“ASHTYN,” Saint shouts, making Charlotte flinch.
Ashtyn huffs, then turns and walks through the double doors, not bothering to look back when Saint rushes after her.
A silence falls over the room, and I hate how right she was. I made a decision that cost Kashton a future where he could be a father. It’s my biggest regret. I was supposed to have died with my child, but instead, I failed us both. A parent is supposed to protect their children. Not hurt them.
Would my mother have killed me if she had the chance? I hope that her answer would have been yes. No one should be forced to be a parent. Especially a child themselves.
“She didn’t mean it.” Charlotte breaks the silence. “She’s just?—”
“Where are they?” I interrupt her. I’ve never needed someone to fight my battles for me. I’m not about to start now.
There’s a reason she was sitting out here with Ashtyn. And I don’t know where Saint came from, but the rest of them aren’t far away.
“In the room.” She nods to the door next to where I was. “They had just gone in there totalkbefore you came out.”
I waddle my sore ass over to it and don’t even bother knocking before I shove it open. Everyone in the room turns to look at me.
Devin is wrapping Adam’s upper arm, and if I cared, I’d ask what happened. I don’t.
“Eve. You shouldn’t be out of bed.” Haidyn is the one who speaks, meeting my stare. Then he looks at Kashton as if he expects his brother to back him up.
“How do you feel, angel?” my husband asks, walking over to me. He places his hands gently on my face and tilts my head back so I can look up at him.
“Fine,” I say, becausegoodwould be a lie, and I don’t want to admit to any man in this room that I’m anything other than okay. There are pain meds in my system, because I’m kinda foggy, but I’m also hurting everywhere.
He leans down and kisses my forehead, and I whisper, “Will you take me to your room?”
Pulling back, his eyes search my face for a long second before he takes my hand and starts to walk me out of the room.
“Kash—”
“It can fucking wait,” he interrupts my brother, not bothering to look back. Letting the door shut behind him, he speaks. “I’m going to pick you up. Let me know if I hurt you.”
EIGHTY-TWO
KASHTON
We enter my room, and I notice I’m still covered in blood from trying to stop her from bleeding in the car on the way to Carnage. “I need a shower,” I tell her, gently setting her down on her feet.
“I’ll take one with you.”
I hate how soft her voice is. My wife likes to be heard. She speaks her mind, and she yells it for all to hear. She seems so unsure of what to do or how to act. Maybe she thinks I’m mad at her. Honestly, I’m not sure what to be. I still don’t have any answers on what the fuck happened or how it went down. But I know they’ll come. Right now, all that matters is I’m not hallucinating and it’s not her that I buried in the Carnage cemetery.
We walk into the bathroom, and I turn to face her. “Let me help you.” I don’t give her any room to argue, and thankfully she doesn’t try to fight me. I grip the hem of my T-shirt that she wears and pull it up over her head careful with her arms. Then I push the sweatpants down her legs and help her step out of them. She’s naked underneath.
I scan over her right thigh. There’s a fresh scar and bruise. Running my hands up her hips and over her ribs, I look at the new bandage that I know covers the fresh stitches that go from her shoulder to her underarm.
Then there’s another scar and bruise on her upper arm. They match the body that I found on the floor of the cathedral, the one on the tape, where I watched her get shot. My hands go to her neck, and she arches it for me as I run my fingers over her throat to check for bruises. There are none. It has been three weeks, though. A gunshot wound would leave longer visual effects than whatever they used to strangle her. That just makes me even more confused. How could there be a body that had the same matching injuries?
I know I didn’t imagine all of that. The guys were there. Devin bathed her, brought someone in to embalm her before he helped me bury her. I watched her get shot three times in the fucking video.
I think I’m going insane.
“Kashton.” She wraps her soft hands around my wrists when mine begin to shake on her neck. “Talk to me.” Her worried eyes search mine.
There’s so much I want to ask her, but I’m not sure if I want the answers. I went to a dark place when I thought she’d died. If I ask her questions, she’ll ask me some as well. And I don’t want to answer them. “Come on.” I let go of her and step into the shower, turning on the sprayer, checking the temperature of the water. I help her inside and then I hurry to undress and enter behind her.
“I don’t think I can get this wet.” She gestures to the fresh bandage.
