Under the stars || James McVey

chapter twenty six

James’ POV

It had been a few days since I’d last seen Katherine. She asked for some space and told both Brad and I that she’d call when she was ready. After telling us what had happened to her last year, she needed some time to think and adjust to her new confession. She told us she thought about telling her older brother Josh, because they had lost their attachment since the shooting and she wanted to feel close to him again, but knew that if she told Josh, all hell would break loose and she wouldn’t be able to keep her family safe then. We let her know that we were here for her if she needed to talk and just to be around someone who knows what we do. She seemed grateful for that and left without another word.

The ride back home after we dropped Katherine off at her house was silent. Neither me, nor Brad, knew what to say about what we’d just learnt. It wasn’t something that was easily comprehendible. It was ridiculous to say the least and neither of us knew what to make of it. Katherine nearly died that night, and her brother did die, and now this woman will be on a hunt for her family if Katie says anything. I was mulling over my deafening thoughts and my head hurt. I thought that my problems were hard to deal with and she had suffered like me, but in reality, her pain is much worse. It wasn’t just an emotional pain for her, but a physical one too. She was shot and lost a lot of blood; she nearly died. That hadn’t happened to me. But surely it was time for me to talk about what happened to me not that Katherine had told me about her experience. It hardly seemed fair for me to hide my secrets now she’d openly shared hers. I just didn’t want Katherine to see me any differently, and I knew that if I did share what experience I had faced, there’s a slight chance she would, and not in a good way.

“James?”

“Yeah?” I turn my head to Brad as he stops the car. I quickly look around noticing that we were already parked up in front of the house.

“You know how Katherine was saying that if she told anyone about who killed her brother, her family would pay the price?” He asks plainly.

“Er, dramatic, but yeah, what about it?”

“She told us.” He  states.

“You don’t think that we count in this do you?” I ask him worriedly.

“I don’t know, but we’re a flight risk too now. We know what happened.”

“Yes, but Brad we don’t know who this woman is. Katie never told us so there’s no risk there.” I try reassuring him but he still seems unconvinced.

“We know it was a woman.” He finishes before climbing out of the car and waiting for me to get out too so that he could lock it. The fact that I and Brad knew the gender of the killer wasn’t that damaging; was it? Katherine wouldn’t have told us if it was. Right?

Walking back into the house, we call out for the lads and are greeting with a simple ‘Kitchen!’ We follow the voices to their location and see them sitting at the counter watching a football game.

“Yo lads, where’ve you been?” Connor asks, getting up from his seat and flinging his arm around Brad’s shoulders.

“Just with Katie,” I reply nonchalantly, trying my best not to show how shaken up I felt after mine and Brad’s previous discussion.

“Katie, huh? Brad, were you third wheeling?” Connor teases, giving me a wink and a playful punch in the arm. I punch him back and he cries out, leaving me to whistle my way over to the fridge with a smug look on my face.

“No, we, er… we just hung out,” Brad says, struggling to find the right words to say. We exchange weak smiles to each other, trying not to let the others see our sour expressions because they’re bound to ask questions. Even though he was still unconvinced, Connor shoots me a wink before shrugging his shoulders and taking the orange juice carton out of my hands that I’d just gotten out of the fridge. I frown at him and he just grins before taking out two glasses and filling them both up and passing one to me with another signature wink. I shake my head at him with a chuckle and take a swig of the orange liquid after quickly thanking him for it.

“What’s going on with you and Katherine, mate?” Joe asks as he takes a gulp of his coffee. “You’ve been going out with her a lot and every time you come back you have that stupid goofy grin on your face. It’s obvious something’s going on.”

I just stare at him as if he had two heads. “I don’t have a stupid goofy grin!” I exclaim, but looking back and forth between each face in front of me I could tell that he wasn’t kidding about it. Feeling myself blushing now, I groan and lean back on the counter with my head hanging low. “Oh, I don’t know; it’s complicated.”

“Complicated how, mate?”

“It’s just with everything that’s happened; I don’t want to bring her into that. It’s not fair,”

“Come on, James. She makes you happy, right?”

“I guess,” I sigh with a shrug.

“You guess? You’re kidding right? Anyone would think you’re in love with her already.” Tristan laughs as he takes a sip of Connor’s juice resulting in a scowl from the younger boy.

“I don’t know man. She’s different and I’ve never met anyone like her. She makes me feel different, you know and when I’m with her, I’m totally fine again. It’s frustrating to be honest.” I reply honestly. Shrugging and sighing I take a seat by Dean and he pats my shoulder comfortingly.

“Maybe she’s your rock.” Connor chirps suddenly.

“My rock?”

“Yeah, maybe she’s the one to keep you on the ground. Like in the Bible, it says ‘The Lord is my rock’, she’s your foundation, your support.” He says casually as if he hadn’t just confused me even more.

“She’s my support and foundation?” I ask questioningly.

“Yup!” He replies, popping the ‘p’. “She makes you feel normal right? Like you can be yourself?” I nod twice, still not understanding what he was getting at. “Then, my dear boy, she’s your rock. She stops you from floating away to another dimension where no one can reach you. She keeps you steady and balanced and grounded.”

He gives me a cheeky grin and a pat on the back as the others laugh at him, but each of them knowing he had some sort of point accordingly. The doorbell rings then, and Connor races against Tristan to the door, both shouting “Pizza!” on their travels.

I sigh and watch as the boys come back with three boxes and place them on the kitchen island. They all chatter amongst themselves and hand each other different things. I don’t really take much notice but join them anyways, thinking over the same thing whilst I do so.

My rock?