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“Yeah, with the clean-up. I want to help.” His voice filled with determination. “She’s my aunt, but she tried to hurt Phee, and I need to do this. My family, my responsibility to clean up.”
“Logan, my father has a crew coming,” I reminded him. I hated that this was yet another loss for him, but I got where he was coming from. To Logan, we were his family now, and I hated that he thought he needed to keep proving himself to everyone. He had already done that, for me at least, and I had no doubt he was genuine after everything we had been through. We’d been best friends for the good part of four years, and I’d missed the comradery when I walked away, but I was glad to have him back.
“Please, Stryker,” Logan pleaded with me. He wasn’t gonna give this up. “I have to do this, after everything my family has done to her, please let me be the one to get rid of the body.”
“Logan, I get that you feel you need to help, man, but you can’t with that. We can’t have it traced back to Phee, or to you, for that matter.,” I levelled with him. If he wanted to help, then he could help by taking the clothes and burning them at the warehouse.
Heading back into the bathroom, I slowly approached Phee. She hadn’t moved from the spot I’d left her in. Still staring straight ahead. Covered in Catherine’s blood. Placing my phone on the vanity, I stood in front of her. My Firecracker was going into shock, and I needed to make sure she got out the other side.
Pulling her up, I started to undress her. Carefully, I started putting the clothes into the bag I’d grabbed from the waste basket.
“Logan,” I called out to him as I opened the bathroom door again. “You still want to help, then take these to the warehouse and burn them.”
Handing him the bag of clothes, I started to take my own off, and I guided her into the shower.
The warmth of the water cascading over her was enough to break her out, if only a little. It was soul shattering, the haunted look she was giving me. Blinking the tears away.
“It’s gonna be okay, Phee.” Wrapping her in my arms, I just held her. “I’ll make this all okay, I promise.”
“What did I do, Stryker?” she whispered into my chest. Her body shook in my embrace as sobs wracked through her. “Oh God, Logan will hate me.”
“Shh, Phee, he doesn’t hate you. Trust me, baby, he knows it was self-defence.” Consoling her, I lifted her chin up. I could get lost in her icy blues. “I will make this all right.”
Chapter Thirty Five - Logan
My heart dropped when we heard the gun go off. The first thing on my mind was to make sure Phee was safe. I had no idea why my aunt would be there, let alone how she’d managed to get inside. It was a question I’d be asking Damon when he got home. I didn’t know what I would have done if it was my Tiny Dancer who’d been hurt.
Rushing into the kitchen, it was clear that there had been a struggle. The chairs had been knocked over, the table off centre. Laying in the middle of the floor was my aunt, blood pooling around her as she bled out. Her eyes were open wide, and her expression was slack. Aunt Catherine was dead before she hit the ground. Up against the kitchen island, rocking back and forth,was Phee. Blood all over her hands and clothes.
Relief had flooded my body at that point, knowing that she hadn’t been hit with a bullet. I hadn’t thought for one minute that my aunt was there just to chat. The last few days, the price for Kyle’s whereabouts had risen. They had started blowing up my phone, but I’d been ignoring them. They weren’t my family anymore, I owed them nothing.
“He’s gonna hate me, Stryker,” I heard her through the door as I exited her room, on my way to meet the clean-up crew.
She couldn’t have been further from the truth. As far as I was concerned, the woman dead on the floor was nothing to me. Not after the lies and manipulation she and the rest of my family had played a part in. When all this was cleaned up, I’d make damn sure she knew how I felt. Hell, if I’d walked in and saw her holding Phee hostage, I would have smoked the bitch myself.
It didn’t take long for the clean-up crew to arrive. One thing was for sure, the Lennox’s were efficient. There was no way I’d let my Tiny Dancer blame herself for this. If my aunt hadn’t been there, Phee wouldn’t have had to fight her off.
“You Logan?” A tall, lanky guy asked as he climbed the front steps. He was closely followed by a young guy, who couldn’t have been much older than myself. The guy looked at me before taking a bag from the boot.
“You gonna show us where we need to go?” the young guy quipped.
“This all of you?” I was curious. I knew I’d said I would help, but it felt like there should have been more of them.
“Trust me, don’t need anyone else. We’re the best of the best,” lanky guy chuckled as he patted me on the back. There was something off about the guy, but then, I guess if all he did was clean up dead bodies, then yeah, I could understand why he was a little off-putting. “Besides, Lennox Senior told us you would be helping.”
Nodding, I showed them where the body was. Leaning down, the younger of the two guys checked out my aunt.
“Stryker’s girl okay?” he asked as he checked for a pulse.
“What do you think?” I answered back, giving him the side eye. “Aside from the range with Paige, I don’t think she’s ever fired a gun, I’m not even sure she fired this one.”
Lanky guy just looked at me for a minute, before taking out a huge plastic sheet from the bag. “There internal access to the garage?”
“Yeah, through that door there,” I said, pointing to the door just left of the fridge. I’d need to thank Paige later, thankful for the time she had spent with Phee at the gun range. This could have been much, much worse
“Think you could pull our car up in it?” Out of the pair, lanky guy seemed to be the talker. Nodding at him, I grabbed the keys he threw at me and made my way back outside. “Don’t worry, kid, we will make sure no one can ever find the body. Lennox Senior would have our arses if we didn’t.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier though,” I threw over my shoulder, as I headed out to their van. Once these guys were finished, I’d head to the warehouse and burn the rest of the evidence.
