Tryst - Forbidden Hearts Series

5| Central Park Secrets

I sat down on the bench next to Karma and didn't say a word. She was watching the families in the center of the grassy play area of the park. My eyes followed where she was looking. There was a mother showing her daughter how to fly a kite. Then there was the dad who was throwing the football with his son. There was also another mom who was getting onto her son about he had clearly done something wrong.

"How did you find me?"

I wasn't going to get into the whole GPS tracking thing right now. I knew she was on thin ice enough as it is. When I glanced over at Karma, the way her lips were so tightly pressed together told me she was barely holding back a scream. It was as if it were just there in the back of her throat to come out.

I looked back at the parents and their kids. "Why don't you tell me why you snuck away?"

"I didn't sneak."

"Come on, little dancer," I chuckled. "you sent Nate to get you aspirin, then vanished. I may not be a lawyer, but that seemed to be premeditated to me."

Her shoulders rose and fell when she took a deep breath. "I don't know how to do this," she finally whispered. "I'm so. . . ashamed."

I had a pretty good idea about what she was going to say, but I needed her to explain it to me. If she didn't talk about it out loud, she was never going to get past it.

"Ashamed of what?"

"Myself." She never took her eyes off of the mother and daughter flying a kite. "Do you know about what happened between Nathan and me?"

"Harper told me you guys dated in high school. She said there was a bad breakup and then you didn't see each other until you moved back here to New York. But she didn't give me specifics."

She leaned back against the bench. "Nathan took me to a hotel for our one year anniversary. It was actually one of the best nights of my life. At least. . . the beginning of it was. I had fallen asleep, and when I woke up, he was gone. He left behind the necklace I had bought him and a note that said two words: 'remember me'."

Karma exhaled a shaky breath. "That devastated me. He just. . . left me. No reason why, no explanation, nothing. It wasn't until after he and I got back from Florida when my dad was in the hospital that I found out the truth."

"He finally told you?"

"No." She glanced towards me. "My mom did."

That answer surprised me. "How did she--"

"Because she was the one who made him do it. She knew I was going to give up my scholarship to USF and go to college here because I didn't want to leave Nathan." The bitterness in Karma's voice was clear. "So she took it upon herself to force him to hurt me. To force my to go to USF. I was so mad at her when I found out."

"You had every right to be."

"I know," she said, before turning her head towards me. I was expecting for her eyes to be red and watery, but they weren't. "But I'm still so angry with her. What kind of person does that make me, Jackson? She's dead and I'm still mad at her."

She looked back to the people in the park and I sat next to her quietly. Unfortunately, I was too familiar with what she was dealing with.

"I was furious with my mom when she died." I blurted. That seemed to get her attention. I'd never really talked about my mother passing with anyone. Not even Harper.

"Really?"

I nodded. "She had known she was sick for a long time before she told me. She said she was trying to protect me. But that was bullshit. She was scared to face the truth."