“What’s up?”
I sat upright in my seat, picking an invisible piece of lint off my knee as I studied the area. This was either going to make or break our relationship, I could feel it. The rest of the school may have thought Dad was a villain, but if Monroe did too…
“Tatum, you can tell me anything,” he encouraged and I continued to pick at my knee. He was right. I had been able to tell him anything up until now. But what if we’d reached a point where that wasn’t true anymore?
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
“My dad called,” I forced the words from my lips, my heart pounding wildly.
“What?” he gasped, but I couldn’t get a read on how he felt about that from his tone.
I made myself look up and found his brows stitched together and his jaw tight. Before I could tell him more, I needed to know if I could trust him with this. The conversation I’d shared with Dad was the most precious secret I had. My thumb traced over the rose-shaped scar on my arm and my mind whirled at the truth branded on my flesh. It was still hard for me to accept the knowledge that my blood held the antibodies everyone in the world was so desperately in need of right now.
“Do you believe me about my dad? Do you believe he’s innocent?” I fixed him with a stare, unblinking, taking in every inch of his face as I hunted out any hint of the answer before he gave it.
He sighed, leaning forward in his seat and resting his elbows on his knees. “Do you believe he’s innocent beyond all reasonable doubt?” he asked.
I huffed in offence at the question, but he gave me a patient look that said he wanted that answer.
I sighed. “Of course I do.”
“Unquestionably? Not a single doubt?”
My heart thundered against my ribcage and heat flushed through my body. “What are you trying to imply?”
“I’m not trying to imply anything, princess. I just want you to be totally honest with me.”
I tried to swallow the razor sharp ball in my throat and failed. Because of course I had doubts. They crept in at night and whispered the worst, most terrifying possibilities in my ears. But I never let them in. I built a wall against them and refused their existence. But now…with Monroe looking at me like that, I knew he was going to make me face them.
“He’s a good person,” I choked, tears threatening to come for me, but I held them back.
“That’s not what I asked you,” he said steadily, a patient expression on his face.
My lungs started to labour and I pushed out of my seat, needing to expend this anxious energy in me. “What do you wanna hear, Nash? That I have doubts about my own father?”
Anger took the place of my sadness and I let it wash through me so I didn’t feel so vulnerable.
“I just want to hear the truth, Tatum. That’s why I haven’t asked you about this before, because I know you’re struggling with it. But you need to know, you’re not betraying him if you have doubts.” Why did he sound so rational? Why was he so freaking calm?
I shook my head furiously. “I don’t have doubts,” I insisted, but I could taste the lie on my tongue.
“You’re never going to trust me with this if you don’t trust yourself with it,” he said.
“What are you, my therapist now?” I threw at him, wishing he would stand up and fight back like Kyan did, or make a joke like Blake, or spank me like Saint would. But Monroe wouldn’t do any of those things. He was too understanding, his eyes cut through my flesh to the centre of my soul like no guy ever had. He saw me too clearly. He knew my emotions better than I did. And I hated that right now.
“I just want to help,” he said firmly.
“Why?” I deflected from the real discussion. “Why do you want to help me, Nash? What is it about me that is so fucking worthy of your time? I’m not a damsel in distress.”
“I never said you were,” he growled, an edge to his tone.
“Yes you did,” I said heatedly. “You call me princess, you think I’m just some spoiled rich girl who got herself in trouble and now she needs a knight to swoop in and save her.”
He rose to his feet, his impressive height making my throat tighten. Monroe may have been the most patient of the Night Keepers, but he was still not to be fucked with. And I was starting to get the rise out of him that some part of me craved.
“How much bullshit are you gonna spout at me tonight, huh? To yourself?” he snapped and it was worse than his teacher tone. This was a fury he felt in his heart, not just because I was some student pissing him off. I’d touched a nerve and it didn’t feel good. Especially because he could still see right through me, knew I was trying to divert from the real issue here.
The tears were making threats again, holding me at gunpoint and my anger was a wimp about to abandon me. I didn’t realise I was shaking until Monroe got close and took hold of my shoulders, staring down at me with an intensity in his eyes which broke through my walls.
“Be honest with yourself. The world won’t fall, I promise. I’ll hold it up for you,” he growled and I nodded, the tears winning out, spilling hot and thick down my cheeks.
“He’s a good person,” I repeated and Monroe’s lips pressed together. “But…”
“But?” he
