Page 78 of Edge

“I need to talk to Phoenix,” I blurted when he finished.

“Is something wrong?” Dice asked.

“No, I just really need to talk to him.”

“Okay, we’ll get him for you.”

Phoenix appeared moments later. I looked around the room and hesitated. I didn’t want to be rude, but I needed to speak to Phoenix privately.

He seemed to understand what I was thinking. “Can y’all give us a minute?”

He waited until the room was clear to ask, “What’s going on, Evie?”

I had intended to maintain my composure, but I burst into tears the moment I opened my mouth. “This is all my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

I told him everything that happened with Randall, just like I told Edge, but then I told him the rest of it. “They told me I had to do it. They said they would pass me around their clubhouse and then kill me if I didn’t. I knew they were making me do it to keep their own hands clean, but I didn’t want them to get away with it. I asked Snarl to hand me a knife so his prints would be on the murder weapon. Knowing he was left-handed, I used my left hand to slit Randall’s throat and dropped the knife to the left of the body. Thinking that would be enough evidence to prove they did it, I packed my shit and ran. I made an anonymousphone call to the police and told them what happened, but that obviously didn’t turn out the way I thought.”

“You are not the one at fault here. You did what was necessary for survival. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that, but I must admit, that was a clever fucking plan you came up with.”

“Thanks, I think.”

Phoenix chuckled. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I’ll be honest and tell you we’d already figured that part out, but I truly appreciate your honesty.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course not. Like I said, you did what you had to do to survive. And frankly, it would’ve been foolish of you to tell us the truth when you first met us. That’s not something you share with people until you know you can trust them, and that takes time. Muzzle and Snarl fucked up when they decided to make innocent people collateral damage in their quest for revenge. Since those innocent people are my people, this is now my problem, not yours. You worry about getting better, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

“I still feel responsible.”

“That’s because you’re a good person. Trust me when I tell you that no one blames you for what happened.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “For everything.”

He smiled kindly. “You’re welcome. I’ll come back to check on you a little later.” He started to leave but turned back to me. “The police will want to get a statement from you now that you’re awake. Tell them the version of the story where Muzzle and Snarl killed your roommate. You ran because they threatened you, and Snarl came after you because you turned them in to the police. Make sure you don’t say anything about Muzzle being behind the break-in at the diner. You got there after the assailant was gone and don’t know who was responsible.”

“Got it,” I said. The thought of having to talk to the police did not sit well with me, but I knew it couldn’t be avoided.

Before I could get myself too worked up about talking to the cops, Irene returned to the room with Carbon pushing her wheelchair and the man I didn’t know following along behind them.

“Who are you?” I blurted.

He came over to my bed and extended his hand to me. “I’m Duke, Reese’s husband.”

“Oh,” I said and pointed between the two men. “So, how did I end up with you two as my bodyguards?”

Carbon grinned and gestured to Duke with his thumb. “I don’t know why he’s here, but I’m the biggest and the scariest.”

I laughed and immediately groaned. “Crap, that hurts.”

“I’ll call for the nurse,” Irene said. “I’m sure you can have something for pain.”

“Okay,” I sighed. I knew the medicine would make me sleepy, and I’d just woken up after being out for days, but the pain seemed to be getting worse by the second.

“It’s okay. We’ll be here when you wake up,” Irene assured me.

“You haven’t left, have you?”

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