Love Lift Me by Synthia St. Claire Read Free Book Online Page B

contrasted ferociously with his bright,
emerald-green eyes.
    “Is
she here?” he asked in a low voice, looking carefully around the corner from
under his lowered baseball cap.
    “No.”
I blinked my eyes to get the sleep out. “You’re safe.”
    His
face instantly relaxed.
    “Thank
God. Your momma is a force to be reckoned with, Kat Atwater.”
    “I
heard.”
    He
strode in and made his way over to the vase that was perched nearby. Hale
didn’t look like he knew what to think, or do, and started fiddling with the
arrangement. After pulling the card and reading it, he managed to turn around
and face me.
    “Looks
like you got my flowers after all. I figured your momma tossed ‘em in the trash
after she kicked me out.”
    “She
wouldn’t do that.”
    “Ain’t
never seen her that mad before.”
    I
didn’t know what else to say. Flowers couldn’t make up for what happened, or
how he’d left me waiting that day. I wanted to tell him that, to scream it
maybe, so it would get through that thick skull of his, but he slid into the
threadbare visitor’s chair and took my hand in his own before I could.
    “So…you
don’t look too bad, girl.”
    “Thanks,
I guess.”
    “You
got banged up a little.” He pulled a stray hair away from my face and looked at
the stitches underneath. “Not too bad at all. Still as pretty as ever.”
    His
hand was warm and his voice had become that soft, easy one that I usually found
hard to resist. It felt like ages since I last heard it.
    “They
say when you’re gonna get out?” he asked.
    “Maybe
tomorrow. Probably later, though. Doctor hasn’t come by yet this morning.”
    He
nodded, and swept his thumb over the top of my hand in a gentle motion. “Listen
baby, about what happened…”
    “Hale,”
I said, letting out a deep sigh before I continued, “I don’t want to talk about
it. I’m too tired and drugged up.”
    “You
know I was gonna to come pick you up.”
    That
was when I realized; Hale wasn’t asking about what happened to me . He
was already trying to dig himself out of what he’d done wrong. The morphine
blur which had kept me sedated gave way to razor-sharp anger.
    “It’s
always something , Hale,” I snapped. “You always act like you care about
me when it’s already too late. And this time…this was the worst. How could
you?”
    “Kat…I…I
love you. You know I do. I didn’t mean for this to happen. How could I have-”
    “Why’d
you even come here?” I asked, and pulled my hand away quickly. He wasn’t going
to apologize or sweet-talk his way out of this. “To tell me you’re sorry for
ditching me? You had to have known how this was going to go.”
    “I
wanted to see you. I was worried.”
    “I…I
don’t believe you,” I said. Tears were welling up in the corners of my eyes.
“You should have been there, Hale. I had to take that bus…you…you forgot about
me.”
    “Kat,
I didn’t…”
    I
turned away from him and stared at the window. Thin beams of light shone
through in wide, golden rays. The new day had dawned.
    “My
parents will be back soon. You should go.”
    “Oh,
come on. Give me a chance, Kat. I came all the way down here to see you.”
    “You
got all the chances I’m willing to give you, Hale.”
    “Don’t
be like that. I’m trying to say I’m sorry, girl.”
    He
tried to wrap his long arms around me, but I shook him off. “Just go, Hale! I
don’t wanna see you. Go off and play with your dumb friends. Get drunk and
stupid, or whatever it is you do when I’m not around.”
    “What
do you mean? I can’t talk to my girl? You gonna kick me out of here like your
Momma did?”
    “It
means we’re through . And I ain’t your girl.”
    For
a moment, he looked like he wanted to say something else and just stood there
with a hurt expression. I rolled over and let the tears come, not caring if anyone
else heard. Part of me hardly believed what had happened between us after being
together so long. The other part knew it