Page 5 of Wicked Deceit
“And you’re more than welcome to speak with them when an adult is present and when the sun is up. It’s currently almost three in the morning, and you’re wanting to speak with them now? Yeah, I don’t think so. They are on pain medications and are still in the hospital. I can have my lawyer assist me with this if you’d like?” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest after backing him into a corner—literally. I’ve never wanted to fucking whoop so loud in my damn life when his face falls, and he sees he has no other choices but to comply to the crazy fucking woman standing in front of him.
His back presses against the corner of the room, and he frowns, looking down at her in confusion. I don’t think anyone has ever taken him on like this or challenged his authority. I’d love to warn her to back off because he’s a psychopath. But I have a feeling she’d win every challenge against him.
“Take care, boys. We’ll be in touch very soon,” he says through gritted teeth and saunters out of the room with anger radiating off him. Uh, that’s a fuck no from me. We will not be in contact, and he can shove his questions up his tight ass. Fuck.
Obviously, he didn’t get what he came for. Thanks to our guardian angel, who watches him walk down the hallway until he disappears. Once he’s out of sight, she turns to face us, and her hardened expression falls into despair. Her big brown eyes well up with tears as she takes in our injuries. Her teeth sink into her quivering lower lip until she takes a big breath and calms herself.
“Zeppelin and Seger West?” She asks in a small voice, taking a step forward.
Shit. She didn’t know if it was us for sure. I furrow my brows, but now in awe of this crazy ass…
“I’m Mercy Cole, Kaycee’s mom,” she says, offering us a warm smile. “I wanted to check on you boys. They told me you were in the car too, and I wanted to see you and make sure you were okay.” I furrow my brows wondering how the hell she knew it was us and how the hell she got our information. Those bastards wouldn't tell me a fucking thing about anything. "Well, I may have bribed them for information," she says sheepishly, running a hand down her shirt. "I needed to know who was in the car with my baby, and what had happened." My eyes widen at the bribing part, and I rear back. Yeah, that's definitely Kaycee's fucking mom. And now it all makes sense where Kaycee gets her spunk from.
Zepp straightens, and his bruising face lights up. “And Kaycee?” He asks desperately.
“Please,” I gasp, forcing myself to sit up. “Tell us she’s okay.”
“Please,” Zepp echoes my plea again.
My breath hitches in my already aching chest when Mercy nods her head, and she grimaces—fucking grimaces. God, my heart falls into my ass, and I squeeze Zepp’s hand so tight, I might pop his fingers off. I hang on for dear life because I'd die if something happened to Kace. Fuck life.
“Kace is fine, ish,” she says through a sigh, and her shoulders sag.
“Ish? Ish? What the f—” I scowl when Zepp covers my mouth with his palm, and I breathe heavily through my nose. He raises a stern brow and gives me a subtle nod, ensuring I watch my tongue.
Right—fuck. Impress the mom, not turn her away using my favorite word. Fuck. I’ve never had to worry about it before. Dad never cared enough to fucking stop me, and the teachers all turned a blind eye. So, no more slips of the tongue. This could be like my future mother-in-law or something. Be a good fucking boy, Seger, and don’t fuck this up. I internally cringe because I fuck everything up. Like this, being here. We wouldn't be here if we had just stayed at the mansion instead of going home, and Kace wouldn’t be in the hospital.
He lets go, and we turn our attention back to Mercy who hides her mouth behind her hand. She clears her throat and nods.
“Kaycee is in surgery right now.”
“What?”
“Why? Surgery?” I yelp from moving so quickly, pushing myself up out of bed, but grunt when the IV holds me back and lifts underneath my skin. I frown, yanking it out, and throw it aside, much to the horror of Kaycee’s mom, staring at me like I’ve gone mad. Blood splashes down my fingers but fuck it. The need to run to Kaycee overrides everything inside of me. Even if the pain splitting my damn head in half knocks me back. Pain explodes everywhere from the quick movements, and my vision dances with bright stars. I groan, sitting back down and holding my head. Mercy gently hands me a paper towel from beside the sink, and I hold it to the wound on my wrist. The blood soaks through, but thankfully fucking stops before she speaks next.
She holds up a placating hand. “The doctors say she’ll be fine. She sustained several injuries from when she was tossed from the car.”
“T-tossed?” Zepp gasps, a bead of sweat pouring down his temple.
Before my eyes, the color drains from Zepp’s face and washes him out. His fingers tremble when he swipes his cheek, and I know exactly where his fucking genius brain has gone to. He’s thinking this is all his fault and he’s going to stew over it for the next few days until he fucking bursts.
“What do you mean, tossed?” He gasps out the word, clutching his chest and heaving breaths.
I grab his hand again, squeezing his fingers, and he squeezes back, side-eyeing me. Gratitude bleeds through him, but I know he won’t settle the fuck down until Kaycee is in our arms.
“I can tell from here you were the one in the driver's seat,” she says in a stern but thoughtful tone, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder. She forces my brother to focus on her. “But it wasn’t your fault. You understand that, right? From the investigation, a drunk driver rear-ended you at around 11:00 P.M. They forced you off the road and into a light pole, nearly throwing you over the cliff. Boys, it’s a miracle you all came out alive. It could have been so much worse.” As the words leave her lips, her breaths shudder. Confirming to me, this entire situation could have killed us. By some fucking miracle, we are all alive—injured and in surgery—but alive.
The tension in my body leaves at the soothing and caring tone she gives us. Love sits in her eyes for our well-being, and she doesn’t even know us. Yet—at least. All she knows so far is we were the ones in the car with her daughter. We were the ones who put her in danger. And we were the ones who caused this entire fucking mess. Maybe? Fuck, I don’t know.
My brows furrow, much to my bruise’s screaming protests. “We don’t remember,” I whisper in horror, eyes moving all around the room to avoid her stare.
Why can’t we remember? I squeeze my protesting eyes shut and take a deep breath, bringing back the only memories I can remember, and trying with all my might to figure out our last steps. Mentally, I retrace everything we did last night before we piled into the car and left. We had a nice dinner with our little brother and then watched a movie in the theater room. Vaguely, I remember cuddling with Kaycee on the couch until her clothes were dry enough to wear home. Fuck. I blow out a breath, remembering when we showed Kaycee the pool, we kept alive in honor of our mother, and then the moment we jumped in. I suppress the snort lodged in my nose, thinking about her angry face when she resurfaced after we had jumped in. And then…. the faint memories of Kaycee's echoing moans drift through my mind on repeat. Images of her sitting on the rocks with her legs spread, and my brother and I taking her together slams into me. Fuck. We had mind-blowing cave sex right before ending our night at Casa West. It’s something I’ll never forget.
A smile blooms on my face when my little brother, Hendrix's happy little face, pops into my head. He had been so excited to see us, squealing when we had dinner with him after our swim. But after that? After our dinner and the movie? It’s nothing but darkness. Like a damn black hole living in my brain and sucking up all the memories. Why is it so damn fuzzy? We had to have left in Zepp’s Porsche, obviously; we crashed the mother fucker, and now we’re here. But getting into the car and driving off? The car ride until we crashed? Yeah, I can’t remember shit.
“I wouldn’t think so, Boys. You—you came in unconscious and very battered. At least, that’s what they’re saying." Emotions clog her voice when she waves a hand, trying to bat them away. "I’m so sorry you don’t remember. They mentioned calling home to inform your parents of the accident.” She takes a quick look around the room, seeking any sort of personal items that might belong to our parents. Fuck. She must have bribed them well if they gave up that kind of information.
She won’t find any personal belongings around this room. Not from our parents. Even if they called the step monster, she wouldn’t leave her mansion on the hill or call us to make sure we’re okay. The only thing her greedy fucking ass would have done is check the death certificates to see if she’s a billionaire, but that’s the extent of her worry.
