Page 24 of A Twist of Fate

“S-s-sheee killed them,” I managed between sobs that were hurting me just as much in the physical sense as the pain they embodied from my insides.

“Whoa, what?”

“No!” Kane came rushing forward finally, tears staining his cheeks at the sight of me. “Tell me this wasn’t that woman.” I nodded my head up and down only to watch Kane’s face crumble right there before me as he sought Zeke out. “Fuuuucck!” He roared into the room, the anger echoing off the sterile walls as if to taunt me. “Damn it, G. We had a plan to deal with her. Today, we were going to run her ass out of fucking town today, but then we couldn’t find her.”

Zeke moved up and put a hand on Kane’s shoulder before he shook his head at him. I didn’t need to know what they had planned, only that they had meant to protect me and now were obviously swimming in guilt for being too late.

“Sweetheart, you said she killed them,” Sully’s voice was gentle as he spoke. “What did you mean by that?”

“T-t-toby, she killed him,” I managed to get out before my hands reached down for my belly that was so full of promise just this morning. Now it was empty. Our baby was gone. My heart had gone with the both of them. “She took my baby,” I whispered. “My loves.”

“Aw fuck,” Kane hissed out before he slipped past Zeke and dropped to his knees beside my bed. He wrapped his arms around me, gently, and held me while I cried for everything I’d lost. I let him hold me as I fell apart, wishing those arms belonged to a man who could never hold me again. I swore, for just one moment as both Sully and Zeke moved in to hold me too that I could feel Toby with me. I felt his caress on my cheek, just the way he used to do whenever we parted. He would say, “I’m taking a piece of you with me until I see you again.”

It was my heart. He took it with him and even the three men that were really there, holding me together as I fell apart, couldn’t give that back to me. It was just as gone as my loves.

Chapter 7

Beautiful Misery

Kane

The call from the hospital had me absolutely stunned. I couldn’t have heard correctly, but the nurse had repeated the information several times over for me.

“Hey, man, what’s going on? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Sully, go get Zeke.”

“He’s with a client right now. Seriously, what’s up? You’re scaring me.”

“Tell him to finish up. We have to get to the hospital.”

“The hospital?” Sully glanced around as he took stock of who was there and who wasn’t. “Ever?” He asked.

“Gretchen,” I answered. I didn’t know much else except that she was there, and she was all alone. At first, anger flared through me, wondering where the hell her man was. He was supposed to be such a fucking wonderful person, and yet she was lying in a hospital bed and the nurse had called us at G’s request. Sully took off running for Zeke as I started closing up shop. The nurse told us we didn’t need to rush, but that Gretchen needed us as soon as possible. The shop had to be closed up, clients booted out. There wasn’t anyone here to reschedule appointments, so I quickly dashed out a sign to put in the window.

I didn’t remember the ride to the hospital, the mad run through the halls, the quiet as the grave ride in the elevator with my two best friends in the world. No one spoke. Zeke’s eyes met mine just before the elevator door opened to drop us onto her floor and I saw the same worry there that I had been struggling with. This couldn’t have been because of the stalker bitch, right?

“Can I help you,” a tiny little slip of a nurse asked us. Her powder blue scrubs had little hearts with smiley faces all over them.

“Gretchen Teirny,” Zeke asked.

“Oh, I spoke to you earlier,” she stated.

“That was me. Where is she?”

“She’s right down the hall. Third door on the left.”

“How is she?” It was Sully who asked.

“She’s scared, alone, in pain, and heartbroken.”

Zeke and I glanced at each other, but didn’t wait for an explanation before we moved down the hall, counting doors, and then we knocked on the third one before I barreled in ahead of the others, Zeke followed hot on my heels, and then Sully.

“Christ,” Zeke managed to get out as he took her in.

“G?” I couldn’t get anything else out. She looked so broken and small lying there in that bed. There was obvious bruising on her face, arms, and fucking hell, her hospital gown was pulled up beyond what was decent. I could see she was wearing some weird hospital style panty-thing that damn near rivaled the look of a diaper. Then there was the huge bandage that took up most of that thigh. My chest drew tight as I found it difficult to breathe past my initial reaction.

“Baby-cakes!” Sully moved to her, reaching out and gently giving her back her modesty by covering her legs with the gown. I don’t even think she realized everything we had been able to see though, because the moment we stepped in the room she started to fall apart, and this probably wasn’t the first time judging by the look of her. “Oh, sweet girl, what the hell happened here?” Sully’s question brought me back to the question at hand. What the hell had happened?

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