She Broke my Heart, Than Stole It

Chapter 13 The Painful Truth

Peeta POV

We leave her house and start our walk to the bakery.

"Katniss? May I ask something?" I ask as we walk, hand in hand.

"Of course, anything." she says.

"What did you see in Gale that made you love him?" I ask. She sighs and looks down. I see its a bad thing to talk about. "You don't have to say anything."

"No, no its okay. I met Gale when my mom was helping his dad after he got hurt at work." she says. "He was so sweet and caring. Always giving me complements. After a few days we had our first kiss and he asked to be my boyfriend. I thought I loved him and I was fooled to think you were the bad guy."

"Katniss, you know you were my best friend." I say.

"I know. A few years later, about two I started to feel unhappy with him. He always got mad really fast. After he got loud he would say sorry and flood me with sweetness and caring and I always fell for it." she says.

"Did he ever hit you?" I ask. She squeezes my hand and looks down.

"Yes, after I turned 16 he started. Everything I did that was in the slightest way wrong he hit me. No matter how much I cried, or begged for him to stop." she says. A tear escapes my eye as I pull her hand up and give it a soft kiss. 

"I'm so sorry Katniss." I say stopping. She stops as well and looks ne right in my eyes.

"He went further." she says. My eyes widen as I pull her closer so she's against my chest but looking up to me with her beautiful grey eyes. 

"What did he do?" I ask softly.

"He went to a party one night. I stayed at his house and watched movies. Late night he came home, as drunk as can be and started touching me. I pushed him away but he got aggressive and grabbed my throat. He slammed me against the wall and..." the tears cut her off. I feel the tears running as well. How could he do something like this? I pull her close and wrap my arms tightly around her.

"Katniss I promise you that I'll never hurt you." I say. "Never."

"I know Peeta. I just wanna let go." she says.

"If he did that than why didn't you leave him and come to me. I told you you alway could." I say kissing the top of her head.

"I'm sorry. I thought I loved him and stayed with him." she says. "My own stupidity."

"Don't say that about yourself." I say. "I promise you, I'll always be here for you."

"I love you Peeta, more than anything." she says. 

"I love you too." I say.

"Stay with me?" she asks looking up. I smile and nod before giving her a long, passionate kiss.

"Always." I say hugging her tightly again. I always thought I was hurt and broken but Katniss is worse. Now I have to be here for her.

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I really hope its okay.

Nikki :)