Especially when her message was super vague. More so than the first time.
“Annee Kadeeeeeeee!” Remy came barreling around the corner, and I scooped her up in my arms.
“Hey, bug.” Her little head went into my neck while all her limbs went around me like a spider monkey. Loved her more than anything, but I needed to know what was going on so I prompted, “Ens!”
It was then Ensley turned to me. Her face was drained of some of her color. Her hand even trembled a bit. That was not like her at all. It made me nervous.
“Micah and Dry are on their way here. They had some club business today, and it went bad.”
My heart thumped and body tightened. Oh my God, were they okay? What had happened? What was wrong? Tons of thoughts rolled through my head, immediately going to the worst.
I shouldn’t care, right? He meant nothing to me. He was just a man, right? But he did count more than I'd wanted to admit. The confliction in my thoughts was giving me a headache.
“It’s otay…” Remy lifted her little hand, coming to my cheek. “WyWy always otay.”
I didn’t know how I felt about my niece already knowing and understanding this information. My first thought was shock that she knew that what her dad did was dangerous. Then sadness that she was in that position, then understanding. This was her world. Remy needed to develop a tough skin.
Micah and Ensley were never leaving the Ravage MC, and Remy needed to understand and acknowledge this life.
It surprised me that she acclimated so quickly, while I struggled to fit in. Was it crazy to admire your three-year-old niece?
“Are they hurt?” I asked Ensley, loving that I had Remy in my arms. My sunshine was really needed at the moment.
“Banged up a bit, but okay.”
“What does ‘banged up a bit’ mean?” My tone rose just a bit. Remy felt it and gave me a squeeze. I breathed in and then out deeply.
“Nothin’ too serious, or they wouldn’t be comin’ here. I just needed help with whatever shows up at my door.”
My darn heart thumped so hard in my chest it made it hard to breathe. Breathe. In and out. In. Out.
“Come help me,” Ensley ordered as she pulled out a huge first aid kit and put it on the dining room table. Opening it, tons of things sprang from its confines.
“I mean, I know Remy falls every once in a while, but did you rob a hospital or something?”
“You’d be amazed how handy this thing is. Princess put it together for me. Good thing.”
Remy started squirming, and I put her down. She ran out of the room.
“She takes this situation really good,” I commented to my sister.
“She’s a trooper. We’ll see how she is when her dad gets here.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
The door swung open, and little feet ran through the house directly to the door. “Daddy!” Remy screamed. I couldn’t tell if it was a good scream or a terrified one.
Micah came in first, covered in dirt from head to toe. He had a few cuts on his face and one through his black pants. Ensley went right to him, asking Remy to stand back.
Dryerson was next, and I thought my heart stopped at the thought of him getting hurt; this was nothing compared to that thought. No, this was rusty barbed wire around my heart as tight as it possibly could be, then alcohol doused on it.
“Where are you hurt?” I asked, rushing to him, pushing down the pain in my chest. I had a mission: Dryerson. Everything else needed to be pushed to the wayside.
The man was covered from head to foot with dirt or ash or heck, both. As I got closer, he smelled like fire and smoke. It was ash.
“Just need a shower, and I’ll be good,” he answered, shutting the door and giving a small wave to Remy.
He didn’t look like he was ‘good,’ though. He had several cuts that had dried blood caked on them. At least it stopped the bleeding. He’d need to have those washed and attended to.
Katie… Remember—you don’t care- He isn’t your man. You have zero claim to him at all.
Was there a way to shut up my thoughts? I needed it. Now.
“Let’s go,” I ordered him, grabbing his hand and pulling him though the house and into the bedroom I claimed as mine all those months ago.
He didn’t protest, and he moved fine. The thing was Dryerson didn’t seem to have a threshold for pain according to Ensley. That scared the heck out of me. If he didn’t feel it, I’d never know how bad the pain actually was.
The door shut behind us, and I locked it for good measure. Remy didn’t need to come in and see all this.
I let go of his hand, but continued to the attached bathroom. “Strip,” I ordered.
He started chuckling. “A demanding little thing. I’d get naked for you anywhere.” It made my toes curl and cheeks heat, but I kept with the task at hand. Hard to do, but necessary.
Turning on the water full blast hot, I waited for it to get steaming, then turned it down to warm as I heard Dryerson approaching.
His hand came to my shoulder, and I turned to face him. I gasped, sucking in every molecule of air in the tiny space.
Bruises and cuts. Lots of them. “Turn” He did, and his back came into view. “Holy shit. What happened?”
I meant to touch the largest bruise that went from his shoulder blade all the way down to his butt. It was angry looking with black already starting to form and had to hurt like all heck. No telling what was going on inside his body.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you cuss.”
Only he’d point that out at a time like this. I didn’t normally curse out of habit from my old life, but his back… “What happened?” I asked him again, turning him around and inspecting his front.
His penis stood tall and proud. It took everything in me not to go there. Not to touch him. “What? I can’t help it. He sees you and instant hard-on.”
Ignoring that because it made me feel too good, I reached into the shower and adjusted the temperature a bit more. “You. In. I’ll go wash your clothes and get some supplies to clean those wounds.”
“I’m thinkin’ I like this part of you, Katie.”
I huffed. There was no part to me. I was just boring old me. Once again, I brushed him off. It was the only way to get through this without falling into his arms.
“Shower, now.”
His chuckle was deep and throaty.
Snap out of it.
Saying nothing, I went into the bedroom, grabbed his jeans, and pulled everything from the pockets. Surprisingly he only had keys, a wallet, phone and some loose change. I didn’t know why that was surprising to me because it was probably just normal.
I didn’t have many opportunities to go through a man’s jeans in preparation to wash them.
Nabbing the rest of the clothes, but not the cut that was laying on the bed, I moved out and met Ensley at the washing machine. “How bad is Micah?” I asked her as we put both men’s clothes into the washer.
“Bruised up. His back is really rough. He’s gonna be in pain tomorrow. Guess they fell off a fire escape.” My eyes rounded. “Yeah, some kind of explosion, but that’s all he’d tell me.”
“Huh? All he’d tell you?”
Ensley closed the lid on the washer. “Yeah. Club business. I know what I need to know. It’s how it is. I’ve gotta go check in on Remy, who’s watching Trolls, and take care of my man.” She turned around, and I stood there for a moment.