Page 44 of I Found You
Luke: On my way
I texted Luke and found luck to be on my side when he was off for the day. After I roped him into joining us, I reached out to Wes. We were going to need all the backup we could get. Me and Reid out to a liquid lunch, in his current state, just felt sad. If I could get a few more people here, at least we could drink to his misery together.
Wyatt: You busy?
Wes: What do you need?
Wyatt: Backup. All hands on deck situation with Reid. Meet us at Wok N’ Roll
Wes: 10-4
Thirty minutes and one scorpion bowl later, Wes walked in. Not long after that, Luke was there, and he also brought reinforcements in Seb. The table was covered in various food choices, and we munched and drank for hours in that dingy hole-in-the-wall place.
We had just enough alcohol to impair our thinking; that was the only excuse I could come up with for why we decided that right then was the perfect time for five relatively large men—or definitely large if we were talking about Wes—to show up at Tom and Georgie Ingram’s house and demand Kayleigh give Reid back everything that belonged to him.
We rolled up in three cars, me and Reid in his truck, Luke and Seb in Luke’s SUV, and Wes by himself in his SUV, lining the street in front of their house. Luke was smart enough to realize this could go south if not handled properly. Even I could admit we made an intimidating crew. Wes was a beast by himself, his long hair and full beard making his six-foot-six frame seem even larger. He looked like he belonged on a mountain instead of by the ocean. Seb’s arms were covered intattoos, and he stood about as tall as me at six feet but broader. Luke was even taller than Seb and me but not as tall as Wes. He carried an air of authority everywhere he went, and one look at him would tell someone that he could lay down the law if needed. Reid was the shortest of us Wilder boys, but his work as a handyman and carpenter kept him in great shape. I stood next to Luke at the front door, my ball cap pulled low on my head and my beard, kept closer to my skin than Wes’s, obscuring the bottom half of my face.
Georgie, Kayleigh’s mother, opened the door to find us standing in front of her. Her eyes went wide as she took in the sight of us, but otherwise, she looked completely unbothered by us. “Boys,” she said.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Ingram,” Luke said. “I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion, but I understand that your daughter has some items that belong to Reid. We’re here to get them back.”
“Seems quite the large group of men to grab a few sweatshirts and whatnot, no?” she asked sweetly.
“We were already together. Thought we’d help him out,” Seb supplied. Luke shot him a warning look. None of us needed this to devolve, but Luke had the most on the line if word got back to the station that he was being aggressive or threatening.
“I’ll go see if Kayleigh has his things together. She’s not home at the moment.” Her eyes met Reid’s standing in the back of the pack. She clearly felt bad for him.
“If it’s all the same to you, Georgie, I know what belongs to me, and I promise no one will touch anything of Kayleigh’s. We’re not here to make trouble. I just need my things,” Reid said.
“Well, no one else is home but me. Why don’t you and oneof your brothers go upstairs. I have some lemonade and some chips and salsa for the rest of your group while they wait for you. I don’t feel right letting a bunch of men into her space, Reid.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
Reid walked to the front of the pack and put a hand on my shoulder as he passed. I followed him into the house wordlessly, nodding my appreciation to Georgie. Luke, Wes, and Seb were talking to her, declining the offer of food and drinks.
Kayleigh’s room was a disaster. I stopped Reid before he went any further into the space.
“We should take a before photo so that no one could say we trashed the place,” I suggested.
Reid huffed a small laugh. “It’s always like this. Tom and Georgie will know it has nothing to do with me. Hell, I was the only one that would ever clean it.”
Reid searched through the mess, collecting some clothes, video games, a bag of small tools. He stooped to pick up a blanket that he had made with a photo of the two of them. He held on to it with one hand, the other hand resting on Kayleigh’s bed for support. I watched as he sank down to the floor, back against the bed, and cried quietly. He was furious earlier. His tears then were equal parts sadness and anger, humiliation and confusion. This was more intense, more raw.
I continued to look around Kayleigh’s room for anything that might be Reid’s. I grabbed some cologne and a couple of travel mugs that I thought were his. If I was wrong, oh fucking well, she could buy a new cup.
“I’m sorry,” Reid said from behind me.
“For what?”
He didn’t answer that question, but he didn’t need to. “It hurts so fucking much,” he said on a sob. I sat beside him on the floor and placed my hand on his back, rubbing circles like my mom used to do.
“I know. You’ll be alright though. I’m not saying it will be tomorrow, but you’ll get through this.”
We sat like that for a couple more minutes before Reid set his shoulders back and raised his chin up. “Let’s go. If I missed anything, she can keep it.”
We walked down the stairs and found all three of the guys on a single couch, side by side, squeezed in like sardines. Glasses of lemonade were in front of each of them. Wes’s and Luke’s cups looked untouched, and the men themselves looked like they were being held hostage. Seb, on the other hand, was talking animatedly with Georgie about some reality television show, drinking his lemonade like he was at social hour, not a care in the world that he had less than a hair’s breadth of space.
We thanked Georgie for her hospitality and made to leave. She stopped Reid on his way out and gave him a firm hug, placing a motherly kiss to his cheek.
