Katie was huddled up in the corner, not allowing anyone to get near her.
“Wild Kat,” I whispered. Her eyes flew to me, got round, and she started screaming at the top of her lungs.
It was a pain-filled scream. One that would live in my nightmares for the rest of my life.
Katie got up ran around me and out the door, still screaming.
She was scared of me.
Scared of him.
Fuck.
34
KATIE
Ensley stood by the door, and I flew into her arms almost knocking her down, if it weren’t for Austyn right behind her, helping Ensley stand and take my weight.
Her arms wrapped around me so tightly, and the waterworks were uncontrollable.
“I killed Dryerson,” I said through choked cries.
“Shhh … no. You didn’t,” Ensley told me as she led me off to the side away from the circle of cops standing in the front.
I argued, “I did. I shot him five times. I can still hear the sound and feel the gun in my hand.” True to the point, my hands were trembling.
Ensley stared deep into my eyes. “Listen to me.” I nodded, the wetness still seeping down my cheeks. “You killed Dry’s twin brother. That wasn’t Dryerson.”
My head shook. She was talking nonsense. “I know what I saw, Ensley. Please listen to me.”
My entire body was now shaking.
“Katie,” was called to the left, and Micah charged his way toward me.
“I’m so sorry, Micah. He was your best friend, but he … he…” I couldn’t continue as the sobs once again took over my body. Without another word, Micah wrapped his arms around me, and I clung to him not knowing what I needed, but needing something.
“Shh….” he whispered in my hair and kissed the top of it. It wasn’t anything romantic, just a peck to let me know my brother was there. “Need you to breathe in and out for me, Katie. Your heart’s racin’ a million miles an hour. Can you do that for me?”
I shook my head no because I couldn’t focus on something as stupid as breathing. I’d just killed the man I loved and thought loved me.
“Do it with me.” Micah began taking deep breaths in and out. Each one I felt on my cheek that was plastered to his chest.
Minutes, seconds, hours—I had no idea—but finally I started to mimic his breaths. My body was strung so tightly like a coil ready to spring.
Micah pulled me away and bent down so our eyes were connected. “That wasn’t your Dryerson. That was a fucked up man who wanted to fuck with Dry’s life. I swear to you with everything inside me that you did not kill Dryerson.”
My eye flitted to the door, and my body tensed. “He’s there,” I whispered to Micah, finding myself holding onto his shirt with both fists. Scared? No, try terrified.
“That’s your man Katie. Not the man who kidnapped you.”
The man they called Dryerson took two steps toward us, saw me edge back, and stopped. His hands went through his hair as he pulled hard. That was a Dryerson thing to do.
I shook my head. This was all confusing. Nothing made any sense. It felt like a cloud was inside my brain, fogging it up.
Dryerson took another step closer just as a police officer cut him from my view. It didn’t take but moments, and I saw the back of the man everyone was saying was Dryerson. He blocked the cop from getting to me.
“We need to ask her some questions,” He stated firmly.
“Well, she’s in fuckin’ shock. After we get her checked out at the doctor, then maybe she’ll talk,” the man said. God, was this really Dry?
“She murdered a man,” the cop said coldly, and my body went ramrod straight. Murder? No, he was going to hurt me. I saw it in his eyes.
“She was protecting herself from that asshole who took her,” Dryerson, maybe, said to the cop as Cruz walked up and slapped a hand on Dryerson’s shoulder.
“That asshole in there is this man’s,” he nodded to Dryerson, “twin brother who he didn’t know he fuckin’ had. You’ve already talked to the man and woman who live here. They told you what happened. There’s nothin’ more to fuckin’ say,” Cruz said, looking to me.
Then the strangest thing happened. Cruz. One of the toughest men I knew came up to me and wrapped his arms around me tight. Family. I had one. He was giving that to me. Or was he?
Cruz stepped away. “They’re gonna bring out the man who took you in about ten minutes. I want you to look at him and Dryerson together.”
I shook my head. “No. I just wanna…”
Cruz shook his head this time. “You’re part of us; Katie, like it or not. And everything I do is to protect my family. I need you to look at the both of them and know that you did not hurt your man. That your man was with me and the other brothers when this jackass took you.”
“I don’t know what’s true and what’s not. I’m so confused.” If my head didn’t explode soon, I’d be very surprised.
Cruz gripped my shoulders with all the care in the world as tears fell once more. “I know. We were too when we found out about the twin. But swear to Christ, Katie, the man who kidnapped you was not Ben Dryerson.”
A handful of tissues were put in my face by someone, and I took them, wiping whatever was on my face off with all the snot. Then I rubbed again, not knowing what I was trying to remove but needing to do it all the same.
“But he sounded just like him.” It was now my turn to whisper. “He knew where I worked and lived…”
“Fuck,” Cruz cursed. “Just means that fucker had been watchin’ you.”
The man they told me was mine turned around and looked at me. In his eyes was a turmoil I’d never seen before. He was hurting, his heart breaking. Concern was all over his face, and I swore I saw a tear in the corner of his eye.
“You said you only had a sister,” I said to him quietly.
“I do. That fucker in there is nothin’ to me. I’ve never lied to you, Wild Kat. Fuckin’ never,” he said with so much emotion in his voice that it cracked halfway through. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry you got brought into this mess.”
I heard it then. Wheels and creaks.
“They’re bringin’ him out,” Cruz said, putting his arm around me. Ensley was on the other side of me. “Need you to do this for me.”
Blowing out a deep breath, I took a few steps forward—not wanting too, but knowing I had too. There was a reason Cruz needed me to do this. I might not see that reason right now, but I trusted him.
“Stop,” Cruz called out and the men looked him up and down.
“Sir, we can’t. We have to get him to the morgue.”
“You’ll fuckin’ stop.” Cruz’s eyes flashed to the Ravage MC men saying without words the threat, but it was palpable in the air.
The two men with the gurney stopped, and Cruz walked right up to the black bag laying on the gurney. He reached up and began to unzip it.
My body started to tremble, and I wanted to close my eyes and pretend I was anywhere but there.
“Please look here,” Cruz said, holding the bag opened.
“I don’t want to,” I told him.