Page 75 of Mimic

I stared into his dark eyes. From across the table, I couldn’t tell what color they were. But his eyes told me everything he didn’t say out loud. He wanted to know what would happen. He wanted to see what I was capable of.

“Who?”

His grin said it all. I’d just agreed to a plan that had already been formed in his head. Before he could answer, if indeed he would, the door opened, and Haizley rushed in.

She sat at my side, in the chair Kytten had vacated. The chair that had brought her pain. I didn’t want Haizley to get hurt because of me.

She swung angry eyes to King. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Don’t start, Doc.”

“Next time, bring me in fucking sooner.”

King grinned at Haizley’s outburst, but she didn’t see it because she was already focused on me. “You should have come to me.”

“I couldn’t,” I whispered in shame.

“This is why you’ve been avoiding me since you found out what I did?”

I simply nodded, not wanting to confess she scared me. That her compassion and personality scared the shit out of me. I didn’t want her to confirm everything I had ever thought. Everything I knew.

“You know this wasn’t your fault.”

“I know.”

She shook her head as she grinned. “We will talk about this later. You aren’t off the hook. As your friend, I am going to cuss you out for not trusting me. But as your new therapist, I amgoing to work with you until you trust me completely and help get you through all of this shit.” She turned to King. “Where are we?”

This was what I both loved about Haizley and what scared me the most. She took charge. She was confident in her role in the club, in town. In her whole fucking life.

When I first met Haizley, she was the scared girl who felt alone in the town she grew up in. The one who didn’t have the confidence that a man like Gunner could not only be interested in her but want her so much he stalked her to make sure she was safe and protected.

That was such a small part of who she was though. The real Haizley Walker was strong and confident. She was someone who inspired people to be better. Inspired them to grow and deal with their shit, even when they didn’t want to.

Like me.

“Indie was sharing her story with us,” King said, giving me the floor to continue.

“You think your father sold you?” Haizley asked, her soft eyes on my face. She had a way of being compassionate and sympathetic without it feeling like pity. Somehow, that felt worse.

I didn’t want understanding for what I had been through. I wanted anger. I wanted rage. I wanted someone to be on my side. To protect me, to go to war for me.

I reached over and took Mimic’s hand. He didn’t get to shrink away from me, not if he wanted me the way he said he did. Looking around the table, I realized that maybe Kytten was right. Maybe if I gave Mimic a chance, I could find a home here. A place to belong. A family who would protect me, fight for me.

Someone willing to go to war for me.

“I’ve always suspected it was my father who sold me, despite what Devlin said. Now that I know my father was connected to him, it only makes it more likely.”

“Maybe he didn’t sell you,” Jingles said. “Maybe he loaned you out knowing what Devlin Scott was doing.”

“What do you mean?” Colt asked.

“Indie, you said Magyk rescued you when you were how old?”

“Fourteen,” I answered, curious what he was thinking.

“And how old are you now?” Gunner asked.

I bit my lip as I dropped my eyes. He’d been so great to me, and I couldn’t look him in the eye when I confessed I’d lied to him.