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He starts to rabs the door handle Flicking it up, he pulls the door open and then hops out He stretches his arms above his head and then offers his hand tothe waro as he closes the door

We both stand in the driveway beside Luke’s truck as the cab backs down the gravel path and out onto the street Once he speeds off, Kayden looks at o for a walk?" he asks, nodding his head at the shore

I nod through a sniffle "A walk sounds nice"

He gives ether We walk hand in hand past the house and step out onto the shore

Sand fills up ainststuck, so I stop, giving a gentle tug on his aro of le my feet out ofthe, and then we continue walking deeper into the darkness I can hear the waves rolling like a lullaby and the sound of h the cracks between my toes as I listen to every sound and feel the coolness of the air

"Are you cold?" Kayden asks as we slon just out of reach of the water

I glance at ht, I see the goose bulances back at the house up at the top of the sandy slope "Let et you a jacket"

I quickly shake then my hold on his hand "No, please stay here We need to… we need to talk"

He eyes me over skeptically and in the darkness his eyes look hollow He rubs the back of his neck tensely and then he lowers hiivesto the side and ainst hi like this is where I belong

Kayden is the only guy who’s ever made me feel this way, more than Seth, more than my own self He is all I need and I hope he feels the sa else I need to know--need to understand

I summon a deep breath and the release it out into the open

"Kayden, what happened?"

Three tiny words, so heavy and ful that they crack the earth He tenses and so do I, before I turn to look him in the eyes He ss hard and so do I He takes a deep breath and it’s nearly soundless as it eases back out of his lips

His lips part and as his voice slides out, my heart nearly stops "My father stabbed me"

Kayden I have no idea why I tell her I wasn’t planning on it I was planning on keeping it a secret forever, just like everything else

But she’s sitting there, waiting for h to hold her and be close to her She expects the truth and I want to give it to her I want to give her everything

"My father stabbed me" And just like that, I’ve shattered the box inside ed splinters

Her eyes widen and her breath hitches in her throat She’s verging on crying again, so I wrap ainst me "Relax, I’m okay now"

Her skin is like ice I rubto warm her up She shivers, not from the cold but froiven her I suddenly wish I could take it back, because I never should have put it on her shoulders

"I’ize "I shouldn’t have put that on you"

Her hands wiggle between our bodies and she flattens her hands onaway from me, she looks me in the eye "Yes, you should have… You should have toldmy hand onto the small of her back so she’ll stay close "Callie, you don’t need to know this kind of stuff… You’ve got your own proble and I lean back, concerned she’s going to hit"Kayden… I don’t…"

She can’t find the right words She shifts her body, bending her knees so her weight is on my lap She places her hands on my shoulders and with a steadfast look in her eye she says, "This is all my fault" I start to protest, but she puts her hand over my mouth

"You should have never hit Caleb… I should have never let you find out about him If you hadn’t, then none of this would have happened We’d be back at the house lying inagainst her hand "It’s good that you toldhis life when he took yours"

She lowers her hand to her lap and sighs "That’s what you father’s doing" She huffs a frustrated breath "Does anyone even know?"

I shake"My , the beating, the kicking… She doesn’t care"

Her eyes wander out to the ocean "This isn’t right," she mutters and turns her head toward et up, but I dig ers into her side and hold her in place