But it’s done.
As Natalie’s lifeless form floats in the water before me, her blonde hair twisting and swirling around her face, I glance over to see the others pulling a shivering Cody out of the car.
“Thank fuck,” I mumble to myself.
41
River
Cody clings to me, shaking and crying a little. He’s obviously scared, and I can’t blame him for that. If someone from my family stuffed me in a car and then tried to drown me, I’d be fucking scared too.
I have no idea how to be motherly or comforting or anything like that, but I hold on to him tightly as we wade out of the water.
Ash is there near the bank, pulling himself out of the river as well. He’s dripping wet, and he tugs his glasses off his face and frowns, trying to find a dry patch of clothes to wipe the water away from the lenses.
“Is it done?” I ask him.
He nods.
“Yeah. She’s in there,” he says, nodding toward the river. “Put up a hell of a fight though. These better not get infected with whatever’s in that river.”
He rolls his sleeve up. and I can see the lines from Natalie’s nails going down his arm.
“I think you’ll be okay,” I tell him. I lean up and kiss him, melting against him for just a second despite the fact that we both smell like muddy river water. “Thank you.”
He grins, then makes a face.
“I’ve never been into this kind of shit the way Knox is,” he admits. “Death. Torture. Vengeance. But even I can see this was a fitting end for that bitch.”
Out of all the Kings, Ash is the one who gets his hands dirty the least, that’s true. He pick-pockets and charms people who need to be charmed, and I’ve definitely seen him shoot people before when the situation calls for it. But that’s different from holding someone under water until they’re dead. He doesn’t get off on it the way Knox does, and that’s perfectly fine.
When it mattered, he did it.
For Cody.
For me.
“I mean it,” I repeat. “Thank you.”
No one is going to mourn Natalie Maduro, and she can join her brother in hell as far as I’m concerned.
In the river, Knox, Priest, and Gage dredge up Natalie’s body. They drag it over and put it in the car, closing the door before pushing the whole thing deeper into the water, until it sinks completely.
Then they all wade back to shore.
“Instead of looking like an attempted murder, it’ll look like a successful suicide,” Knox says with a shrug, running a hand through his shaggy dark hair and sending droplets of water sliding down his tattooed forearm. “Given what came out about her and Julian last night, it’ll be an easy story to believe. They both folded under the pressure and killed themselves.”
I grin at him, relief flooding through me. It was close there for a second, but we got Cody back. And Julian and Natalie are both dead.
It’s over.
Fucking finally.
Cody has stopped crying, but he clings to me all the same. His little arms are wrapped tight around my neck, and fine tremors move through his body.
“Do we have anything for him?” I ask, glancing at the guys. “I think he’s cold.”
Gage pulls a blanket out of the trunk of the car, and I shoot him a look with raised brows, asking without words if that blanket has been used to wrap dead bodies in or something.
He half smiles and shakes his head, holding it out so we can wrap Cody in it.
“It’s alright,” I tell the little boy. “We’ll get you warm and dry at home. I promise. It’s all gonna be okay.”
Those words feel a bit empty in light of everything this poor kid has been through, but I have to hope that Julian and Natalie disappearing from his life won’t hit him as hard as losing my sister did. Julian seemed like an asshole of a father who was perfectly happy to ignore his kid unless he was belittling him for being too weak, and Natalie probably never said more than ten words to him his whole life.
His mom seems to have been the only one who truly cared for him, and although I can’t give her back to him, I can at least try to make sure he feels cared for and protected again.
We get back into the car, and I keep Cody on my lap as Gage drives us back home.
Everyone is quiet as we make our way back into the heart of the city, and just like that night when we stopped by the side of the road in the rain, Gage refrains from bitching about a bunch of wet asses on his car’s leather seats. I notice Ash and Knox both shooting curious glances at Cody, and I wonder when the last time was that any of them were around a kid.
For me, it’s an easy question to answer—not since I was a kid.
I don’t know what to say to Cody, but luckily, he doesn’t seem like he’s in the mood to talk anyway. So I just hold on to him, trying to dry him off a little and keep him warm as we near the Kings’ house.
The place is big enough that there’s another guest bedroom, so once we get inside, we set Cody up in that one. I grab a few things from my closet so that he can change into dry clothes, and although they’re way too big for him, it’s a better fit than anything I could’ve borrowed from the guys.
“Is that better?” I ask as I bundle him up in my mismatched clothes. “I remember your mom said you like to wear pajamas during the day sometimes. This is kind of like that.”
“Yeah.” He nods, his voice quiet and shy. “I like it.”
“Good. Are you hungry?”
He nods again.
“Okay. We’ll go downstairs and get something to eat.”
I stand up and hold out my hand, and I’m surprised as hell when he takes it. I would’ve expected him to be more standoffish and distrustful of a bunch of strangers… but then again, he can probably see the resemblance between me and his mom, so maybe it helps that I remind him of her.
“We’ll have to get some stuff for him,” I tell Ash, who’s lingering in the guest room doorway. “Clothes and toys and stuff.”
“Yeah.” He pulls out his phone, tapping out something on the screen. “I’ll start putting together a list.”
Downstairs, we find Knox in the kitchen making food. When it’s done, I sit Cody in the living room to eat. I find some cartoons on TV for him to watch, and then I just sort of... hover.
I try to hang out with him, but I have no idea what the fuck to say to kids. I didn’t know how to be around them even when I was one, and I certainly don’t now.
Knox comes in and plops down on the couch next to the little boy, and there’s an amusing moment as they size each other up. Cody doesn’t seem to know what to make of this massive man at first, but he doesn’t shrink away from him.
“How are the nuggets?” Knox asks, nodding to Cody’s plate.
Where he got chicken nuggets from, I’ll never know, but I guess it doesn’t surprise me that he had some in the freezer just ready to go.
“Good,” Cody mumbles, and his little voice is almost a whisper.