Page 25 of A Twist of Fate

“S-s-sheee killed them.”

“Whoa, what?” Sully questioned as my worries were seemingly confirmed.

“No!” I felt the warmth of tears as they trailed down my cheeks. This beautiful woman we all relied on, our friend, was there before us, broken in more ways than just the physical as she stuttered those words out. I needed more though. I couldn’t just guess what happened. “Tell me this wasn’t that woman!” Her head tipped up and down briefly. It had been her. Seneca fucking Davis had gotten to her before we were able to take care of that cunt. I glanced at Zeke before my fury got the best of me. “Fuuuucck!” I wanted to kill the cunt who did this, and I couldn’t right now. I needed to reel that shit in for Gretchen’s sake right now. I took a deep breath and then looked at her, needing her to know that they were trying to fix it for her before it ended up at this point. “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 was there, hand on my shoulder, offering a little solidarity, or maybe he needed to feel grounded and removed from his guilt too. I didn’t know.

“Sweetheart, you said she killed them,” Sully started to say before continuing. “What did you mean by that?”

“T-t-toby, she killed him.” I watched as her hands moved to cover her belly, and my heart sank. No. God, please, no. Don’t let that mean… “She took my baby, my loves.”

“Aw fuck!” The words exploded from me before I could stop them. I moved to her side, near the head of her bed and dropped to my knees there so my eyes were level with hers. Those beautiful eyes of hers that once sparkled with life like precious jewels were now dim and swimming in fresh tears. There was nothing I could do to make her loss better now. Instead, I gave her what I thought she needed. I carefully draped my body over part of hers, wrapping an arm around her upper torso near her shoulders. I held on to her, offered the warmth from my body, the comfort from my embrace, and whatever the hell was in my heart to give because it was incredibly obvious that she lost her own that day. Zeke and Sully piled in on the other side of her, each taking a place where they could hold on to her without causing more harm. We held her like that until the sobs subsided and she fell off to sleep. I wish I could say it was restful for her, but that would have been a lie.

“If I could rip the heart from my chest and give it to her, I would,” I said, not realizing my words had been uttered out loud.

“I know you would,” Zeke replied as Sully just watched us.

“What don’t I know?”

We explained what had been going on with the bitch who was stalking Toby and then Zeke stood. “You two stay with her. I’m going to the CPD to find out what the fuck happened.”

“Zeke?”

“Yeah?” He glanced back over his shoulder at me, blocking the doorway with his overlarge frame as he did so.

“Find out if they have that bitch and let me know.”

He nodded and took off. Sully stood and walked toward the door, tipping his head for me to follow. He lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke. “I’m going to find Ever, and let her know we have her back too, but that G doesn’t have anyone else. I’ll be back.”

Part of me was angered by the fact that none of Toby’s family was here with her. Then again, they were all in their own hell right now, drowning in grief. Still, would it have killed one of them to stay with her instead of leaving her alone the way we’d found her?

For the next two days, until she could be released from the hospital, and then the week following in her apartment above the tattoo studio I stayed with Gretchen. When I couldn’t be there, either Sully or Zeke took over. We watched over her, tried taking her mind off of things, and tried our damnedest to get her to go to Toby’s funeral. She couldn’t do it. Gretchen was angry with his family. All of them. None of them had bothered reaching out to her at first. When she would talk, she told us briefly about what happened in the hospital when the family was with her prior to the news of Toby’s death. Then she would break down and be unable to deal with shit all over again.

I knew it wasn’t fair to the man, since he was dead, but not a day went by where I wish I hadn’t pulled my head out of my ass sooner and cockblocked that fucker from ever getting with Gretchen. If I had, his club’s taint would have never touched her beautiful heart. Now, all that was left of her was this tragically broken soul that I couldn’t fathom how we’d manage to get put back together.

“Give her time, man,” Zeke told me after two weeks of leaving her apartment to get fresh air and food, only to explode with the pent-up emotions I couldn’t show her. I was angry on her behalf, pissed at myself because we failed her too, and my arms ached to hold her again, but she wouldn’t allow it after she left the hospital.

“I can’t even hug her.” It was killing me inside to know that when I tried to hug her before I left, she brushed me off with a mumbled, “You’re not him”.

“It’s not you, Kane. You have to know that. She’s upset that it can’t be him. It’s understandable. Frustrating as fuck, because she’s even turning me and Sully away when we try to so much as ruffle her hair or bump her shoulder.

“She’s not dead! She didn’t fucking die with him! We need to wake her up instead of letting this be okay!” I didn’t mean to shout out my frustrations, but that’s exactly what happened.

Zeke didn’t say a word, instead he came over to me threw his arms around my shoulders and hugged this shit out of me. “I feel your frustration, but we’re going to give her this for now. When it’s time to push, we’ll push. I promise.” He slapped my back twice and then let go. “Get something to eat, and a fucking shower while you’re at it. Honestly? How can you expect the woman to want a hug from you when your stench is that fucking strong?”

I lifted an arm and sniffed toward my pits. He wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t been home in two days and showering at Gretchen’s apartment wasn’t an option with the way she was behaving. Toby’s shampoo and soap was still in her bathroom and there was no fucking way any of us were stepping foot in there. She probably would have thrown us out for good.

“Fine. I’ll be back,” I glanced down at my cell trying to gauge how long I should take before Zeke answered for me.

“You’ll be back tomorrow. In the shop. We’re going to give her some space tonight, because she needs it.” I started to argue with Zeke, but he cut me off again. “No. I’ll be sleeping in the lounge, just in case. She can’t move on if we’re always up in her space. This has to happen and you know it.”

I did know it. That didn’t mean I liked it.

People thought we were lucky because our Gretchen survived the attack, but what they didn’t realize was that our G was gone, and in her place was nothing more than a ghost. She was just as empty of anything as substantial as a spirit. Her body was here, everything else really did die that day with Toby and their baby.

Chapter 8

Healing the Heartache

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