“He’s dead. And you protected yourself. I’m so fuckin’ proud of you,” I responded.
This seemed to snap her out of wherever she was traveling in her mind. “What?” she asked, honestly puzzled.
“You fought. Even thinking it was me, the man who loves you down to his soul— you fought. You came out breathin’, and that’s all that fuckin’ matters here.”
“I’m done here,” Doc said, breaking the moment. Never had a problem with the man, but I wanted to punch him for the interruption.
“Tylenol if you need it, and you should rest,” Doc ordered, going out of our door instead of going back into the main room and out of Micah’s place.
“Do you need Tylenol?” I asked her as she put her shirt back on.
Her head nodded. “Yeah, I have a headache from hell.”
“Gotcha.” I went back into our attached bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet, finding a small bottle.
I came out and shook two pills in her hand, then went to the small fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
She took it readily then continued to guzzle down the water until the plastic started making that crunching noise no one liked. To me she could make all the damn noise she wanted to.
“Guess I was thirsty.” She handed me the empty bottle.
“Do you want more?”
“Not now. I really want to lay down.” She didn’t wait for me to say anything, just pushed herself up into the bed and under the covers.
I stared at her, not knowing if I should get in with her or if she wanted me far away from her. Fuck, I was a man and wasn’t insecure about much. But my Wild Kat… I’d do anything for her.
She patted the spot next to her, and I climbed in. Somewhere between the bathroom and now I’d changed into a pair of running shorts.
Not asking, I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. She burrowed into me, and I kissed the top of her head.
She didn’t say a word, but I felt the evenness of her breaths. Thinking she was asleep, I stared at the ceiling just as she said, “I really thought he was you.”
“Understand that. Saw the man once, and it was like lookin’ in a fuckin’ mirror.”
“You really had no clue you had a brother?” she asked me.
“Told you everything I knew at the time. I was adopted, and I have a sister. Earlier today I found out I had a twin brother who wasn’t adopted by my parents because they didn’t have the money. Dad only told me because I questioned him. I think he would’ve gone to his grave never tellin’ me if he didn’t have to.”
“That’s sad... Your twin.”
“Don’t go feelin’ sorry for the asshole. Don’t know him. But what I do know is he could’ve taken you away from me, and for that, I’m glad he’s dead.”
Her hand came up to land on my chest. “I thought it was strange that you came to pick me up in Micah’s SUV because we were gonna go riding. But me, thinking it was you, got in. Then he child locked the doors.”
She was opening up without me asking, and I fucking loved that. I listened as she told me about the time at her apartment and when they were driving.
I felt my gut clinch when she told me she had to fight off the twin to get away.
“When I was in the bathroom, my entire body was shaking. Ensley told me I had to go out and find a weapon. I knew she was right, but fear was gipping me. I didn’t want to leave that small space. It had a crap lock on it, but crap lock is better than no lock.”
Her head tipped up and she rested her chin on her hand, looking up at me. “I knew it was a revolver from the television shows I’d watched. I’d never fired a gun before, but he broke the door down and came right at me. I had no choice but to shoot. Even when the bullets were gone, I kept pulling the trigger, hearing the clicking sound.”
She full-out shivered, laying her head back down on my chest. It took her a while to start up again, and I gave her that time.
“He was coming so fast that his body pinned me to the bed. The weight was all wrong. I scrambled out from under him, but I thought he was you. I had a breakdown right there in the room, thinking I’d killed the love of my life.”
“I’m right here, Wild Kat. Not goin’ anywhere.”
She breathed in deep. “I killed a man. I’m a murderer.”
It was my turn to shift us so we were facing each other. “You saved your own life, Katie. You did. That doesn’t make you anything but a strong fuckin’ woman. My strong fuckin’ woman.”
“He was your brother…”
“No, he wasn’t. You know just like I do that blood doesn’t mean shit.”
“I love you,” she whispered, yawning, my heart thumping hard in my chest. It was the first time she’d actually said it, and I memorized the moment.
“Love you too. Get some sleep.”
Within minutes she was out like a light. Me, I needed to get to the bottom of my twin. A man I didn’t even know the name of. I would find out. And why the hell he was targeting the Ravage MC.
If he was working with anyone, they’d better hide now, because I’d find them and their deaths wouldn’t be pretty.
For now, I listened to her breathing not thinking I would sleep, but in the end, I did.
36
KATIE
He was coming at me at full speed. The man I loved was about to hurt me. The shots rang out.
I bolted up in bed, breaths harsh and covered in sweat.
“You’re okay, Wild Kat.”
The dream still must’ve had its talons in me because I scooted away from the man who laid beside me.
The disappointment on his face struck me. This wasn’t that twin guy. This was Dryerson. My man. They might have had the same face, but they were not similar by any means.
I fell into his arms, and he held me tightly.
“I’m so sorry.” My body began to tremble in his warm embrace. “It was a dream, and I…”
“Shh… Wild Kat.” His hand filtered through my hair then went to that special spot on my neck he loved to touch.
The calm wasn’t instant, but it did come only moments later. He was my calm. He was my strength.
I sucked in a very deep breath and then pushed it out loudly.
“This isn’t gonna happen every night like before? Is it?” As much as I didn’t like talking about the time in the crematory, the dreams after that nightmare were worse than hell. They had lasted months. I didn’t want to go through that again. Not having a good night’s sleep for months and working as hard as I do didn’t go hand-in-hand.
“Don’t know. But I’ll be by you every step of the way.”
God couldn’t have granted me a better man. Love felt like a small word as to how I felt about this man. It was like he was my oxygen, and I needed him to breathe.
Through everything, he had been right by my side, even when I tried pushing him away. He never gave up.
There was a knock on door to the adjoining room.
“My sister,” I whispered.
“Let her in. She’s worried about ya.” He kissed me on the top of my head and rolled out of bed, making his way into the bathroom. I still had my clothes on from after my shower. I didn’t even want to think about how my hair looked. Going to bed with it wet was never a good thing.