Free Strangers by Barbara Elsborg Page B

anyone about my wedding that wasn’t, either.”
    “I don’t trust anyone.”
    “You mean you don’t trust me.”
    “I don’t trust anyone .”
    “I’ve trusted you.You can trust me.I can keep secrets.Believe me, I’m an expert in keeping secrets.So tell me, Charlie.I won’t be shocked.I won’t judge you and I won’t tell anyone.” She looked into his eyes.“I promise.”

Chapter Six
     
    Charlie sighed.“You’re not going to like me anymore.”
    “Who says I like you now?”
    He glanced at her.“I’ve done something very bad.”
    Kate’s heart jumped.
    He exhaled a shaky breath.“I’ve had just about as much as I can take of myself.”
    Her mind ran off down a disaster-strewn path.“What have you done?”
    “Not just one thing.Lots of things.Some worse than others.Christ, I wish I was drunk.It would make this easier.” His shoulders slumped.
    “Then it’s better that you’re not.”
    Charlie laughed, but there was no warmth in it.“Or high,” he added.
    He gripped her so hard, Kate winced and tried to wiggle her fingers.
    “Don’t let go of my fucking hand,” he snapped.
    “I told you I wouldn’t let you go.” She moved her other hand to his as well, tightening the connection between them.
    “I’ve fucked up everything.Not just my life, others as well.” He gulped a mouthful of air.“I fucked a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl at a party and gave her cocaine, and I couldn’t even remember her name and she’s in a coma.I could get sent to prison.I should be in prison.” He kept his eyes down.
    Kate had told him he couldn’t shock her, but he had.
    His voice trailed off to a whispered monotone.“I didn’t realize how young she was.She said she was sixteen.I took her word for it.I was pissed off because I thought she’d taken my boxers.I lied to the police about what I’d done.I thought I’d get arrested.”
    Kate didn’t say anything.
    “What are you thinking?” he asked in a hoarse voice.“Tell me.Go on.I know what a shit I am.”
    “Then there’s no need for me to tell you.”
    He groaned.
    “Did you make her do anything she didn’t want to do?” Kate asked.
    He shook his head.“She was downstairs dancing after I left.Brian gave her more coke.The police arrested him.”
    Kate knew she could have pointed out Charlie wasn’t responsible for what happened once he’d left the party, that he didn’t know exactly what this guy Brian had done or given her, but none of that excused his behavior.
    “Aren’t you going to tell me it wasn’t my fault?” He raised his dark eyes to hers.
    “Is that what your friends told you, what you keep telling yourself?”
    “I don’t know.” Charlie rocked his head against the wall.
    “I won’t tell you that,” Kate said.“You have to take responsibility for what happens in your life, just like me.”
    Charlie’s head spun round.“But what Richard did to you wasn’t your fault.Christ, it was no reason to commit suicide, because you got tricked and dumped by some tosser.Find another guy.There are plenty of us out there.We’re not all bastards.”
    “It’s not that easy.”
    “Yeah, it is.”
    Kate’s heart felt squeezed inside her chest, hands trying to force it into a space much too small.“It’s easy for you.You’re famous, rich and sexy.One smile from you and women line up to sleep with you.”
    “That’s not a good thing.”
    There was silence for a moment before Kate spoke again.
    “Who else’s life have you messed up?”
    “I’m adopted,” he blurted.
    “Then you’re a lucky guy.”
    His soft eyes turned rock-hard in an instant.“What the fuck does that mean?”
    “Well, I wasn’t adopted.”
    Charlie looked at her in bewilderment.“How does that make me lucky?”
    Kate knew this was going to make him feel bad, but he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself.“I lost my parents when I was seven.Until I was sixteen, I lived in children’s homes and occasionally with foster parents.No one wanted to