Page 63 of Cold Foot King
Katrina laughed with absolute joy. “All of the cabins have sleeper sofas. You guys can have mine if you want! It’s the blue cabin.”
She didn’t know Landon from Adam, but he was over there giving Wreck a huge hug, so he must be all right.
“Hey, Wild Kat,” Owen, Silver’s mate, said in a familiar way that said Silver had probably told him all about her. She didn’t mind. He was Silver’s mate, and he’d healed her after being paired with Rook. Owen was just fine by her. She gave him a back-cracking hug and shooed him toward the others, who were filing out of their cabins.
Silver’s Fastlander Crew were filing into the clearing from the trucks, carrying luggage, and Katrina hadn’t smiled this much since the snowball fight with King.
A raven-haired beauty with bright-green eyes approached. She held a small baby in her arms, all swaddled in little teddy bear blankets. The baby was awake, and looking around with eyes that were the same shade of moss green as the woman.
Silver introduced them. “Katrina, this is Lucia. She’s the daughter of Beaston. She’s part of the reason you are here.”
Katrina had heard so much of Lucia over the last couple of weeks, and now she could finally put a face with the name. She couldn’t shake her hand, because Lucia was holding her tiny baby, but she rubbed her shoulder and said, “It’s really nice to meet you. And who is this?” she uttered softly, taking a closer look at the cutest little baby she’d ever seen.
“This is Easton,” Lucia said softly. “Named for my father.”
“Hi, Easton,” Katrina said gently, poking his little reaching hand with her finger. He gripped it, and she was surprised by the strength of his grasp.
“Strong boy,” Katrina said.
Lucia chuckled. “He’s going to be a monster.” She said the words with such adoration and reverence, it touched Katrina’s heart completely.
She’d thought for a little bit that she might be pregnant with King’s baby, and admittedly, she had a few secret moments where she would’ve been fine with that. She’d always loved babies.
“Well, if you need a babysitter while you get any sleep, or just want someone to hold him for a while, I’m your girl.”
“I know,” Lucia said quietly.
Katrina lifted her eyes to Lucia, and the woman was staring straight into her soul. “I’ve seen you for a while now. You have been in my dreams.”
Silver slung her arm over Katrina’s shoulders and told them, “Come on. I need coffee from that fancy coffeemaker you sent me a picture of.”
Katrina laughed and nodded. “I’m getting pretty good at it. Come on. I found blow-up mattresses in one of the closets, if you guys want to stay at my place.”
“You’re fine with us crashing for three days?” Silver asked.
“Ummm, yeah! I’m used to prison, where we have roommates. This cabin is so nice, but it feels really big. My voice echoes in it. Three nights now, I’ve dragged Raynah over to slumber-party just so it feels a little normal.”
“That feeling will ease up with time,” Lucia said with confidence.
“I hope so. I still feel like my life is in a whirlwind.”
“Has he told you yet?” Lucia asked mysteriously.
“No, I haven’t,” Wreck called across the clearing. “I was waiting until Silver was here.”
“Can I be there when you do?” Lucia asked.
Wreck nodded, and then twitched his head toward Katrina’s cabin. “Let’s go inside.”
She could tell Silver was confused too, by the look on her face. When Silver looked over at Katrina, she shrugged. She had no idea either.
They followed Wreck up the stairs, and a few others filed inside her cabin too—Owen, Landon, Lucia, Timber, Silver. Katrina came in last, and took a seat on the couch where Wreck gestured to, beside Silver.
He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and started poking buttons. “I know you’ve messaged King,” Wreck said softly. “He knows too, but he’s been unable to respond.”
“Why?” Katrina asked softly, so confused.
Wreck sighed and knelt in front of her and Silver, then turned the phone toward them. On it was a video. It was already playing. It had the time and date in the bottom left corner, like it was some kind of official video. She recognized the cafeteria of Cold Foot Prison. In the video, a massive man—King—dragged another man violently on top of one of the tables as the others gathered around. He slammed him down against it, and the man flopped like a ragdoll. Someone in the crowd said something, and King turned in a blur, asked him something, and the man threw up his hands and backed away.