Page 70 of Bones

“Yeah, Torch already told me, but there’s not much to tell.”

“He’ll want to hear it all the same.”

“I figured as much.” I inhaled a deep breath, then asked, “Do you think there’s any way we can just get it over with?”

“Yeah.” He reached down and took my hand in his. “He’s waiting for us in his office.”

“Okay.”

Wyatt led me out of the room, and together, we made our way down the hall to Cotton’s office. When we walked in, he was sitting at his desk talking to Guardrail, and neither of them appeared to be in the best of moods. In fact, they looked fit to be tied. His expression softened, and Cotton sounded sincerely worried as he asked, “You okay?”

“Yes, sir. I’m fine.”

“Good. You had us worried there for a minute.” His eyes narrowed as he asked, “You wanna tell me what happened today?”

“Yeah, sure, but like I told Wyatt, there’s not much to tell.”

“Still wanna hear it from you.”

“Yes, sir.” Wyatt gave my hand a gentle squeeze as I told him, “He pulled me into the closet and started saying all this crazy stuff about you guys being dangerous and that I needed to get away from you. I told him he was off his rocker, and I might’ve pushed him. That’s when he showed me his gun and told me he was taking me with him.”

Cotton glanced over at Guardrail, then back to me. “Any idea where he was planning to take you?”

“No, sir. He didn’t say.”

“Anything else?”

“He mentioned something about me answeringhis questions, but I have no idea who he was talking about. He forced me out of the closet, and when we stepped out of the building, that’s when Stitch appeared. And our conversation ended there.” I nervously bit down on my bottom lip before saying, “I’m really sorry. I should’ve listened to Wyatt and gone back to the clubhouse the second he texted me.”

“Yes, you should have.” His tone turned fatherly as he scolded, “Things could’ve turned out very differently today, and none...”

Before he could finish his thought, Two Bit stepped into the office and announced, “He’s ready.”

Cotton nodded, then turned to Wyatt. “We’re done here. Take her back to her room and then come find us.”

“You got it.”

With that, we all filed out of the office and into the hall. Cotton and Guardrail followed Two Bit towards the back door while Wyatt and I headed back to my room. When we walked in, I looked up at Wyatt and asked, “I don’t guess you’re gonna tell me where you all are going?”

“No, but I can tell you that I won’t be long.” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “Try to stay out of trouble until I get back.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He took one last look at me, then turned and walked out of the room. I won’t deny that I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to hold me in his arms and calm the storm of thoughts that were racing through my head. But sadly, it didn’t matter what I wanted. The brothers needed him, and that was that.

My time would come.

I just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

CHAPTER18

Bones

Ithought a lot of Stitch.

I looked up to him.

I respected him.

---