Kansas (Ruthless Kings MC Atlantic City #2) - K.L. Savage Page 0,18

chuckle as I chew.

“I’m just saying, you meet a good girl, why not?”

Plenty of reasons, but I’m not going to list any.

Because I know at the end of the day, I’m going to ignore all of them. Everything Satyr said was true. I do want all those things with her, and despite every reason I shouldn’t, I really hope this feeling of being drawn to her plays out how I want it to.

I drink the milk out of the bowl and wash it out in the sink, staring at a sign Scarlett made that says, ‘You mess it up, You clean it up.’ It’s in pretty cursive and is tilted against the turquoise backsplash she wanted.

Whatever she wants, she gets. Boomer makes sure of it.

I open up the dishwasher and put my bowl inside, along with my spoon like a good little boy. Scarlett does not and will not clean up after us.

If we leave a mess, Boomer will threaten to throw cherry bombs at us.

No, thank you.

A scream coming from the medical wing has me forgetting about the open dishwasher. I don’t bother closing the door. Without a second thought, I dash out of the kitchen, Satyr right behind me. I slam open the door and sprint down the hall and into her room.

She’s sitting up in the bed, tears streaming down her face.

“Springs, hey, I’m here. What’s going on? Are you okay?” I squat down beside the bed and look up at her, so I don’t seem so intimidating.

“I woke up and thought I was in the boat,” she explains, wiping her cheek on the shirt she’s wearing.

My shirt.

Something else that’s been driving me crazy. Scarlett asked for big t-shirts and sweatpants from us when we got the girls inside from the cold, since they were soaked. Springs ended up wearing my things, and damn it, she looks so beautiful in them.

“The mast hit my dad in the back of the head.” She shows us with a hand gesture. “But…” her lip begins to tremble “I couldn’t hold onto him. I tried, I really tried, but he fell off the boat when the next wave hit. Mom had already been taken by the storm. It was just me and my sisters. I can’t get their faces out of my head.”

This is the most she’s ever talked, so I don’t say a word. I just let her vent. I do get up and sit on the edge of the mattress again. I take her hand in mine and her fingertips are like ice. I place my other hand on top to warm them up.

“I’m going to go check on her sisters. I’ll be back with an update,” Satyr tells me.

I give him a quick nod, and he exits the room, closing the door behind him to give us privacy.

I flip on the lamp so I can see her clearly, and what I see steals my breath. Her big, round eyes stare at me wide open for the first time instead of drooping shut. They almost look cartoonish, because not only are they large, but the color is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. So blue, but I swear there is a hint of violet in there to give them a purple hue. They are so unique.

“I tried. My mom and I were holding on to the rails, but the waves hit, and the sailboat flipped to the side, and we slide off the side. I held on, but my mom couldn’t. She drifted away. My dad… he was right there in front of me. Right there. Talking. And then he wasn’t.”

Her pain has me remembering that now isn’t the time to admire how beautifully different she is. Not when she’s in pain.

“I tried,” she sobs. “I tried so hard to not let them go, but it didn’t matter.” Her shoulders shake, and I pull her against me as she cries again. She’s done this a lot for the last few days, for good reason. It’s never easy to witness someone you love dying, and she had it happen twice in a matter of minutes. “I don’t know how we survived.”

I draw small circles against her lower back and lean my head against hers, my face getting lost in the forest of her hair. “You almost didn’t,” I say to her.

She pulls away from me, but I keep my hand on the dip of her back, not wanting to let go just yet. Her brows furrow and a cute crease