I Remember Love 39 Coming Clean

Gradually, he became aware of a hand holding his. His name echoed in his hears as he hovered near consciousness and he struggled to hang on and grasp onto those delicate hands which held his own.

A low groan escaped his chapped lips as he winced against the pain in his side. In moments his side was filled with a searing pain in his right side where the knife had got him. Slowly, He opened his eyes.

There before him was a thing wraith of a girl, who looked oddly, like Luke. Immediately he sprang to life. Sitting up in the bed he cried out in pain as Hunter stepped forward to push him back down.

"Lay down dumb a.s.s. You just took a knife to your ribs, you looking to tear your st.i.tched?" Hunter barked, his face showing an expression of impatience.

Charlie nodded to his head. Dropping to the mattress he looked at the strange girl beside him and mumbled with a parched voice.

"Luke, is he..is he ok?"

Hunter raked a hand through his hair looking at the punk seated on the opposite side of the bed and arched a brow in question at her.

Amalia sighed biting down on her lip as she held onto Charlie's hands.

"Charlie...It's me."

Charlie blinked. His eyes narrowing at this slip of a girl. Silently, he studied her facial structure. Her eyes. And felt his heart sink. This was Luke.

Charlie ripped his hand away from her.

"Leave." was his only reply, and having said that he shut his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Amalia felt like she had been slapped in the face but she couldn't blame him. They had known each other for almost a year now, and she had been lying to him the whole time. She sucked in deep breath and sighed.

"I..I know you're mad. I get it. But you need to know, it wasn't like I planned this. How could I know we would have met and become friends?" Amalia's voice cracked as she tried to explain herself, her pain being compounded by guilt at all the lies she had told.

Charlie remained silent. Neither forcing her to leave or showing any sign of listening. So Amalia continued.

"It..It was necessary for me to hide who I was. To be a boy. Do you think Hunter would let me in the club otherwise..And..there are other things..Darker things..I have yet to tell you. But I promise I will. So please, can we just..Go back?"

The pleading tone in Amalia's voice was so full of pain that even Hunter felt tears stinging his eyes. Charlie on the other hand showed no sign of being moved at all. Instead his face flushed red with anger.

"So you could tell him? But you kept it hidden from me?" More than pain in his voice there was an undeniable amount of frost. Amalia blanched as she continued meekly, looking down at her hands which were now folded her in lap.

Amalia opened her mouth to explain but was interrupted by Hunter, who put up his to stop her.

"..Lia didn't tell..I found out during our fight. And forced her to admit the truth." He interjected.

Charlie was pensive for a moment as looked between the two of them, he hadn't failed to pick up on that little pet name Hunter had used. He couldn't tell whether or not he was marking his territory but it didn't matter. It just fuelled his anger further.

"I see you both are on nickname basis already. How sweet." He sneered, clearly upset at the implied intimacy. He had treated Luke as a brother and been pushed away at every turn. Where he had failed Hunter had managed to succeed at every turn.

Amalia couldn't help but flinch again at his tone.

"It's true. He found out after our fight when I went back to challenge him." She retorted, she couldn't keep her annoyance from showing in her voice though as she continued. "Not that it matters. You aren't my keeper Charles, and if you didn't insist on trying to be, maybe I would have told you at some point too!"

She wasn't wrong though. At least not entirely. If Charlie didn't try to force her hand at every turn she wouldn't have went back that night to confront Hunter. If she hadn't confronted him, he may never have found out.

This was only conjecture though. It was just her own need to rationalize everything that happened. Deep down, it was just another way for her to absolve herself of guilt.

Charlie looked at her for the first time since they started talking. He couldn't mask the pain in his eyes listening to her words. He couldn't deny there was some truth to her words though, perhaps he had been too protective.

"..So Lia..What is your actual name them? Since its obvious it isn't Luke." It felt like such a silly question to ask but he had long since come to terms with the fact that he knew next to nothing about this girl at all. This whole time, everything he had known about her had been nothing but a lie.

"Amalia, my name is Amalia. Amalia Patterson."

Charlie listened to her she sat in front of him, Hunter at his side, and explained to him about her past. About her father, and her grandfather. And her absence from the club. The fighting. All of it. She broke it down for the two of them, her plan to find the men who had hurt her family.

Charlie sat in silence quietly absorbing everything she said. He was still so very angry at her, but on the other hand she had endured so much in his absence. It was no wonder that she and Hunter had grown as close as they had. It wounded him as it had before, that at such an integral moment.

Charlie relented. He couldn't fix the past. But he could work to repair the future. He was determined he wouldn't let her down again.