Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,107

shook my head. “No. Actually, Michael figured it out very early on.”

“How exactly?” My mother’s voice shook.

“It was the day I spilled the stuff on me in Chemistry. I was upset, and he was talking to me, and I accidentally answered what he thought instead of what he said out loud.”

“That could have been explained away,” my father remarked.

“Yes, it probably could have,” I answered slowly. “But it was my choice not to do that. I knew that I wanted to be totally honest with Michael. It was very important for me.”

They digested that statement in silence. “You trust him that much?” my mom queried.

I replied without hesitation. “I do. I trust him, and he hasn’t let me down.”

“Well, not yet anyway,” my father said archly.

“That’s a very cynical comment,” I shot back.

“The world is a very cynical place,” he answered. “I believe Michael will be discreet for as long as he is involved with you. After that… my expectations of him sink considerably.”

“What if I tell you that won’t be a problem?” I asked.

“Then I’d say you’re fairly naïve, which is about what I’d expect of a seventeen year old girl.”

“But we’ve established that I’m not really your typical seventeen year old girl, and you know, I have more insight into the situation—into my relationship with Michael—than most girls my age would have.”

“You may think you do—”

“Daddy, trust me on this. Michael has no problem with me listening to him, and although I try not to do it—I really do—I’ve heard enough to know that he’s not going to betray my confidence or break my heart.” My face flooded with heat. I hadn’t been yet so frank with my parents about my relationship with Michael, and it was oddly unnerving.

I could tell that they both remained unconvinced. Since I was already in so deep, I decided to go for broke.

“I should tell you that as of last night, Michael’s parents know the truth about me, too.”

My mother groaned and held her head in her hands. My father just sighed again. I could tell he was quickly losing patience with what he saw as my blatant rebellion.

“I’m sorry. I had to tell them. And you don’t know Marly and Luke yet, but please believe me, we can trust them.”

“Tasmyn, this is the crux of the whole issue. You really aren’t mature enough to understand who can or cannot be trusted with a secret that could literally turn your life upside down. You’ve known these people for less than two months. Two months. That’s nothing in the greater scheme of things. They could be psychos. They could be completely rational people who just happen to mention to a friend that their son’s girlfriend can read minds, isn’t that neat? And just like that, it’s all over.” My father was becoming more and more angry as he spoke.

“You have no confidence in my ability to judge people, do you? Don’t you know that all these years, you and Mom have been teaching me how to do that? Because of you, I can discern when it’s safe to open up to someone and when it isn’t. I know for a fact that even if today I told Michael that I never wanted to see him again—” my heart skipped a beat at even the thought of that, “—he wouldn’t ever tell anyone about me. And I know that his parents love me. They haven’t known me for a long, but they do. And since they didn’t know until last night that I could sometimes hear them think, I feel pretty secure in trusting my intuition about that.”

I paused, looking at my parents for a minute. They were both shaken and somewhat appalled by what I had shared with them. I knew it would take time for them to digest it all and understand what I was trying to tell them.

“I want you both to understand that I love you, and I will always appreciate how you brought me up. I know it wasn’t easy. You faced challenges that most parents wouldn’t be able to handle. And I want you to know that everything you did, all the time you took—it was worth it! I’m able to control my listening, for the most part. And when I do slip, I’m able to discern what’s serious and what isn’t. I don’t make rash decisions and I don’t jump to conclusions.

“But I don’t think you raised me to stay the same little girl who was afraid