Page 27 of From Angel to Rogue (Four Foxes #6)

LAN

“Do you think he would like yellow?” Katy frowned. “Or should we use blue since boys like blue, right? Did you like blue as a kid, Lan?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t really think much about colors.”

Her frown deepened. “Is that not something boys think about?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

She let out a frustrated sigh. “Maybe we should ask him before we try anything. What if he hates it? I only chose yellow because it’s a happy color.”

“Katy,” I said softly, squeezing her shoulder. “I’m sure he will love anything you do for him, and if he doesn’t like it, we can always change it, okay?”

She stared at me unblinking before she slowly nodded. “Fine.”

I crouched down and hiked the paint can open to reveal the bright sunny-yellow color that Katy picked to paint little Luka’s room.

And she was right—it was a happy color.

After the meeting with Naomi last week, we got all the papers checked and signed. So in three days, Luka would come to stay with us for his initial three-month period, and Katy dove straight into getting his room ready and panicked over every detail.

But it wasn’t like before when she used to nitpick and micro-manage every aspect of her job. This was genuine motherly concern to make sure her child’s needs were met.

Katy coughed, cupping her palm over her mouth as she took a step back.

I dropped the paint lid on the floor and was immediately on her side. “Katy, you okay?”

“Yeah,” her muffled voice said. “It’s the smell. It’s making me nauseous.”

I immediately took hold of her hand and dragged her out of the room.

The wrinkle in her nose still remained as she lowered herself to the couch and I handed her a bottle of ice-cold water.

“Thanks,” she muttered, sipping it slowly.

Her eyes squeezed shut as she leaned back, rubbing the center of her chest.

“K?” My brows furrowed. “You okay? Do I need to call the doctor or something?”

Her bright green eyes blinked at me. “I’m fine. It’s weirdly been happening to me a lot. Some smells just make me want to puke my guts out.”

“Is that normal? How long has it been going on?”

“For a while,” she mumbled, her gaze flickering. “Maybe since that night.”

“What night?”

She didn’t reply, lost in a daze.

“Katy,” I snapped, waving a hand at her face. “What night?”

Panic clouded her eyes as she jerked upright. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

My jaw clenched as I pinned her with a glare. “You either tell me or I’ll find a way to figure it out myself.”

She exhaled, her shoulders deflating as she made herself smaller. “Do you remember when we broke up?”

A pang sliced my heart. “I think I remember that day very well, Katy.”

She swallowed. “Two weeks before that, something happened. That’s why I was more unhinged than usual.” She let out an empty laugh.

Every single muscle in my body tensed. Something happened?

“What happened, Katy?” I gritted out through my teeth.

“I don’t know Lan.” Her voice broke. “That’s the thing, I don’t remember.

But something bad happened. I was with the girls at the Fairmount for our usual Saturday nights, and I might’ve drunk too much or taken something, I don’t remember, but I woke up in a hotel room later that night.

” Her lower lip trembled, and her eyes glimmered with unshed moisture.

“I was in the same dress, but I had no clue how I ended up there. But someone was there Lan. With me.” She shivered, rubbing a hand along her arm. “Someone who sent me pictures.”

I could hear the roar of my pulse. “Pictures?”

She nodded, retrieving her phone from the pocket of her loose cardigan and fiddled with it before handing it to me.

Fury boiled my blood at the state of her in those pictures. “And you don’t remember a thing?”

“No.” She averted her gaze.

I let my rage shimmer as I sent those pictures to my phone. “I’ll look into it,” I muttered dryly. “I’ll finish painting the room. You better stay out here.”

I bounced to my feet, not meeting her eyes. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there.

“Lan,” she called out, her voice laced with fear and sadness.

I froze midway down the hallway—my back turned to her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You know… You know I would never do something like that, Lan. I really don’t remember what happened that night. I love you, Lan so, so much, and the last thing I would do is… is be with someone like that.”

My jaw clenched.

“But you don’t know, Katy.” I eyed her over my shoulder. “You don’t know what happened that night.”

She stood desolate in the middle of the living room, a forlorn glint glittering in her eyes.

“You should’ve told me,” I steeled, curling my fist. “You should’ve told me instead of lying like you always do. I feel like I don’t really know you anymore, Katy.”

A sob escaped her lips at my words, and it hurt my chest, but her actions were killing me alive.

I knew in my heart that my Katy wouldn’t do anything like that, but just how much does she think I can take before I completely lose my mind?

Just the thought of someone taking advantage of her in such a vulnerable state made me want to fucking destroy everything in my sight.

I gave everything to this woman and never had a single ounce of regret, but lately, she was making me question every single decision in my fucking life.

I didn’t say another word as I dashed into Luka’s room for a much-needed distraction.

Three hours later, the walls of Luka’s room were sunny bright yellow, so unlike the dark pain swirling on my insides.

“Hey,” a soft voice mumbled.

My head snapped to see Katy leaning over the doorframe, holding a cloth to her nose.

“Hi,” I replied, feeling a whole lot calmer now that I had poured all my frustrations onto the walls. “When will the furniture be coming in?” I asked, opening the windows wider to let the fumes out.

“Day after.”

“Good.”

“Are you still mad?”

I sighed, my eyes darting to her. “Can I really be mad at you, Katy?”

She nodded, smiling sadly. “I thought that, umm… we could stick this.” She waved a sheet of stickers she held in her other hand.

“They are glow-in-the-dark stars, red color. I used to have them on my ceiling as a child, so I thought it would be a nice touch. We don’t have to do it if you think it’s lame and stupid. ”

I walked up to her and took it from her hand. “Where do you want it?”

She blinked before she gestured with her pointer finger. “The bed would go there, so it would be nice to put it above them.”

I nodded, dragging the ladder to the position. I could feel the weight of her gaze on me as I secured the star stickers to the ceiling. “Is this good?”

“Yes.”

“We should let the paint dry for a day or so to get rid of the smell,” I said, softly closing the door behind me as Katy matched my steps.

“Okay, can we stick more stickers on the walls?” she asked, sliding her eyes to me as she walked. “I ordered a jungle mural. Luka said he wanted to see animals and of course, I’ll be taking him. But till then, he could have animals in his room. Also, do you know what kind of toys—”

“Careful,” I growled as I slammed my hand on the edge of the wall and caught her with my other hand. In the next second, her head followed the path and landed on my palm instead of almost splitting her head open on the wall corner.

A sharp blast of pain spread through my knuckles and I bit back a curse.

“Lan, oh my God. Are you alright?” Katy’s worried eyes met mine as she took my hand in hers.

My knuckles were bright red, the skin broken as the stinging blood seeped through them.

“Oh no,” Katy whispered in a distraught voice. “We need to get it cleaned up.”

“It’s fine,” I muttered but followed as she frantically walked to the kitchen. She rummaged through the gleaming gray cabinets, her face pinched in a frown.

“Katy, I’m fine, it’s fine.”

But she didn’t listen till she pulled out a first-aid kit.

“Sit,” she ordered, gesturing to the breakfast chair and I did without complaining.

She avoided my eyes and with the utmost care, she cleaned my barely there scratch and put a Band-Aid over it.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tracing a feather touch over it. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s okay, K. I’m not going to sue you for it,” I mustered a joke but that only made a tear gather in the edge of her lashes like a diamond.

“But it’s your piano playing hand and now it’s hurt because of me. I feel that whatever I do, I keep ruining it. I feel like a complete failure of a mess. I swear I’m trying but it’s so fucking hard.”

“It’s okay, angel. Sometimes all we got to do is try, and that is enough,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her as I tugged her to my chest.

And she cried softly, holding on to me for dear life.

Maybe all she needed was someone to hold and tell her everything was going to be all right.

That it was going to be okay.

We all needed that sometimes.