I sucked in a breath, but I wanted to rail at the injustice of what happened to Regina—to Decker—to me.
He pulled back and peered into my eyes, his glare steely and exuding strength—everything I wasn’t in this moment. “Hear me. It’s not your fault, K. It’s Teke’s for stealing that car—it’s Teke who hurt our girl—not you,” he lectured, but his words weren’t penetrating the shield I put up.
As I stared into his beautiful blue eyes, my vision blurred, as if I were viewing them through a layer of guilt. “If I had known Teke was going to follow Regi, I would have gone after her. Protected her.”
“Me, too,” he growled. “But we didn’t know. We were kids, Krew. I never thought Teke had it in him to…” His frown deepened; I swore his face would crack. Then his scowl disappeared and resignation stiffened his jaw. “Teke’s fucking dead. I don’t care if he’s your brother, K. Do you understand that?” he barked.
“Damn. Family drama.” A man’s voice cut into the tension.
Decker and I swiveled our heads to the man who was standing several feet from us. “Who are you?” I glowered at the stranger, my eyes riveted on the gun in his hand.
He shrugged, tucking the weapon behind him. “I’m Bonner Kelly. You can call me Boom. I wasn’t one of the guys who tried to kill you or who shot up the house. I came to help.” He smirked, like what he said was a joke.
My watery eyes widened and I turned to Decker for answers.
“Merrick called in reinforcements. And he didn’t shoot at us—or so he says. Well, you and Regina, or the house.” Decker grimaced as he looked down at his thigh.
“We need to look at your wound,” I said, finally getting up from the ground. “Then we have to go after her.”
“We will.” Decker stood and glanced at my shoulder.
“I have honor, you know,” Bonner boasted, but I had no idea what the hell the guy was spouting about. “Most of the time of time anyway.” He looked back at the house. “Shit, Merrick’s going to lose it. You’ll tell him it wasn’t me. Right?”
Decker turned back to me, ignoring Bonner—Boom—whoever this guy was. “Let’s clean up.”
“Alright,” I admitted, my attention dropping to my bloody knuckles.
“Do you have a clue where she’s running to?” Decker asked.
“I don’t,” I replied, though the weight of Regina’s words still lay heavy around my neck like a chained noose.
“Jesus Christ,” Bonner murmured as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What?” Decker snapped, but his eyes remained on me.
“You can track your girlfriend by her cell phone—I mean if she has one. Or do you have a tracker on your truck?”
“What?” Decker and I said in unison, our attention on the man who now looked perturbed.
Bonner shook his head, before he narrowed his eyes on Decker. “Jesus, I thought I was working with a professional. Like the one you should put on your truck in case someone steals your vehicle.”
“No, I don’t.” Decker clenched his teeth before turning to me. “I’ll call Sabrina.”
“You will call Merrick first…” Bonner’s words trailed off as Decker glared at him. “Fine. You can call Merrick after.”
Decker studied Bonner before he finally grumped out, “I will.” He then turned toward the house.
“Alright. You go do that while I bury the bodies,” I heard Bonner say as I followed Decker to the house. “Oh, by the way, I’m taking the ATV over there. I parked my vehicle way too far and I don’t feel like walking.”
I glanced over my shoulder and watched the strange man—who was a killer like Decker, climb onto the ATV and drive away, disappearing into the adjacent woods, before I put him out of my mind.
We took the stairs slowly up to the destroyed bathroom. I washed up while Decker grabbed the first aid case. I followed him to the bedroom where we’d made love to Regina. As I sat on the edge of the bed, pain was finally leaching all my energy.
Decker cleaned and bandaged my shoulder and his leg, then grabbed his phone. “I’m calling Sabrina,” he said and handed me the first aid kit.
As I bandaged my hands, the words Regina confessed to me were on repeat in my head. She was raped. Teke raped her. Teke—my brother couldn’t get away with this atrocity. He had to pay.
“Yo, Bossman.” Sabrina’s voice pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts. “I take it Boom was there,” she announced over the speaker.
