“Please, Wild Kat. Need you to see that it’s not me. Need you to know I’d never do that shit to you,” Dryerson, maybe, said from the other side of the gurney.
I had no idea why, but my feet took me closer to the bag, and I looked down at the man who was a reflection of the live one next to him.
So identical. Down to the eyebrows and the small crease between them.
How was that even possible.
Twins? They looked like clones and Dry, my Dry, didn’t know about it.
Then there was the blood, a lot of blood that seeped through the man’s shirt and I had no idea where I'd shot him. It had to be somewhere in the torso area from how he came at me.
My stomach started to roil. Dead bodies were not an everyday occurrence for me, and this one, looking so much like the man that I loved killed me inside.
Cruz touched my arm, and I jumped. “Now look at your man.” My eyes flew up to Dryerson who was pleading with me without saying anything. “They may look alike, but that’s where it ends. That man,” he pointed to the body bag, “was a nobody.” Then he pointed at the man who lived. “That one is your man.”
My eyes bounced back and forth between the men. One dead. One alive. Both looking like the man I'd fallen in love with. My heart thundered as a headache started to build in my head.
“Where were you?” I asked the man standing. He was supposed to be the one picking me up.
“Was with the brothers handling business. Every single one of these men will tell you exactly where I was the entire time.”
“But how do I know you’re you and not,” my eyes flitted down to the body, “him?”
His face flinched like I’d struck him, and I knew it hurt; he didn’t try to hide any of it, just let me see the raw emotion flowing. “First time I met you, you called me surfer boy when I had to escort you to the clubhouse. We stayed there, got to know one another, and ended up in bed. I fuckin’ carried you out of that hellhole and took you to safety. I played Trolls for the millionth time with you and Remy. You helped me clean up my body when I was covered in dirt and cuts. I took care of you when you were sick. I paid for the pizza, and you gave me shit for it. We stayed up talking while I rubbed your feet on Micah’s couch. And because I’m the one that fuckin’ loves you.”
Fresh tears fell from my eyes as I remembered each and every instance he spoke about. Each one made me fall more and more in love with this man.
“Please, Wild Kat. See me,” he implored. This big, strong man was cracking inside.
My eyes flittered down to the dead man, thinking about how he’d handled me. How rough he was. How he didn’t treat me with the kindness that my man had treated me with. But two different men?
My knees completely went out, and it caught everyone around me off guard as I crashed to the ground. Ensley was there on her knees next to me. “It’s okay. I swear to you. This is all true. I’d never lie to you. Me of all people, you know that.”
My voice was low when I answered, “I do believe you.”
Dryerson was there close to me, bent to the ground. Hesitantly, he put his hand in the sweet spot on my neck between my head and shoulder. The one spot that he could always calm me.
It was him.
This was him.
The man I loved.
He didn’t do anything to me but love me.
His touch I’d never mistake for another’s. The one that took all my fears and anxiety away, allowing me to breathe.
I fell into Dryerson’s arms, my entire body shaking. He fell to his butt in the grass, and I curled into him, clutching him like he’d leave me with the snap of a finger.
He held me while all my emotions poured out of me. How long? I had no idea, but I finally got myself together but still didn’t move from his embrace; just felt his warmth seep into the coldness I’d become over the last few hours.
“I thought he was you. I thought you didn’t love me. I thought you hated me.”
“Fuckin’ never, Wild Kat. Never will I even think the word hate when it comes to you. I love you with everything inside of me. You’re my air for breathing. You’re my everything.”
Peeking up, the gurney was gone, and the officers were congregating on the other side of the lawn. The older couple were sitting in the two chairs on their front porch.
“I have to tell them I’m sorry,” I told Dryerson, who didn’t resist for a second when I went to get up. Another sign it was my guy. “I ran into their house and might’ve knocked the woman when I grabbed the phone.”
“Come on,” Dryerson said, grabbing my hand. Instantly I felt it. That spark, zing, connection, whatever you wanted to call it hit me. This was nothing like the dead man. No, this was my man. His touch was everything.
We walked hand-in-hand up to the couple who tracked our movements to them.
“You alright, young lady?” the older man asked.
I probably looked like the dead since I still had blood on me. Weird. Didn’t even think about the blood on me until that moment. All it made me do was itch to take my clothes off and burn them.
“I will be. I’m so sorry for dragging you into this. For getting you hurt and storming into your house.”
“Nonsense,” the older lady said before I could finish whatever tirade my brain was going on. “You’re safe. That’s what matters. Now that it’s all over, we feel good that we were able to help in some small way.”
“You’re way too kind,” I told them. “I really didn’t think I had another option…”
“You didn’t,” the older man replied.
“Jeannie and I are the only ones home at this time in the neighborhood. Everyone else works. If I hadn’t been mowin’, you wouldn’t have known to come.”
Yes, they were way too sweet.
The older man turned his attention to Dryerson, who had his arm around me as I leaned more into him. I felt exhausted. “There’s two of ya?”
“Didn’t know until a couple hours ago.”
The older man shook his head and looked at me, a small smile on his lips. “Jeannie here has been wantin’ one of those beds that moves up and down by a remote. Now, she’ll get to have it?” he said, completely ignoring the twin conversation. He must’ve been wise to know how all of this was affecting me.
“Will you be able to sleep there? In that room? I’m so sorry ... I just…”
“You were protectin’ yourself, young lady,” the older man answered. “Once we get it cleaned up, it’ll be just like new. You don’t worry about us at all.”
“She will. Worry about you, that is,” Ensley came up and said. “I’m her sister and know her like the back of my hand. Can I get you to write your names, address, and phone numbers down? Once Katie gets out of the shock of the day, she’ll want to really sit down with you or call you. And she’ll beg the hell out of me to get it. So could you help a sister out and give it to me so we don’t have a moment?”
I felt my lip tip up for what felt like the first time. There hadn’t been anything funny these past few hours, but my sister was funny and knew me well. I loved her so much.
“Why of course.”
“Miss. You need to go get checked out, or answer our questions,” a cop came up to us and said.