Mykel (King's Descendants MC #3) - Bella Jewel Page 0,38
to mention he just killed a cop. I had to think on my feet, so I told him we should bury Bennett and work out the rest from there. So that’s what we did . . .”
“Oh, honey,” Briella says, her voice soft.
Yeah, I can imagine what they’re all thinking right now.
I’d be thinking the same thing.
What I just did was the absolute worst, and I’m totally not okay. Not even close.
“I marked the trees when he wasn’t looking,” I whisper. “I made sure to remember where we buried his body so that you can find it, so that Dax can be taken down. This is your chance to remove them, to take out the trash. They’re going to be off their game, and things are going to blow up, especially when Peter finds out. Dax already knows if the cops go looking, they’re going to figure out what was going on and it’s going to be the end of him. Bennett was the only thing keeping it all a secret . . .”
“You’re right. This is our chance,” Alarick murmurs. “But we gotta be careful, plan it perfectly. Don’t want you suffering through anymore, Waverly. You’ve been incredible, but I’m not goin’ to let you get hurt. We’ll finish this; we’ll get you out of there. I swear it.”
I swallow and nod, and then I rub my arms, feeling cold even though I’m not. “I need to lie down, if you all don’t mind. If I recall anymore, I’ll let you know. I just . . . I can’t think right now.”
“Of course,” Zariah says, hugging me again. “I meant what I said, honey. Nobody is going to take you down for this. I’ll make sure of it.”
I nod, and then glance at Mykel once more before walking down the hall and into my room.
As soon as I’m there, I lower myself to the ground and I cry.
I cry so hard my body shakes.
I buried a man tonight.
I put human flesh into the ground and covered it up.
I got covered in someone else’s blood.
Am I a monster now, too?
11
WAVERLY
I don’t know how long I sit on the floor, crying, but when the door opens and someone comes in, I can’t even find the strength to look up. I just want to sit here, and sob, and let my body heal a little more before I stand and go to bed. I hope it’s not Zariah—not because I don’t love her, but because she’s a cop, and she just doesn’t understand.
When big strong arms wrap around me and lift me up, I blink through blurred vision to see Mykel carrying me to the bed. He’s helping me, even though I’m sure he doesn’t want to. He’s making me feel better during a time when I honestly don’t know how I will cope on my own. He lays me down on plush mattress and pulls the covers over me, and then he sits beside me, and when I gaze into his eyes, my heart aches a little.
He’s actually looking at me with appreciation, with kindness. A look I’ve not seen from him. A look I’ve been craving so heavily since the moment I met him. He’s seeing me for the first time, and I want to cry with happiness. He reaches down and swipes a piece of tear-soaked hair from my eyes, and then murmurs, “The first dead body I saw, it fucked me up, too. It always does. It’s somethin’ you don’t forget easily. It’s somethin’ that stays with you. But you gotta know it wasn’t on you, Waverly. Wasn’t your fault.”
“I helped bury him,” I whisper, and then another sob tears from my throat. “I helped dig the hole. I helped shove his body into it. I heard the thud as it hit the bottom. I watched a life just vanish, just like that . . .”
Mykel takes my face in his hands, and orders me to look at him. I do, mostly because there’s nowhere else to look when he’s holding onto me like that. “You did not fuckin’ do anything wrong. The club put you in this, and it’s exactly why I wanted you fuckin’ out from the start. It’s not right, and it’s not somethin’ you should have been forced to deal with.”
“I wasn’t forced,” I say, softly. “I wanted to do it, Mykel.”
“Yeah, and I fuckin’ said you shouldn’t for a reason.”
“I thought that reason was that you didn’t like me.”