"Yeah, I saw that," he replied softly.
"What happened?" Curtis asked with a worried look as he walked toward us quickly.
I felt guilty for causing such a fuss. It was my fault it had happened in the first place. If I hadn't been on my own, Richard wouldn't have tried anything. I knew he wasn't going to be happy about it but I didn't think that he would try and attack me. The truth was if Kyle hadn't shown up, Richard would have killed me.
"A member of the pack tried to kill her," Kyle told him before I could say a word.
"Who?" Curtis directed the question to me. When I hesitated, he turned to Kyle for the answer.
"I don't know what his name is and I was too busy pulling him off her and telling him to get lost to ask," he answered with a shrug.
Curtis looked back at me expectantly with anger seeping into his face.
"Richard...it was Richard," I answered. My throat suddenly felt dry.
"I should have fucking known!" he yelled as his temper exploded. "That good-for-nothing asshole."
"Calm down. He won't be back," Kyle revealed.
"You let him live?" Curtis asked in disbelief.
"If I killed him your pack might have not taken very well to that. Do I have to remind you I'm not a member of your pack?" Kyle tried to explain through gritted teeth.
"You need to send some guys after him," Curtis instructed me.
"He's gone and he won't be back," I said, not quite believing the words I was saying. All I wanted to do was see my mom and then get some sleep.
Curtis gave me a look that told me he didn't believe a word of it either.
"Fine," I relented and coughed. My throat was still sore.
"Let me have a look," said Curtis as he began to examine my throat.
Kyle watched silently from the side as Curtis tilted my face. His fingers were gentle.
"I don't think he did any serious damage. I'll give you some painkillers to help with the pain," he told me as he signaled for a nurse.
My eyes met Kyle's as Curtis spoke to the nurse.
As soon as I had the bottle of painkillers firmly in my hand, I made a beeline for my mom's room with Kyle following behind me. It was late already and I knew she'd be sleeping but I just wanted to see her one more time before I went to get some sleep myself.
"I'll be outside," Kyle told me. I hesitated for a moment in front of my mom's room. I gave him a nod before I opened the door.
For a few minutes I stood beside the bed just watching her sleep, trying to engrave every detail of her face into memory so I would be able to remember her when she was gone. I bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek before I left her to sleep.
Kyle walked back with me to our rooms. Just outside mine, I turned to say good bye and he reached for my arm. His hand circled my wrist.
"Why do you want people to believe the worst of you?" he asked softly.
"I don't know what you mean," I said. I pulled my arm from his hand.
"At any point through all of this you could have told everyone about your mother and they would have understood why you did what you did."
"Remember, I'm the enemy. If I'd told them about my mom they would have used her against me like Victor did," I said, telling him my thoughts.
"They wouldn't," he disputed. "I wouldn't have.”
"I don't trust anyone," I said as I crossed my arms across my chest. "Words don't mean anything. It's actions that count."
