Her Best Men

“Fuck, that would be great,” I said. “Head straight to Katie’s once ya have her. Send us a message, and we’ll meet ya there.”

Then, it was time to hurry up and wait.

Forty-five minutes later, we had Caleb’s text message. We all hopped into my truck and sped for Katie’s apartment, ready to take on the fight we knew was coming. Only this time, we had Whitney on our side and proof of our accusations. I had no idea how Katie was going to react, but I was ready to clear this shit up once and for all.

Even if it did leave her “best” friend stranded at some club waiting for us. She deserved it for what she had pulled on Katie.

We all got to the apartment, and Whitney got out red-faced mad. I could tell by Caleb’s face she had been ranting the entire way there. She stormed up the steps without even looking at us, and we followed, Caleb in tow as he sighed heavily. I could only imagine the anger that could spew from a woman like Whitney, and as she banged down Katie’s door, my eyes widened in shock.

Whitney was strong, and I made a note to never fuckin’ piss her off.

Katie whipped the door open, and I saw her for the first time in damn near a week. She threw her arms around Whitney, hugging her close before she looked around at us. The two of them embraced for a long time, neither of them saying a thing until Whitney finally broke the hug.

“Katie, we all need to talk,” she said.

To our surprise, Katie let us all in. She looked thinner and paler than I last saw her, and I wanted to wrap her up in my arms. The stress Lizzie had put her through made me want to cuss and throw shit around, but my main concern was making sure Katie was okay. Our eyes were locked with Katie’s form as the girls sat down on the couch.

“Katie, Lizzie lied to you,” Whitney said, getting right to the point.

“What are you talking about?” Katie asked.

“Lizzie has been isolating you for her own nefarious purposes,” Whitney said. “There’s something I want you to listen to.”

Whitney pulled out her phone and pressed play on the recording, and with each word Katie’s eyes got wider. Her gaze drifted to Wyatt every time his voice came up, and I could see him tense. He was waiting for whatever barrage of insults was coming his way. But I could tell by the look on Katie’s face that she was swayed. She had been convinced of what the hell was really going on.

“I can’t believe she would do this,” Katie said.

“She’s been screening your calls and ignoring things from me. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days. Did Lizzie not tell you any of that?” Whitney asked.

“Not a thing,” Katie said, sniffling. “She didn’t tell me anything other than who was coming by. I can’t believe she would do this to me.”

“She’s selfish and doesn’t care who she destroys or runs over to get what she wants,” Whitney said.

Katie looked at each of us before a bombastic knock came at her door.

“Katie! Open the fuck up!”

“Oh shit,” Katie said. “I forgot Hunter was coming over again.”

“Has he been here before?” Whitney asked.

“Yeah. And it wasn’t good,” Katie said.

“I’ll get the door. You sit here,” Whitney said.

The four of us stood around the couch, bracing for the anger and shock we knew would happen once Hunter saw us all here.

“Whitney?” Hunter asked. “When the hell’d you get into town?”

“Come in and have a seat. It’s practically a party in here,” Whitney said.

Hunter turned the corner and froze. His face grew red with anger again, and he eyeballed Caleb hard. We all stood our ground, prepared to shield Katie from his onslaught, but she was on her feet before he could get a word in edgewise.

“Hunter, you need to tuck that attitude in right now. Enough has happened today without you coming in here and raising hell,” Katie said.

“She’s right,” I said. “Calm down and take a seat. We got a lot to fill ya in on.”

“I don’t wanna hear a damn word from any of ya. I don’t give a shit what’s goin’ on here, but I need to talk to my sister. Privately,” Hunter said.