I did that.
If we weren’t taking my bike, I’d clean her up, clothe her, and let her sleep this off on the way to her dad’s. She has to be exhausted after the last few days. I know she didn’t sleep last night either. However, I’m not taking the SUV when Rad might know what it looks like.
God, today has been a fucking day.
I was so consumed with her that I almost forgot I killed a guy earlier.
Maybe it’s better if I don’t think about that too hard.
I carefully take the pillow from under her legs and pick her up to take her to the couch. I can’t leave her in the soaked bed. There’s a sherpa blanket on the back of my couch that I wrap her in. She hardly stirs when I lay her down or turn on the television to cut through some of the silence.
My phone catches my eye, tossed on the bedroom floor, and my stomach sinks as I remember Kade. I grab it off the ground, ignoring the multiple texts telling me to stop fucking her and call him back, then tap over to his number.
“Hey,” I say when it stops ringing.
“That fuck better have been worth the ulcer you’re giving me,” Kade snaps.
I resist laughing because I know he’s on edge. “Yeah, it was,” I answer. I step over to the monitors, seeing him standing in the middle of Bonnie’s apartment. “Oh, good. You’re there.”
“Yeah,” he says. “At least you didn’t leave me with a lot of blood to clean.”
“Clean snap,” I mumble, the hair on my neck raising as I recall it.
“Did you also break his back?” he asks.
“Something like that.”
“I thought that’s what it looked like,” he mumbles. “Okay. Ah… Fuck. I’m sorry about this, Gem. I should have caught that it was them on the lease. You should fire me. I’m fucking trash—”
“Get this settled, and we’ll call it even,” I tell him. “I know the lease wasn’t in their names. It isn’t your fault.”
Kade nudges Trevor’s foot with his boot. “Right… Safe to say it’s all good to move what isn’t tainted to her new place?”
I step back into the kitchen and start looking for food to prep for when she wakes up. “Yeah. Just take her personal things. Clothes.”
“Burn the furniture,” he says.
“That’s what I was thinking,” I reply.
“Okay,” he says. “At least while we’re moving her, we can get rid of him.”
I pull out strawberries, cheese, a couple of muffins, and some other random things. “Yeah. There’s that at least.”
“Hey. You okay?” he asks.
I glance her way, and my chest swells with every even breath that leaves her. “Yeah. I just want to get her away from everything for a few days.”
“What were you thinking?”
“I’m going to take her out to her dad’s place… the ocean. Quiet and safe. At least until she’s moved into the new place. I know the band still has to get some recording done so maybe we can get them out there a couple days, too. Give her some normalcy.”
“Avie called me earlier when he couldn’t find you.”
“Shit,” I mutter. “I’ll call him when we’re settled. Hey, Kade?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t say it enough, but thanks for cleaning up my shit,” I tell him. “I know I’m not easy.”
