I looked back to my dad and smiled. “Because I love her, Dad, and I owe it to her to be one hundred percent honest with her. ”
My dad shook his head. “I get that, Josh. I do. Believe me, I would never, ever under normal circumstances tell you to hide something like this from her…but, son, this girl has been through so much pain and hurt in her life. Why would you even want to plant that seed of doubt in her mind when nothing really happened?”
My dad started to pace and then stopped. “Did you just say you love her?”
“Yeah, I did,” I said with a smile.
“You just came up with this feeling all on your own? Your mother hasn’t been pushing you, has she?”
I laughed. He knew better than to ever think that Heather could have pushed me, but he didn’t hesitate to put it past my mom.
“No, Dad, she hasn’t pushed me. It hit me like a ton of bricks today. I’ve been trying like hell to tell her, but something keeps happening, and I haven’t had the chance. ” My smile faded.
“Okay, listen to me. You do what’s in your heart, Josh. What’s your heart telling you to do?”
I looked back up at the window. She was gone, and my heart dropped to my stomach.
I turned to my dad. “It’s telling me I need to always be one hundred percent honest with her. ”
“Then, you know what you have to do, son. ” Dad brought me in for a hug. “I love that girl like she’s my own daughter, Josh. Your mother feels the same way. The moment she walked into this house, she captured all of our hearts. You fuck this up, and I’ll kick your ass!” My dad pulled away from me and winked.
“Jesus H. Christ, Dad. ” I shook my head and made my way into the house.
I walked into the kitchen, and my mother was on the phone.
“She said she would be upstairs, waiting for you in your room,” Mom said with a sad look on her face.
I quickly left the kitchen and went up the stairs two at a time. When I opened the door to my room, I found her standing at the window, looking out at the pasture. The horses were all out, a
nd from the few days she’d stayed with us, I already knew how much the horses could calm her down.
She knows.
“Heather—”
“What happened between you two? And when did it happen?”
Her voice was so cold and distant that it gave me chills.
How the fuck does she know? “Um…it was the first day I woke up. ”
Heather spun around and looked at me.
I waited for her to say something or ask me something. When she didn’t, I just went on with my confession. “She was taking me down for the brain scan, and when we got into the elevator, she started to kiss me and touch me with her hand. I asked her to stop kissing me, but I didn’t…I didn’t stop her right away from…” I couldn’t even finish. I wanted to throw up.
I watched as Heather closed her eyes. When she slowly started to sink to the floor, I ran over to her and grabbed her. I sat down on the floor and pulled her onto my lap. I held her as she began crying. Ah hell. I should have listened to my dad. All I ever do is hurt her.
I could tell she was having a hard time breathing, so I stroked her hair. “I pushed her hand away. I didn’t come. I swear to you. ” I was trying to reassure her, to let her know that I didn’t want Victoria.
“Breathe, baby, just breathe,” I whispered in her ear.
She grabbed on to my neck with both arms and clutched on to me tightly.
“Is that all that’s happened between you two?”
“Yes! The whole time, all I could do was picture you, and I was so fucking confused. ” I held her as close to me as I could.
“She didn’t…she didn’t use her mouth, did she?”