She forces a smile on her face. “You’ll heal.”
“That means no.”
“I said you were okay. I never said it was pretty.” She reaches for my hand and intertwines our fingers.
“So… he told you everything, huh?”
She heaves a sigh. “From beginning to end.”
“How are you holding up?”
“As good as a mother can after finding out that her baby boy likes to beat up people for fun, I guess.”
To my great disbelief, she manages to get a faint laugh out of me. Why am I laughing right now? Must be the exhaustion. Ironic that I feel completely drained after sleeping for so long.
“I’m not surprised, to be honest. I’d hoped the fights had stopped since my days, but…”
“Wait. Rewind. You knew about this?” My eyes widen.
“I was young once, too, you know. The fights have been around a long time. I knew about them, but I just never thought Kendrick could be…” She doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t need to.
“I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you. We were trying to protect you.”
Her face twitches in frustration. “That’s exactly the thing, Winter. Protecting you is my job. Mine. I’m the one that’s supposed to take care of you while your mother’s away. I’m so sorry. I’m an awful guardian.” Her eyes are bloodshot.
“No, stop. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t like them from the start and I… I should’ve listened to you. Please, don’t blame yourself for this.”
Guilt darkens her face. “If only it were that easy.”
I don’t say anything. Simply because no words seem strong enough to ease her pain.
“How did you find out about the fights?”
She wipes her eyes. “Let’s just say I’ve had a few bad boys of my own in my days. Like your boyfriend… Haze, is it?”
I wince at the reminder.
Great. Thanks, Auntie. I almost went two whole minutes without thinking about him.
I look down. “We’re not really together.”
“I figured.” She gives me a weak smile.
It must’ve been pretty obvious that he wasn’t my boyfriend when she heard him and Kendrick bicker about how he could never see me again. A boyfriend doesn’t usually leave his girlfriend’s side when she’s unconscious.
“But there’s something going on, isn’t there? That boy… he means something to you?”
“He’s…” I pause, searching for words that refuse to be found. “Complicated.”
She smiles warmly. “Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I know a thing or two about complicated.”
“Where are the guys?” I realize that Haze isn’t the only person missing here.
“Kendrick went back home to get your things.”
“What?” I ask, my gaze drifting around the room.
This can’t be true.