“Fucker! You need to at least answer me when I’m callin’ ya,” Micah said in a rush.
“Bad?” I asked, thinking that would be what the problem was.
He didn’t answer. Instead he turned to Katie. “I’m sorry but I’ve gotta steal him for a bit for club business.”
Ensley came through the door, her arms up in the air. “And we get sister time. That’s it. If you have a dick, get the fuck out!”
Katie began chuckling straight out. Yes, she was making steps and coming back to her old self. I loved this. Loved her.
I got out of the bed, lifted my arms above my head and stretched, my shirt rising up.
“You’ve been eating too many Swedish Fish.” Ensley comment, and I patted my stomach.
“Love my sweets.”
Micah looked as though he was going to blow a gasket.
“Let me pee, and I’m ready.”
“Hurry,” he told me as I went into the bathroom and did my business. Not looking at Micah, I went right to Katie and wrapped her tight in my arms.
She didn’t resist or try to pull away. It shocked me, and I enjoyed every second of it. “Take it easy for a while. Why don’t you hang out here and get to know the place better?”
“Alright, Grandpa Munster … out,” Ensley said, and I grabbed my heart.
“Grandpa? You wound me.”
“Dicks out.” Ensley pointed to the door, and Katie’s smile was wide. That was all I could ask for.
“Later.” After kissing Katie on the top of her head once more, something I couldn’t stop doing, we walked out of the room. “Yeah?” I questioned Micah to start talking.
“Ghost. We’ve found them. Gotta roll out.”
Fuck, we were going to be gone longer than a few hours for this one. I had my cell, and I’d be making use of it. Leaving Katie now wasn’t good timing. But she did have her sister, so I needed to make peace with it.
Now … we find the guns so we can find our man, no matter what it takes.
20
KATIE
“So what are we doing for girls’ day?” I asked my sister after Dryerson and Micah left the room. Thinking that they were going off to do badass biker stuff was scary, and I needed something to get my mind off of it. Badass. I smiled inside. I didn’t know if it was good or bad that my vocabulary was expanding.
“We’re stayin’ at the clubhouse today. Remy’s with Blaze and Princess, so we have to go and find them. Then, we can do whatever you want. Polish our nails, watch movies, talk about boys…”
It was strange being a twenty-three-year-old woman and never having a ‘girls’ night’ until I’d left what was once home. Since then, Ensley and I had them all the time. They ranged from movies to nails to shopping. Lots of times it was watching Trolls with Remy, but Ensley and I had our moments alone where we did the other fun things.
“Let me wash up. Do we have clothes here?”
Ensley went into the room next door and then came back with a duffle. “I broke into your apartment and got you some things.”
I smiled. “You have a key. So breaking in doesn’t really count, does it?”
“Yeah, but breaking in sounds much cooler.” She handed me the bag, and I took it.
“Sure it does. Thanks for this.”
“Yeah, the mascara running down your face is…” Suddenly I felt mortified. Dryerson saw me with raccoon eyes. No. She laughed. “You should see your face. No, Katie. You cried all of that out a long time ago and remember, we washed together...”
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “I’m not amused here.” But I was smiling. For the first time really smiling, like when I was with Remy, but now it was out there in the open.
It felt strange but good at the same time. It would take me a bit to get used to this feeling. I moved into the bathroom with Ensley yelling, “I didn’t bring all your makeup. You don’t need that shit.”
At first my heart stopped. No makeup. No war paint? No, I couldn’t go out there without the mask… I jumped when a hand touched my shoulder and turned to see Ensley.
“I get it. You hide behind it.”
How the heck did she know that? I never talked to her about my war paint.
She nodded. “I’m not a dumbass. You loved makeup before all that shit went down, but afterward you went into double drive concealing your face, but really trying to push down your emotions. You don’t need that anymore. You’re here. You’re you. We all love you for you. Not all that crap on your face.”
Tears welled in my damn eyes again. “Is it too early to smack you?” I asked her, and she burst out laughing.
“You’re comin’ back to you. I love that.” She patted my butt. “Now get in there and let’s go find my baby girl.”
“Whatever,” I called out as I entered the attached bathroom.
My eyes were a mess. Red, puffy and an icky crust in the corners. My hair was a rat’s nest with so many tangles I didn’t know if I’d be able to get them all out. Ensley might not have brought the makeup, but I hoped to God she brought my hairbrush.
Digging in the bag, I found enough clothes for a couple of days. I didn’t know we were staying that long, but … crap. I needed to call my boss. I was supposed to work the later shift tonight.
I pulled myself together, sans makeup, and was happy to have a hairbrush. Since I had to make a phone call, I also didn’t have any time to dwell. Coming out, I asked, “My cell? Where is it?”
Ensley looked up from her phone, then looked around the room and shrugged. “I don’t know. You want me to call it?”
“Yeah,” I replied, starting to search the room for it. After I started crying in the clubhouse, nothing else registered except Ensley and Dryerson.
A buzzing sound came from the bed, and I pulled all the blankets off. Not seeing it, I peered down under the bed and low and behold, there was my phone. I snatched it up and looked at the display, hitting ignore on Ensley.
“That wasn’t nice. You’re supposed to answer your sister.” She was so full of it. The teasing, I really missed it. Missed being me.
“You’re right here, and I need to call work. I’m supposed to …” I looked at the display, and a message popped up with Mrs. Brashers’ name on it.
It read…
Dryerson, thank you for taking such good care of her. I’ll take her off schedule the next two days.
I scrolled up and read what Dryerson wrote to Mrs. Brashers …
Hey, this is Katie’s man. She’s sick and will be off the next two days.
The message made me smile. He didn’t ask her if I could have the time off; no, he told her. That was such a Dryerson thing to do.
“I should probably be mad that Dryerson texted my boss, but I’m not. What’s up with that?” I turned to my sister, seriously asking.
“Well, number one—you love him. Two—he’s taking care of you. And three—you’ve never had that, and you need to hold on to both.”
My lip tipped. “He does care. I’ve known that almost since we met but was too afraid to have something clean and happy. Let alone I felt like I didn’t deserve either of those things.”