Virgil and Jasper stood right beside the sofa while Cal sat at my side holding my hand. Sadie and Maisie looked on with worried expressions near the end of the sofa and Emmett, looking worse than I felt, just paced behind the sofa, casting concerned looks my way every few seconds.
“Terry called out to me in the nick of time or else I’d have to gift all my glorious shoes to the poor.” It was a shitty attempt at humor but they all looked at me like I was at death’s door.
Jasper shook his head, vibrating with so much anger I could almost hear it and I knew he was gonna lose his shit.
“No Kat, fuck that. I want to know what the fuck happened. Nobody and I mean no fucking body fucks with my sister.”
My eyes connected with Terry’s. He wanted me to let him take the blame. But it wasn’t his fault. He saved me. “We were coming back from lunch and I spotted that Ravager motherfucker and shouted for Terry to stop so we could find out what the fuck that asshole was doing. Shit,” I paused as something clicked in my brain.
“They were following us.” My words were for Terry who nodded his agreement.
“Yeah I figured that out. Too late,” he said the last part to Jasper. “I was focused on Ravager. And not wrecking the car in the process.”
“No! Fuck that, Terry.” I turned my gaze to Jasper who was determined, for some reason, to blame someone else. “If Terry hadn’t been pulled from his job to babysit me, maybe we’d already know who just tried to kill me. He can’t be with me all the time and find Ravager. Deal with your choices, big brother.”
Jasper glared down at me and from the corner of my eyes, I noticed Sadie’s smirk.
“I was trying to protect you!” Jasper bellowed.
I nodded and softened my voice. “And because you put Terry on the case, I’m here. Alive and kicking and giving you a ton of shit. He did his job, Jas. Move the fuck on.”
I couldn’t look at Terry again, because the fact that he had saved me and the gentle way he’d touched me afterwards, had my mind and my heart going wild.
Sadie cleared her throat and all eyes swung to her. “Did either of you get any details on the car?”
Terry rattled off what he could remember, which was a lot more than I’d managed to see.
“The windows were too dark to see the driver and there was no damn plate. Might be stolen.”
Calvin nodded and stood. “I’ll check surveillance and police reports. You think this could be about the girl,” he asked me, concern in his eyes.
I hadn’t thought it was about Madison, but it was possible. I doubted Ma shared the photo with the boys because if she had, they’d already be at Mueller’s door.
“It’s possible but I don’t think they know who took her.”
Jasper nodded slightly. “It has to be The Crusaders. If it’s not about the fight, then it’s because they believe we killed Savannah.”
He was so sure of himself, but I wasn’t convinced about who was responsible.
“I have a team searching for Savannah. For now, the focus needs to be on finding Ravager and what the fuck happened. That’s the priority.”
Sadie’s steely gaze landed on Jasper, and they had one of those silent conversations before they reached some kind of agreement. He nodded and Sadie’s shoulders relaxed as she pulled a cigarette from her gold case.
“What I want to know is if the attack on Emmett was ego or something else?”
Emmett stopped pacing and shook his head; his bruises had turned an ugly shade of purple. “It wasn’t Ravager. The guy who jumped me was shorter than me but beefy as fuck. Street fighter all the way. I held my own until the other asshole showed up. If it had been Ravager, I’d be in the hospital. Or dead.” Just thinking about the attack upset Emmett and he shook his head. “I’m out. I need to go lay down.”
Terry’s eyes were filled with worry, for his brother but also for me. Sadie apparently saw the torment in his eyes and nodded.
“Go talk to your brother. See what else he remembers.”
“Thanks Sadie.”
Finally, Maisie the drill sergeant spoke. “Everyone out. Now. I’ll help get Kat cleaned up and her scars bandaged, then you guys can get back to talking about whatever it is you aren’t telling me.”
Virgil opened his mouth to say something, but Maisie put two fingers to his lips. “It’s fine, I don’t need to know. I don’t even want to know. But I want to make sure Kat is all right before I go back to the casino.”
And with a clap of her hands, Maisie the magician managed to get the toughest people I knew to disperse without an argument. “That’s pretty impressive. Can you teach me that trick?”
Maisie’s pink lips curled into a hint of a smile but her blue eyes were filled with worry. “Sure. As soon as you teach me how to dive bomb over the hood of a car. Sounds scary.”
“It happened too fast to be scared or anything else.” I closed my eyes and thought about the fear and worry that sounded in Terry’s voice. How could three little worlds hold so much emotion?
Kat watch out!
It wasn’t, I love you, but it saved me.
For today, that was good enough.
Chapter Twenty
Terry
Emmett was still upset about the attack and I was happy Sadie didn’t make a big deal about me going up to check on him. Now, I hoped Emmett didn’t make a big deal about it either. Three sharp knocks on the door and I shoved one hand in my pocket and waited while my brother took his sweet ass time opening the door.
“Hey man. How you doing?”
Emmett shrugged his wide shoulders and stepped back. “I’ve been better, man. What’s up?”
“I haven’t gotten a chance to talk
