Chapter 72. It's Time You Meet My Parents

Rae:

I don’t move.

Not for a while.

I’m still curled on his lap, arms around him. Breathing him in. My cheek resting on his shoulder.

What he just told me—it sits like a stone in my chest.

He was twelve.

Twelve.

And they blamed him for that?

I hold him tighter.

He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t even sigh. Just wraps an arm around me and brushes his hand up and down my back, slow, like I might fall apart otherwise.

“Go change,” he murmurs.

I lift my head. “What?”

“You’re coming with me.”

“To where?”

He looks at me, something unreadable behind his eyes. “To see them. My parents.”

A pause.

“To put flowers on their grave.”

I blink. “You… want me to come?”

He nods. Quiet. Steady. “Yeah. It’s about time I introduced you.”

My lips part, but I say nothing. His gaze flickers to mine again, challenging.

“Unless,” he adds, “you don’t love me.”

“What—” I laugh. “Are yo