CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ky
So, getting the flowers back to the house had been both frustrating and hilarious. I only wished Chris could have seen it. I ended up putting them under my shirt and tucking the bottom into my pants, thankful that none of the stems had thorns. Because getting my junk pricked every time I shifted around probably wouldn’t have been worth it.
As I pulled up into the driveway I just hoped that I hadn’t crushed them too much.
I was giddy and nervous at the same time. And yes, I said giddy. Because that was how Chris made me feel sometimes. The thought of seeing him right then certainly did. I may not have wanted to admit it before, but I was completely ready to let it out now. I wasn’t going to let my insecurities and hesitation hold me back anymore. I was going all in. I only hoped I wasn’t too late.
I dismounted and breathed in the last fading light of the day as it tucked itself away.
Then I made my way up the stairs to the front of the house. As I unlocked the door and pushed it open, a stillness hit me right away. I looked back to make sure that his car was still in the driveway, and sure enough, it was. It wasn’t unusual for Ingram to take a nap at odd hours of the day, but Chris was usually up and hanging out somewhere.
I shrugged it off, thinking that maybe he went out for a late afternoon jog or surf. I’d make my way down to the beach if he wasn’t in the house.
The house was dark as I stepped inside. Something about that didn’t sit right with me. I closed the door behind me then moved further into the front hall, trying to remember where the switch for the light was. I fumbled around for the switch. I stepped closer to the wall and my boot slipped in something on the floor. My hands went out to brace myself on the wall, the flowers dropping to the floor and landing with an oddly loud crinkle sound. My hand connected with the switch and I flipped it with lightning speed. The light above me came on and I looked down to see what was spilled all over the floor.
“Chris!” I said on a sharp inhale as I dropped to my knees.
His eyes narrowed like he was trying to focus on me but couldn’t.
It was then that I realized that what I’d slipped on was blood—his blood. He had one hand firmly placed on the left side of his abdomen and the other one was wrapped around the side of his neck. Both hands were covered in blood.
“No, Chris, stay with me,” I said, panic slicing through my words. “Please, please. Don’t leave me. You’re going to be fine.”
I placed my hand over the one on his stomach. He groaned and his eyes fluttered closed. I whipped off my shirt and cut off in one quick move, then I carefully slid his hand out of the way so I could look at how bad the damage was on his stomach. Blood poured out of the gash and by the way the wound was, I could tell it had been made by a knife. I held the shirt over it with as much pressure as I could, hating that I was hurting him.
I needed something else to stop the bleeding on his neck. Fuck.
“Stay with me,” I whispered and his eyes opened and looked into mine.
I needed to call an ambulance. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I pulled out my phone, my hands were coated with blood and making it hard to grip and unlock it.
“Ingram,” Chris whispered and his eyes cut in the direction of the living room.
“No,” I said as I dropped my phone.
I had never been so torn in my life. Maybe that was a shitty thing to say given all the tough times that I’d had been forced to make a choice before. Like leaving Ingram, for one. But it was the truth.
“Save her, Ky,” he said in a whisper and I still didn’t move. “Go, now.” His words came out guttural and firm.
I jumped, got to my feet, and ran further into the house.
“I would stop right there if I were you, Kynaston.”
It had been years since I’d heard that voice, and though it was a bit worn and older sounding, there was no mistaking it.
“Ronald,” I grit out as my father came into view. “Mother, Timothy.” I greeted them with a disgusted tone.
“Where is she?” I barked as I looked around.
Where the fuck was Ingram? What had they done with her?
I was going to kill them. And I wasn’t even kidding.
“On her way to where she belongs. I am very, very unhappy that I had to leave and enter this filthy world to come and get her.”
Timothy spoke and I gritted my teeth at his every word. His arrogance was enough to make me want to choke the life out of him.
“Where the fuck is my sister?” My words echoed off of the walls.
Timothy had the fucking audacity to click his tongue at me and shake his head.
Fucking prick.
“Father was right, you were beyond saving. Tainted too much by the outside world because you had been out there for too long. If only he could see you now.” His tone was full of hate and disgust. “Living with a man in sin. Tell me, will you cry for him now that he is dead? Does it hurt you to know that you will never see him again? Or worse, that he will burn in hell for the rest of eternity? But then again, it is not so bad, because you will join him there one day.”
Wow. I had nothing because that was some messed up shit. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. I mean, look what he came from. His father’s actions that had shown his evil and hate that night long ago and I had no doubt that it passed down to his son. Those actions that would forever haunt me.
“Fuck this. And fuck you,” I said, my tone was one that said that I was all done with this shit.
I knew he wasn’t going to tell me anything. I was done. I didn’t care what happened to me after this, I just needed it done. For Brighton. For Ingram. For Chris.
I reached behind my back and pulled out my gun. In a blink, I had the safety flipped off and then I pulled the trigger.
“No,” my mother screamed as she jumped in front of Timothy.
I didn’t stop to think about what had just happened. I fired, counting each shot as they went off. Timothy’s shocked body jerked, and my mother’s lifeless body bounced on his lap with each one. Then he fell limp and I knew it was done.
“Son,” Ronald called and my eyes slid over to look at him.
“I’m not your son. You brought us into this world and you didn’t protect us. I am Ingram’s family. I will protect her like family should.”
I fired my last shot into his brain, his head flying back letting me know I’d hit my mark. Then his body crumbled to the ground. I didn’t give them another moment of my time. Fuck them.
I ran back to Chris and dropped down by his body. I checked for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when I found one. I picked up my phone with all intentions of calling for help. An ambulance would have taken too long, plus there was the little thing of the three dead bodies not far away.
Feeling like I had no other choice, I grabbed his keys out of the bowl then I carefully hauled his body up and rushed out the door.
“Hold on for me,” I whispered and kissed his head then placed him in the back seat.
I whipped the car in and out of traffic trying to get off the beach as fast as I could. The closest hospital was in the middle of the city and normally it would have taken close to thirty minutes to get there.
“What’s going on, Ky?” Iron answered in a gruff voice on the second ring.
“On my way to the hospital with Chris. I can’t explain now, but Ingram has been taken. Get Cable to track her phone, maybe she has it on her. Also, there are three bodies that need cleaning in the house.” The words rushed out of me so fast that I wondered if he’d gotten everything.
“Well, fuck. Alright. I’ll meet you at the hospital after I get this handled. You okay?”
“Chris has been stabbed. But I’m fine. I don’t know about Ingram…”
“We’ll get her, brother, don’t you worry. Bodies?”
“My parents and…the baby’s father,” I said because it was the easiest explanation I could give right then. I imagined his eyebrows were probably shooting up to his hairline at that statement. I basically just admitted to killing my parents. Sure, I hadn’t said that outright, but it was woven there and I knew he was a smart enough man to read my tone.
“I’ll handle it, you can fill me in later. See you soon.”
He dropped the call and I let my phone slip from my grasp as I put both hands on the wheel.
The blood was dry and tight on my hands. I felt myself starting to break down and I knew I had to hold it together. I had to get Chris help, there was no way he could leave me. Not now. And Ingram. I could only imagine how scared she must have been. Fuck. How did I manage to mess everything up so fucking bad?
“Help!” I screamed as I jumped out of the car at the emergency exit. “Help over here!”
A nurse that had been sitting off to the side jumped up and came rushing over.
“What happened, sir?” she asked switching into professional mode.
“He was stabbed in the stomach and he has a cut on his throat.”
Then the car was surrounded and two orderlies were lifting his limp body out of the car and flopping him down on the gurney that had been wheeled out in the nick of time.
They wheeled him away and I was stopped by the nurse.
“Sir, you can’t leave your car here. I understand you want to go rushing back there but you won’t be allowed in. Are you family?”
“Um.” My eyes shifted to hers.
I knew how this was going to go down. If I said I was a friend, it would not only feel like a dirty lie, but also wouldn’t allow me get any information on him. If I said I was his boyfriend, they would still tell me that they needed to talk to family. I didn’t clam up like I thought I would at the thought of the whole boyfriend thing, and that honestly surprised me.
So I went with the lie that felt right.
“He’s my husband, or he will be,” I said with my chin jutted out as if daring her to call me out.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that much of a lie.
She eyed me skeptically for a beat, then her face softened and she gave me a nod.
“Okay,” she said. “Go park the car over there in that lot and come back to the waiting room. I’ll make sure they come talk to you.”
“Thank you,” I said and could have almost kissed her for the help.
I did as she said, then found a spot that wasn’t too crowded at the front of the waiting room.
I was on edge. I was shaking and unable to focus. I couldn’t stand sitting there but I couldn’t move.
How had I failed them so badly?
What if Chris died?
I’d never forgive myself and I’d never be right again. Life wouldn’t be the same and I started to contemplate how I could even go on without him. Especially now that I’d finally let all the feelings in. This was so fucked up.
“What the fuck, Ky?” Brand said as his feet skidded to a halt right in front of me, Cami right behind him. “Tell me I heard wrong. Tell me that it’s not Chris back there.”
I hung my head because I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.
“What. The. Fuck. Happened?” His body vibrated with every gritted out word.
“Brand,” Mason’s voice said and my head snapped up as his hand came down on Brand’s shoulder. “Take a breath.”
Iron, Mouse, Knight, Gwen, Fitz—hell, half the compound came into view as I looked around. I couldn’t stop the tears that ran down my face.
“Oh!” the nurse that had been out front said as she stepped into the room. I perked up, hoping she had some information for me. “I wanted to bring you this. Are they all with you?” She handed me what I assumed was a scrub top.
It was then that I realized that I was still shirtless. I quickly slipped the bland blue and unfitting garment over my head as I mumbled out a thanks.
“Yes, we’re here with him and for Chris,” Iron said taking a step forward.
The nurse looked like she was seconds away from swooning at the big, gruff prez.
“This is our family,” I said with a firm nod at the nurse.
“There’s a lot of you,” she commented like it wasn’t obvious, her eyes dancing around each one of us. “There is a private waiting room that is empty down the hall, if you would like.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you…” Iron said.
“Nurse Sunshine,” she said with a giggle. “That’s what they call me around here.”
“Sunshine,” Iron said with his panty-melting smile. That man sure could pull out all the stops when needed. “I like that.”
Then she was showing us down the hall to a smaller waiting room that had an actual door.
“I’ll let them know you’re in here,” she said then closed the door behind her.
“I need some answers, Ky,” Iron said the moment the door was closed. “Everyone out but Mouse and Knight.”
I didn’t miss the butt-hurt and slightly angry look that crossed over Brand’s face.
“No,” I said then cleared my throat. “I want everyone to hear this.”
I was done hiding.
These people had been there for me, for every little thing and now this. I was done shutting people out and denying who I was. I was done running from my past and my pain.
These were my brothers—my family, and it was about time that I let them know everything.
Cami came forward, her hand slipped into mine and a smile graced her face as I looked down at her.
This, right here, was my strength and my heart.
So I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. I knew time wasn’t on our side and Ingram was still out there. I—no, we—needed to find her like now. I kept it as short as I could but still let them know everything, from the fucking cult—yes, I did say that word out loud when explaining my story—that my parents brought me into, to the reason why I’d left. I filled them on Ingram’s side of things. And lastly, I explained what I’d walked into tonight and the fact that I’d killed my own parents without hesitation.
It wasn’t easy, but I made it through with the support and love of everyone around me and more.
When I was done, Cami’s arms wrapped around my midsection. I blinked back the tears as best as I could. When she stepped away, Brand’s body crashed into mine and he hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him, then we were doing a hard pat on each other’s backs as if saying it was okay.