Page 6 of The Monsters Within

“Can you tell me why you hurt yourself?”

“No.” That was a hard line. I agreed to talk to her because Cash asked me to. But she wasn’t my friend. And she wasn’t Cash. She didn’t shut the monsters up; only Cash did that. In fact, her questions were waking the monsters up.

Chapter Two

Kytten

“Does Val know about the cutting?” she asked.

I shook my head, my eyes locked on Cash. He stared back. Giving me strength from a distance. But he wasn’t close enough.

I rubbed my legs, but I didn’t scratch. If I scratched, he would know. But if he knew, would he come?

“How do you think she will feel when she finds out?”

My eyes snapped to Dr. Jefferson. “She won’t find out. You can’t tell her. Isn’t that how this works? You can’t tell anyone what I tell you, right?”

“No, I won’t tell anyone what we talk about unless you ask me to. But, Kytten, everyone here knows what happened this morning. It is unlikely that everyone will keep your secret. In fact, it’s quite possible King has already called Valhalla. She is your president. And I know you understand the rules.”

She was right. King was bound to call a member’s president if they were hurt. I stood from my chair and started walking in his direction. When Cash saw me, he jumped up and met me halfway.

“What’s wrong, Rosie?”

“Did King call Val?” I asked, my eyes locked on the Silver Shadows’ president.

Cash looked over his shoulder at King and motioned for him to come forward. When he approached, I asked, “Did you call Val?”

King looked at Cash, then back to me. He didn’t answer right away, and my skin began to crawl. I scratched at my arm.

“Did you call her?” I shouted.

“No. Cash asked me not to,” he answered. And I let out a breath.

I threw my arms around Cash. “Thank you. You can’t tell her.”

“Rosie, she has to be told at some point,” Cash whispered.

“Why?” I asked, stepping back. “She doesn’t need to know.”

“Baby, settle down. No one is going to tell her until you are ready.”

“Kytten.” I turned to find Dr. Jefferson behind me. “Let’s finish talking, ok?”

I looked at King, “You promise you won’t call her?”

“I can’t promise that. But I can promise I will talk to you about it first.”

It was the best I would get, and I knew that. MC presidents were sticklers for rules. Laws be damned, but MC rules were as sacred as a goddamn Bible.

“Go on, baby. I’m not leaving.” He kissed my forehead and turned me around. He wouldn’t let me out of this; that was clear.

I followed Dr. Jefferson back to our seats. When I sat down, I looked for him immediately. He smiled and winked as he sat down.

“Let’s go back to when you were on the street. Did Mimic usually leave you alone while he got food?”

I snapped my eyes to hers. “It wasn’t his fault,” I said adamantly.

“I wasn’t suggesting that it was. I just want to understand how everything happened. No one is at fault.”