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Her eyes close. “For how long? He was the only person who kept me safe, but safety was relative with him. It’s… I’m glad he’s gone but…”
Jesus, what a number the MC have done on her.
“So, James was there to confront you?”
“I-I was told to stay in the kitchen, keep my head down until things had blown over, but the short-order cook sliced hisfingertip off. Some dumbfuck had taken the first-aid kit from the kitchen, so I had to find it. James saw me, waited in his car until closing and I was taking out the trash.” She rubs her temple. “He kept screaming at me that it was my fault he’d been expelled. That his father had cut him off. That I was going to help him get back in his dad’s good books by taking the heat off him and coming forward?—”
“It’s okay, Amy. Just take a deep breath,” I order gently when she looks like she’s about to have a panic attack.
My eyes glance at the monitors, and I know that if the panic overtakes her fully, the nurses will shoo us out.
While Cody needs answers, I also recognize thatsheneeds to get this off her chest.
Gulping down air, she rasps, “He wouldn’t stop screaming at me, and I knew that if he carried on, the brothers would hear. K-Kit’s so jealous. So fucking jealous. If he t-thought… I pleaded with James to be quieter, but he wouldn’t. He was so much bigger…
“When he tried to drag me over to his car so he could take me into town, I h-hit him with the trash bag.
“Everything just seemed to derail, but the sequence of events was…”
“Was what, Amy?” I prompt, squeezing her fingers.
“It was like everything aligned at the same time as everything went to shit. Kit screamed my name. H-He wanted me in there to…” Shame flashes over her expression. “…I always knew when he’d snorted. He was so much louder than usual. Dad used to control his blow habit, though, because—” Her hand comes up to her cheek as if she’s shielding an old hurt. “I knew Kit would be worse if he saw me with James. The coke made him even more paranoid and violent. I hated it when he was high.
“James was so strong. He just kept on pulling me over to his car, but if he shoved me in there, Kit would have thought it was f-for sex. He was already certain I had a boyfriend at school.
“So, I hit James harder with the garbage bag and I mustn’t have tied the knot in it well enough because everything tumbled loose.
“When the cook cut his finger, he’d nicked the tip of the paring knife so he tossed it in the trash. It was in that bag. K-Kit screamed for me, and I just knew that he was going to come out and he’d see and he’d hit me, and I-I couldn’t go through that again.
“Last time, he broke every finger of my right hand apart from my thumb and pointer so I could still use a pen.
“So, I grabbed the knife and I shoved it in his face. I-I only wanted him to back off, I swear. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Just breathe, Amy, just breathe,” I reassure as best I can when this girl has experienced far too much for someone so freaking young.
“James saw the knife and it made him even madder. I swiped it in the air and backed off a couple steps, but Kit yelled my name again. I-I turned to the door, praying he wasn’t there, but James was on the football team. He t-tackled me. A-And that was when I?—”
I squeeze her hand. “You stabbed him?”
“I-It wasn’t on purpose,” she pleads with us for understanding. “He pushed me down and the knife was there, and it went through his gut.
“Kit and a bunch of brothers came running out when I screamed, s-s-saw us on the ground, and h-h-he thought… But Dad understood and grabbed James off me. K-Kit was so jealous,” she weeps. “He started s-stabbing him over and over and over. There was blood everywhere. O-On me and just…” Herweeping turns into sobs. “Kit was so fucking proud. Not just of me but himself.
“H-He’s the only guy I’d ever been with and he wanted to keep it that way. I am… was Razer’s daughter. With Paulie dead, it was likely Razer’d pass down the mantle to Kit. At least, that was what he thought. Kit was too volatile to lead.” She gulps. “G-Guess that doesn’t matter now. B-But h-he made me do it last night when we were both covered in…”
“Jesus,” Cody rasps.
Shaking hands hide her face. “That morning, he started talking about the brand and how he was going to fuck me as he did it. I knew I had to get out. I just knew I had to. I was so fucking scared.
“Without school, that’d be my life. Him getting high, hurting me, fucking me as I hurt, forever and ever and ever. Dad would stop him sometimes, but not every time, and when he died, I’d be alone with Kit. No Paulie, n-nobody. And then I remembered I had your number and I-I called you because you said you would help me…”
When she gulps down air, Cody vows, “And I will keep you safe, Amy.I will.Thank you for telling us that.” He grabs her other hand and squeezes it. “But don’t tell anyone else. Understood?”
“I-I understand.”
“We have plenty of room on the ranch. You can stay with us. We have what it takes to keep you safe. You can finish your education?—”
“Callan will be there, right?”