That Night √

34» That Conversation

Grace's POV
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It was Frost who broke the tense silence around Luca and I. He barked and pulled at my sweater with his paws, trying to get off his bandage in the process.

"I'm not planning on staying awake the whole night, Rose." Luca spoke up, slight irritation lacing his voice. He was sitting beside me, both of us sitting on the stools lining in front of the kitchen counter.

"This is not necessary, Lucius." I whispered, not looking at him. I was pretty sure that he wasn't planning to let go of this anytime soon.

"It is." He spoke up. "Start talking."

I felt the lump forming in my throat. It was way past midnight, for God's sake. I didn't need this, especially not right now.

"I don't know what you want me to talk about."

I saw him pass me a look of disbelief. "Everything that I don't fucking know."

I looked at him at last and it was pretty much a glare. His expression mirrored mine. Perhaps we both needed sleep.

"My parents are dead." I spoke through my clenched jaw. Even Frost looked up at me as if finally sensing the tense atmosphere. "Isn't that enough?"

His hard expression faltered a little at that. He turned sideways and rested his elbows on the kitchen counter, raking his hands through his curls.

"I know that." He said. "Chase had been quite obvious."

Chase stupid Denver.

I blinked and looked away from his side profile. Frost softly nudged his black nose against my stomach before curling up on my lap.

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came at first. There was just the familiar dread. What was I supposed to tell him? How was I supposed to tell him?

Why was this so hard?

"They died...back in Manhattan." The heavy lump in my throat made it harder to talk. I didn't want to think about that day. I really didn't want to.

"How?" He wasn't looking at me. "I need to know how, Grace."

There wasn't the cold harshness in his voice that I had somehow grown used to.

"I don't want to talk about it." My voice came out small. I curled my fingers gently against Frost's white fur and that seemed to calm me down a bit.

Surprisingly, Luca didn't say anything after that. He didn't look at me either. I could hear the clock ticking as seconds passed by.

"If things had been the same." His voice was slow and careful, almost as if he didn't want to say it out loud. "Would you have told me?"

My heart thudded against my chest, at the small familiar ache inside of me when I heard the softness in his voice—something I hadn't heard in so long. Something I hadn't been expecting to hear anytime soon.