Dryerson didn’t miss a beat. “I’m takin’ her now to get checked at the hospital.”
I wanted to ask you are? But refrained. My gut told me that I didn’t want to talk to this cop about anything that had happened here. Not yet.
Dryerson said some words to Micah as he opened the door for me to get into the SUV, and he followed me into the backseat. His arm went around me, and he pulled me in tight to him. I heard the bikes roar to life. “You’re letting Princess ride your bike?”
He sighed deeply. “I need her home and I’m not waitin’ around for Booker to get here with the trailer. It’s just easier. I’m sure I’ll get shit about it, but I don’t fuckin’ care. I have you in my arms, and that is all that matters to me.”
I snuggled in deeper and the day, the emotions, all took their toll on me, and I fell fast asleep.
35
DRYERSON
It was as if she couldn’t get close enough to me, like she wanted to burrow inside of me. Fucking twisted, but I loved that I was that for her. Her safety. Her everything.
I was the luckiest sonuvabitch on the planet in this moment. She saw me. Her man. Not that asshole who had tried to hurt her. Deep inside, though, I knew it wasn’t completely over. She had nightmares of the crematorium for a long time.
With everything inside of me I prayed that she wouldn’t have them because of this.
Because of him.
My twin. No way I’d call him my brother. Fuck that shit. He was nothing to me. I’d kill him again if I could. There was a story there that I was damn sure going to get to the bottom of, but first I needed to take care of my woman.
Her hand clutched my shirt. It was covered in dried blood. We didn’t take a minute to clean her up after she fell into me. We just got the fuck out and pissed off the cops at the same time. They’d come around at some point.
Austyn pulled into the clubhouse with bikes in front of us and behind us. Protection. They were protecting their family. Fucking loved that, for me and especially for her.
The SUV came to a stop, and Katie didn’t even stir. She had completely exhausted herself, but she trusted me to take care of her. That meant more to me than anything. She saw me. Her man. Not that other one.
Carefully, I got her out of the SUV, and she curled into me as I carried her bridal style. Her head rested on my shoulder, her hand going back to clutch my shirt.
“Doc’s up in the room,” Ensley told me as I nodded and followed her to what I now called our room in the clubhouse. The three-bedroom connected unit had turned into that. A safe haven.
Ensley opened the door, and Doc was standing by the bed waiting for us. Who called him, I had no fucking clue, but I was happy they did.
She was covered in blood and needed to get that off before Doc could do anything for her.
“Wild Kat, need you to wake up for me.” I planted a kiss on her forehead. “You can sleep more in a little bit.”
She shifted but didn’t wake. “Katie. Wake up for me. We gotta get you out of these clothes.”
This time her eyes fluttered open. Then it happened. Something I’d never forget as long as I lived.
Her eyes snapped to mine and she screamed, kicking and trying to get away from me. Inside my heart shattered. Outside I wanted to punch every wall in sight.
“Wild Kat. You’re okay. It’s me.” I set her on her feet, and immediately she bent over her hands to her knees and threw up. She didn’t have much in her stomach, but it flew, and I heard her crying again.
She went to wipe her mouth with her arm. Seeing the blood, her eyes flew up to me, and she said, “Help me.”
I didn’t need another invitation. Picking her up once again, I carried her into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned on the water to get it nice and hot.
While that only took a few seconds, Katie already had her shirt off and was unclasping her bra.
“Dry. I have to get him off of me,” she said through tears. “His blood is everywhere.”
“I’ve got you.” I helped her get the rest of her things off and then stripped down to my boxers. Once we got in, there were no loving talks, but there were loving touches.
Every time I ran the soap over her skin, watching as the remnants of the twin I never knew circled down the drain. Good fucking riddance.
Her hands were working on her hair, washing it rapidly. Each squeeze had red coming out. No clue how she got it in her hair.
Only when she finished did she meet my gaze. I finished rinsing her off, and her nipples grazed my chest. Her arms went around my body, and her cheek landed on my chest.
The warmth of the shower felt good, but she felt better.
“I’m so sorry.” Katie’s voice was barely heard over the water.
“Not one damn thing you need to be sorry for, Wild Kat. Nothin’.”
She shook her head, pulling back and looking up at me. “I knew something was wrong,” she confessed. “When I got in the SUV with that … guy… My gut was screaming at me, but I didn’t listen. How would I ever think there were two of you?”
“Did he hurt you?” I asked, needing to know. Not wanting to know but needing too. I already saw the bruises forming on her bicep and the one across her face.
“Just pulled me where he wanted me to go and slapped me. He just scared me.”
I leaned in and touched her lips briefly to mine. “I wanna hear every detail, but we gotta get out of here and let Doc take a look at ya just to be sure.”
“I can’t do this again, Dry. I can’t…”
I pulled her into my arms. “God as my fuckin’ witness, no one will touch a hair on your head. Ever.”
“He locked the doors to the SUV. That was my first sign.” She fell back into my arms. “Please get me out of here.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I had us both out and wrapped in towels. We went into our space and pulled out some clothes.
I didn’t take a moment for me. Instead, I went right to her as she sat on the bed and kneeled in front of her. I held her underwear up for her to easily dress and did the same with everything else.
Even put fluffy socks on her with her sweatpants. She would melt if we went outside, but I didn’t plan on leaving this room for a while.
“I’m gonna grab Doc and have him come over here. Your sister will be pissed, but I don’t give a fuck.”
A small tip of her lip loosened the rope around my heart just a touch.
“Please do. Really I’m physically okay,” she told me as I opened the connecting door and stuck my head out, calling for Doc.
He came in right away.
“Hey, Katie. I’m Doc. Just here to help ya.” Katie nodded. “Got some questions for ya first.”
Doc mostly asked questions about how she was physically handled and if he hurt her in other ways. I had to admit, that one gutted me. Thank God that motherfucker didn’t touch her like that.
Katie did great. I’d thought she’d have a hard time taking her arm out of her shirt and showing it to Doc, but she surprised the shit out of me by just taking off the shirt and allowing Doc to do his thing.
“He’s really dead, right?” Katie said, staring at the door while Doc looked at her arms. “I killed him.”