Chapter 24 – Cody
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cody
Ipresent Shay with her options and leave her overnight to think – and to check on my sister, who keeps texting me like she doesn’t have the situation over there entirely under control.
I check on Caleb before taking a cigarette out to the back porch where I can call Kylie with some privacy.
She answers me in totally unwarranted outrage.
“Do you care if I live or die, you fucking asshole?” Kylie picks up the phone with all the grace of a porcupine. She doesn’t sound like she’s in danger, despite the fact that I clearly pissed her off. I try to stay calm, hoping she can absorb some of that calm.
“Everything okay?”
“This is why everyone hates Pisces men,” Kylie spits at me. If she’s bringing up her superstitious nonsense, she must be perfectly fine.
“You sound fine to me.”
I don’t get what women see in astrology. The stars don’t control our behavior – the economy does. I wait for Kylie to tear into me again and blame my behavior on the moon being in Capri-Sun.
“Get your rocks off, asshole,” Kylie says. “Go on… Make jokes at my expense when I could have seriously died for you.”
Her voice gets louder at the end and I have to hold my phone away from my head so I don’t blow my eardrums out. Jeez. She sounds truly pissed. I should stop messing with her – even if the point of sisters is to piss them off and laugh at the fact that they can’t ever beat you up.
“Fine. What?”
I regret joking around with her. Kylie sighs and my amusement comes to a sharp, definitive stop.
“Shay’s husband has been stalking me.”
“What?”
“Her ex-husband.”
“I know what you meant,” I answer with a suddenly strained voice. I have to force my jaw to relax along with the rest of my body. “What do you mean? Where the hell did you see him?”
Kylie replies with even more frustration this time. “I tried to tell you.”
“You sent a bunch of memes and emojis.”
“It was a code,” Kylie huffs. “It’s not my fucking fault you’re stupid.”
“Are you okay? Where are you? What the fuck is going on tonight?”
I thought she was bullshitting around to get an extra night or two at a motel. Now, I want to hop on the Ducati and fix this except… I can’t. I have Shay tied to the bed and Caleb to look after. Fuck.
Kylie answers before I can totally lose my mind, but I’m pretty fucking close to the edge. It doesn’t make me feel better that Kylie sounds equally frazzled. She lowers her voice a bit.
“I’m in town. I just moved to the room across from him,” Her voice lowers again. “ I thought he was onto me earlier, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I keep trying to learn more about him but… it’s tricky. He’s tricky.”
“Sorry for leaving you out to dry.”
“I’ve been trying to call. What the hell is going on over there?”
I ignore her question. “How did he find us?”
“How should I fucking know?” Kylie grumbles. “It’s Shay’s ex. Maybe she wanted help getting away from you.”
“Shut up, Kylie,” I snarl at her, overreacting in a way that will only give her fodder to press me more. I shouldn’t expose how easy it is for her to get under my skin over this. “Should I send someone? I can’t come tonight…”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Yes.”
And, she’s pissing me off. If she were in any real danger, she wouldn’t be on the phone with me, she would have split.
Kylie presses me suspiciously again. “Is everything fine with Shay and Caleb?”
“Yes. That’s exactly why I can’t leave them.”
“Fine,” Kylie says. “Then send someone. Who the hell lives close enough to get here by tonight?”
She’s right. The closest club member I trust with this lives eight hours away if he doesn’t stop the entire ride.
“Tomorrow morning,” I assure her. “If you can make it, I can get someone by tomorrow morning.”
“You’re an asshole.”
So she can make it.
“I know.” I try to sound ameliorative, but Kylie hits back with additional sass that I can’t blame her for at this point.
“I should give him your address and skip town.”
“Don’t.” It’s just a threat to vent off some steam. If she wanted to skip town over Shay’s ex-husband, she would have done that already. She doesn’t want to end up like Tylee, and that’s smart.
“Send someone,” Kylie says. “If I die protecting your family, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your days.”
“I’ll text you.”
“Good.”
“Are we good?”
“Uh huh.”
“Good.”
“Goodbye, assh–
I hang up. Kylie can verbally abuse me later. Shay’s ex-husband is a personal problem, not a club problem.