “I really don’t have anywhere else to go.”
After Reese left, Kelly spent the whole morning in her pajamas, making herself some breakfast and watching some TV. Doing her best not to think about Caleb.
She had hurt him. Really bad. She knew it even though he had hardened into ice as she was leaving him. She’d wounded a part of him that had only just started opening up.
He would be wounded so much more, so much deeper, if he ever found out the truth—why she’d ever been with him in the first place.
He might deserve it. He probably did. But she just didn’t know anymore.
Maybe it was better this way. Just end it now. Never talk to him again. Never pursue the lingering questions. Never let her heart get twisted more painfully than it already was.
She would never have justice. She would never have answers. She still would have broken herself. But nothing else would have changed. No one else would be hurt.
Maybe it was the right thing to do, or maybe it was the worst thing. She was no longer capable of judging rights and wrongs.
Every option left to her felt wrong.
“Come on, Kelly,” Reese said impatiently. “I’ve been kind and considerate all day, but I want to know what the hell is going on. Why the fuck won’t you tell me anything? I’m going crazy.”
Kelly gave her friend a faint smile. “I know. But it’s just not something I can talk about.”
Reese scowled at her. “That’s stupid. You could talk about it if you wanted to. I’ve been wondering for weeks what was happening to you. You barely replied to any of my texts and calls, and now you show up and won’t tell me anything.”
“I know,” Kelly acknowledged. “It’s not fair. I’m a selfish ass. I admit it.”
“So tell me,” Reese demanded.
They were sitting on the couch, watching a crime drama on TV, and Reese had burst out with her question in the middle of a commercial. Kelly could hardly blame her.
She sighed. “You know I had some bad stuff happen when I was a kid.”
“Yeah, sure. Family stuff. I know you’ve never talked about it, but it must have been hard.”
“Well, there were some things left unresolved, and a few weeks ago my mom reappeared out of the blue, wanting me to resolve them.”
Reese had always believed, like everyone else, that Kelly’s mom was Mrs. Watson, who was dead now. So she clearly had no idea what was going on, but she listened quietly.
Kelly continued, “The Watsons adopted me. Privately. Secretly. No one knows. This was my real mom who showed up after abandoning me as a kid. But what she wants… is what I want too. Justice. And I’ve had to do some things that are pretty awful in an attempt to get that. There was a man involved, and it all got twisted.” When she saw her friend’s face, she added, “I know none of it makes sense, but this is as much as I can tell you. Please don’t ask for more details.”
“This man,” Reese said, after a minute of visibly suppressing her questions. “Do you love him or hate him?”
“Both, I think.”
“And how does he feel about you? Does he love you or hate you?”
“Maybe both.”
“You’ve left him now?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you resolve the thing from your past?”
Kelly shook her head. “Nothing is resolved. But the only way to get justice is to go back to him, and that just feels… wrong in every way.”
