Page 108 of Torn In Two

My panicked gaze sought Kara out first, only a tiny bit of the rage settling when I found her, Hayley Jade standing beside her, holding her fingers tightly.

I rushed to them, clutching both sides of Kara’s face and searching her for any sign she was hurt. “Are you okay?” I reached a hand down to cup the back of Hayley Jade’s head. “What about you? You okay, pipsqueak?”

She stared up at me with those huge dark eyes that squeezed my damn heart.

I dragged my gaze back to Kara.

She nodded quickly, fingers twisting in my shirt. “I’m fine. I just—”

I wasn’t listening, my gaze falling on the rusted red truck and the young guy standing next to it looking damn fucking nervous.

So he should be.

“You Kyle?” I stormed the space between us.

He nodded.

“Hawk!” Kara shouted after me.

But I barely heard her, gaze too focused on the young kid who’d done Josiah’s dirty work for him.

“He sent you?” I clenched my fingers into fists. “And you had the fucking balls to come here and talk to my woman?”

Kyle shook his head, his hair flopping around his stubbled face. “No. I swear—”

I didn’t care what he had to say or why he was here. He was one of them. One of the fucking Josiah worshippers who wanted Kara and Hayley Jade back.

I wasn’t giving them up.

They were mine. There was no fucking doubt about it in my head. My brain roared the word, screaming it so loudly it was deafening.

I ran for the intruder, my fist drawn back, ready to connect.

Grayson caught me before I could make contact, deflecting the blow. “Okay, what we aren’t going to do is attack someone while Hayley Jade is watching, capiche?”

He pushed me away, putting himself between me and the Jesus lover, holding his hands up to keep the distance.

I breathed out hard. Breath misting in the wet, cold air a storm had brought in.

Grayson eyed me with a raised brow. “We’ve talked to Kyle. He didn’t have anything to do with Alice’s death, and he’s not in contact with Josiah.”

I scoffed. “You believe that bullshit?”

“We wouldn’t have brought him here unless we did.” Grayson eyed me warily, like I was a bull that might charge him at any moment.

I glanced at Kyle, who was still so shit-scared it was impossible to believe he was anything but a sheltered farm kid who had no idea what he was doing outside the gates of the cult he’d been raised in.

“He’s just a kid,” Grayson said quietly. “And your kid is watching to see how you handle this. Do her and yourself proud and settle the fuck down.”

My kid.

Having someone else acknowledge that before I’d even really acknowledged it to myself set my world spinning.

“Your eyebrow is fucking judging me.” I turned around to stalk back to Kara. I picked up Hayley Jade from the ground, shifting her up against my chest and supporting her weight with my arm across the backs of her thighs.

She ran her hand over the cropped lengths of my hair, letting the short spikes tickle her palm.

With my other hand, I took Kara’s. “Why is he here?”

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