Chapter 11 Kat #2
“Please,” I beg again. “Look at me and try to understand. I just need this one thing from you, and I promise you, it’ll mean the world to me. It would be everything to me if you deleted this footage.”
She swallows thickly. “There are two other stores,” she says hesitantly. “I’d have to call around and ask them to do the same thing.”
“Do they like you?”
“What?”
“The other people at the stores. Do they like you enough to do it?”
She nods.
“Cill, give me your wallet.” My hand shakes as I hold it out to him. I’m praying that nobody else walks in right now. I just need to get us both the hell out of here. Quickly.
Cill digs in his pocket and hands me his wallet. I open it and take out all the cash, sliding it across the countertop to the girl. It’s a decent wad. There’s got to be a few hundred there.
“Please call them,” I say urgently, shoving it across the counter and glancing back at the two cars, one fucked up and then mine which still has the driver’s door open. My chest heaves with my chaotic breathing.
She bites her lip and glances out at the pumps. All the while, madness bristles through me.
She disappears into the back room.
“I’m sorry, Hellcat,” Cill manages the moment she’s gone. My broken man stands by the doors like he knows this is the end.
“I’ll fix this. I promise,” I tell him with desperation although I can already feel him slipping away. His temper has always gotten the better of him.
Always.
“The last ten minutes didn’t happen.” I hear her before I hear the door swing open.
Relief floods through me at the same time that I hear sirens wail in the distance.
“I’ll call them,” she tells me as she reaches for the phone and her face pales. “The cops are going to come here. What do I tell them? The other stores are one thing, but I don’t know about the cops.”
I look her straight in the eye. “Tell them it was four guys in a Chevy. You got it? Four guys in a Chevy got out, wrecked the car, and drove off.”
“I don’t know …”
“The club will have your back.” I’m gambling huge by saying this. I’m not part of that group anymore, but I’ll go back to them if I have to. “You know who I’m talking about?”
“You sure about that?” she questions, her eyes darting outside.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.” She gives me a fast nod. “I got it. Go before they get here.”
“Thank you,” I barely get out before taking Cill’s hand and tugging him toward the door.
“Fuck, Hellcat,” he says, realization of what he risked in his voice. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Come on.” We break into a jog outside the gas station.
I run around and get into the car on the driver’s side.
My fingernail catches on the mechanism to adjust the seat and breaks.
Cill slides in next to me and I put my foot on the gas.
Blue and red lights are just barely seen in the rearview mirror.
“I’ve got this,” I say under my breath. I pull out into the street like we never parked on the wrong side of the road and gently accelerate over the next block. I stop at an intersection, then keep going. As soon as I think it’s safe, I make a left turn and keep driving.
If they start looking for us, I don’t want to go back to my house. My heart pounds and protests. Everything is at war inside of me. As if today could get any worse.
Headlights in the rearview mirror scare the shit out of me.
“Someone’s behind us.”
Cill twists around in his seat, the leather groaning as he does. “It’s Reed.” His voice is thick with emotion.
I’m hanging on by a thread and although I know there’s tension, I need Reed.
Cillian needs Reed. My words are caught in the back of my throat as I gauge Cill’s expression.
With an open cut on his hand, blood on his shirt and the bruise on his face, I’m torn to shreds over how broken my first love is.
For years, all I’ve known is that I couldn’t fix anything. That life was shitty and I didn’t trust myself let alone anyone else. It has to change. I have to fix this.
As I take in a steadying breath, I pull off into a public parking area that almost no one uses behind the old strip mall and park.
Cill’s swallow is audible as he turns in his seat, staring ahead with a deadly glare.
Reed pulls up next to me. The seat belt clicks as I unlatch it and I take one glance at Cillian before getting out.
Reed follows my lead, and it’s the first chance I have to take a good look at him. The cut on his brow is swollen and red and his left cheek sports a bruise that matches Cillian’s.
Emotions storm through me. Regret and anguish most of all.
As I heave in a breath, barely standing straight, I feel ragged and shaken. I can barely believe any of the events of today have happened.
Before I can speak a word, Reed states, “You’ve gotta leave the car, Kat. Don’t drive it anymore tonight.”
“How do you–Were you following us?”
“No. I got a call from my buddy … the bodyguard at the strip joint. He saw everything but it’s taken care of.”
He doesn’t look me in the eye and he doesn’t look to Cill either. The man in front of me is a man who came out of a debt he owes.
“Are you okay?” I question, feeling the weight of it all.
He offers me a sad smile with the shake of his head, his deep brown eyes echoing a sorrow I know all too well. One of loss and regret. One that’s given up but still has to move on.
“Reed–”
He cuts me off. “I’ll take you wherever you need to go. Neither of you should be driving right now.”
With my eyes locked on his, I wish he could feel everything I feel. I wish he knew everything I’m thinking. For a moment, it feels as if he might.
“I just want to fix this,” I whisper but I doubt my words are heard over the sirens that steal our attention.
I turn around and poke my head into the car. “We’re going with Reed.”
“No we’re fucking not,” says Cill.
“We need to go to Nello’s … by The Ruin,” Reed speaks over me, easily heard by Cillian.
It’s a restaurant that has a private back room.
It’s hours away, in Desolation, New York.
Club members go there when they want a private conversation, or to wait out a complicated situation.
It’s a nice restaurant, fancy even. I certainly can’t afford it on my own.
That’s maybe the best cover of all. People don’t think members of the MC would eat at a place with white tablecloths.
“Come on, Cill,” I say softly.
“We’ll walk,” Cill shouts out the window at Reed. “That’ll be enough time to get them off our backs. We’ll fucking walk there.”
“You’re not going to walk there like that. I saw you come out of the gas station. I know you’re bleeding,” Reed answers.
Cill is silent for another long moment, then he curses under his breath and gets out.
I climb into Reed’s car first. Cill’s still pissed, and I don’t blame him. I would be furious and heartbroken. I would be a fucking wreck.
“We just need a place to calm down,” Reed says. “We can talk while we’re there, man.”
“There’s nothing you can say.”
“I think there is,” Reed replies. “I think there are things you need to know. Fuck, Cill. This isn’t how I wanted this to play out. I sure as hell know you wanted it different. We all did. Get in the car.”