Awakening Book One of the Trust Series - By J. E. Swift Page 0,106

himself the next morning pulling up to Caitlyn’s apartment, unsure exactly what to say to her.

He began to knock on her door and had not even finished the first rap when she flew the door open. She looked at him for a brief moment as he drank her in. As he stood dumbstruck, all the apologies and practiced words were quickly forgotten. “Hi.”

She stood there for one more moment, appraising him, eyes watering, before flinging herself around him, into his arms. He was home.

Chapter 30

A weariness surrounded Caitlyn as she pulled away from his arms. It was time for the both of them to have a long overdue conversation about his past. She walked over to her kitchen and contemplated delaying the exchange, not wanting to acknowledge the severity of what they needed to discuss. Caitlyn grabbed the tea she had been drinking and took a long thoughtful sip. Finally, she stated her feelings as simply as possible. “Garrett. We need to talk.”

“I know.”

“You lied. Everything I know about you is a lie.”

She saw the hurt in his eyes and knew that the words stung him. “Kit Kat-I can promise you that is not true.”

The deceit she had been feeling from his omissions and the guilt from her own betrayal over the past few weeks were finally catching up to her. In truth, it was exhausting her. Caitlyn set the empty coffee mug she had been holding on the table. “Garrett, if you only knew how much I want to believe that. With all my heart and soul, I do. But there are certain facts, that can’t be denied. Your father is head of the Cine Tofa. You never told me, never trusted me with that information. How do you think it felt to have been filled in on your past by someone else? I insisted that you had no part in the Cine Tofa, and yet I found out you lived with your father for three years, basically being groomed to take his place.”

“I can explain that, Caitlyn. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to lie to you or keep my past from you. But I had no choice.”

She stared at him coolly. “There are always choices, Garrett. You claim that you love me, and you talk about a future for us. How do you think there can be a future when you can’t even share the past?”

Garrett tried to reach out to hold her hand, but she pulled it out of his reach. “There were reasons I lied, Caitlyn. I had to keep my identity secret. The Trust required it. My mother taught me never to talk about it and the Trust emphasized that I could not tell you when I was chosen for mentorship. I would have put us in danger if the general members of the Trust knew. We would have been targets. It was for your safety as well. People would have naturally assumed that you were Cine Tofa, too.”

“Regardless if there were legitimate reasons, Garrett, there is more than just omissions that I have concerns about.”

“Such as?”

She looked down, gathering her thoughts. She could forgive him for not telling her of his past with his father, but the next part was a difference in ideals. Quietly, she continued. “You led me on. I discovered that most of your core beliefs fall in line with the Cine Tofa. You taught me to believe in the Trust, what they stood for, and most of all, believe in you. My belief in you had to be unwavering. I knew no one except for you, I was overwhelmed with the enormity of the Awakening, and I had to let myself believe you would never lead me astray. How can my trust with you be anything but shattered?”

Garrett never denied Caitlyn’s accusations. It was hard to tell if this appeased her or if it angered her more. A part of her had been hoping that he was going to deny this, state that he hated the Cine Tofa and their ideals, that she had been fed lies about him. Instead, she took his silence as confirmation.

“I thought I was falling for one person and you perpetuated that lie. I know you and I certainly don’t have the same belief system. How could you even consider belonging to a group like the Cine Tofa?”

Garrett opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking. “Caitlyn, you want to live in a world where you believe that everything is