Page 55 of One Bad Knight

“Who knows if this was even the first time he’s done something like this?” I said, though it came out screechy to my own ears. I knew to my core that I wasn’t Jimi’s first “party friend.”

“Katherine,” my uncle practically snapped, using his authoritative voice. “Let’s not talk about this any further. It hardly matters now that Jimi is dead because of some godforsaken beast.”

The shard sunk deep into my brain, and the pain was unbearable. I spun on my heels and walked out of his office. I wanted to run upstairs and change, but I was afraid. I was afraid to be in this house. Afraid to be trapped with my own thoughts. Afraid to be in my own skin. I needed to get out. I needed to leave. Run. Get somewhere safe.

But there wasn’t anywhere safe for me. Because all I had was my family.

23

Gatsby

The knock at my door took me by complete surprise. In only my pants, I’d just finished tending to my shoulder. I didn’t even have my shoes on.

No one came to see me, and if they did, they certainly didn’t knock. They only crept in through the windows and cracks, and absolutely not a one of them announced their arrival.

I flung open the door, sword raised, ready to meet whatever new threat had come to drag me to hell and chew on my bones.

Instead, I was met with a shivering Kat, makeup streaked down her face from… tears? She was still in the dress I’d seen her wearing in the garden. The gown was tattered and smeared with dirt.

“Can I come in?” she asked through chattering teeth.

Her eyes slowly leveled with the sword I still held poised. Immediately setting my weapon aside, I said, “of course.” I stepped back and she crossed the threshold of my hovel.

“How did you know where to find me?” I asked.

“When you took me home that first night, I was conscious enough to memorize the cross streets.”

So, she found out I’d set up camp in the condemned building next door to her studio.

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head.

No, she was upset, I could read it in her face, in the rigid way she held her body. But I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to take care of her the way a normal man would.

Not Jimi, of course. He was a kind of evil in disguise. But a regular person would know what to do, and it pained me that I didn’t.

My instinct was to touch her, hold her, but I couldn’t be sure if that was just what I wanted. I couldn’t afford to hurt her any further.

“What do I do?” I finally asked, cutting through the bullshit to get the information I desperately needed.

“Do you have hot water?” she asked through chattering teeth.

“Yes.”

“I t-think I need a hot shower. I can’t stop shivering.”

My shoulders relaxed. I recognized this. She was in shock. I could handle this. I gently grasped her elbow and firmly led her toward the bathroom, kicking the front door shut along the way.

I turned on the hot water and waited with her for it to warm up. My hand still held her elbow, but we stood there staring at each other. Though I couldn’t say what was happening, I felt an intense yet comforting energy fill the small space between us, as if she were always meant to be near me, and I her.

There were broken tiles along the walls, and rust spots marred the sink. Kat looked entirely out of place here. She deserved an oversized tub she could disappear into. She deserved pure white tiles and golden finishes. Basically, what my princess lived in at home. But she’d come to me.

When I’d first started squatting here, I scrubbed this bathroom until my knuckles bled. If I needed to treat any injuries, I’d need a sanitized place. I just didn’t count on needing to treat the wounds inside a person.

Kat reached out, her fingers brushing just below my bandaged shoulder. Blood already spotted through the white wrappings.

The bullet Jimi shot into my shoulder had gone straight through. And I had undergone far worse injuries than a hellhound bite and a bullet would. I cleaned and wrapped my shoulder up easily enough.