Page 106 of Torn In Two

Desperate for someone to tell her everything was going to be okay.

“I didn’t hurt Alice, Kara. Please believe me. Please help me. I don’t know what else to do.” A sob spilled out past his lips, and his shoulders hunched.

Grayson glanced at me.

“Let him go,” I said softly.

Grayson hesitated. “He could be lying. Acting. Psychopaths are extraordinarily good actors. Trust me, I speak to enough of them to know.”

“And do you think Kyle is a psychopath?”

He sighed, letting his grip on Kyle’s arm drop. “No. I don’t. I believe him.”

I did too.

I stared at Kyle, taking in the patchy scruff on his cheeks, his dirty clothes, and now that I wasn’t so wrapped up in my anger and grief, I noticed how badly he smelled. I peered past him at his pickup, noticing pillows and blankets stacked up on the back seat. “Have you been sleeping in your truck?”

“Yes, ma’am. Or on the beach if I need to stretch out for a night and I can get warm enough. I stayed at the homeless shelter twice, but I got paranoid the cops would find me there, so it seemed smarter to stay away.”

It had been weeks. He was just a stupid, scared, out-of-his-depth teenager who had nobody to turn to. Nobody to care for him.

He reminded me all too much of myself when I’d left Ethereal Eden the first time. How I’d thought myself big and brave enough to take on the world, only to find it quickly chewed me up and spit me back out, a shell of the cocky teenager I’d once been.

I hated Kyle had to learn the hard way, the same as I had.

I glanced back at Hayley Jade, still sleeping soundly on the back seat, and knew I’d do anything in my power to stop her from experiencing that sort of pain.

I sighed heavily. “Get in your truck. Follow us back to the clubhouse. We’ll get you cleaned up. Some food and fresh clothes. And then we’ll work out where you’re going to sleep tonight.”

Kyle lifted his head hopefully. “Seriously?”

“Kara,” Grayson warned. “I don’t know how Hawk and the others are going to feel about that.”

I shook my head. “It can’t go down any worse than me bringing Hayden back there, can it?”

Grayson seemed doubtful. “I suppose if it all goes pear-shaped I could just announce I kissed you. Then all the murderous rage would turn in my direction.”

I patted his shoulder as I passed him on the way to the car. “Maybe keep that one to yourself for now. No need to plan two funerals.”

32

HAWK

With War firmly in his little love nest, fussing over Bliss and their daughters and their new baby, running the club fell on my shoulders.

I went through the motions, discussing what we had coming up with the other guys, taking stock of who wanted to go on runs and who was tied up with their day jobs or family lives. It was something my old man would have never bothered with when he and Army had been in this position. They’d been very much of the mindset that club came before all else and that if they said jump, the rest of the club would only ever answer with, “How high?”

But War had changed all of that when he’d taken over. His family, the ones who didn’t live here in the clubhouse, were always his first priority, and he’d set the tone for the rest of us.

So Fang spent more weekends changing diapers than hunting down wayward payments with the brute force Army had first recruited him for. Aloha took Queenie on dates instead of sleeping in the back of the van when he drove gun shipments across borders. Gunner went to his grandkids’ soccer games instead of overseeing the drug syndicate.

I kept thinking about how I’d rather be riding around in ambulances or helping people at the clinic. But until that was a reality, the black market we’d known all our lives was still the thing that paid my bills.

I leaned back on my chair, poring over the notes Fang was studiously taking as the guys and I decided who was doing what for the next few weeks. Satisfied we were finished, and eager to see if Kara was back yet, I lifted the wooden gavel. “If nobody else has anything to add, I think we’re done here.” I lowered the gavel toward the table, ready to bang it down, signaling the end of the meeting.

Aloha cleared his throat and raised a hand tentatively. “Boss.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to call me that just because War isn’t here.”

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