When Cas saw Red’s name, he stabbed at the green button before putting it on speaker. “What the fuck, Red?”
“What happened?” Red asked, his high falsetto echoing in the car.
“What happened? We just walked into a goddamn ambush. You better not have set us up or I swear to Christ—”
“Set you up? I’m calling because I hacked Annie’s emails and found a draft she never sent. Something about missing the forest for the trees with the names. She said they were a riddle. Only working when they were together.”
“What does that even mean?”
“I think it means—” There was a knocking sound, and then Red shouted at someone to fuck off.
Cas and Jonah exchanged a look as they heard more knocking and then a metallic scrape. Red shouted again, and a crash followed. Cas winced as something hit the phone’s mic, then the line went dead.
“What the fuck?” Cas muttered, pulse pounding in his ears.
“Try calling him back.”
Cas did as Jonah asked, and they both listened as the phone’s ring echoed in the silence. “Jonah?”
Cas didn’t even know what he was asking, but Jonah’s gaze slid to him. He snagged Cas’s hand, lacing their fingers together. It was that gesture that sent Cas’s heart plummeting into his shoes, like he’d just dove from an airplane. He waited for Jonah to say something encouraging like, ‘Red’s fine’ or ‘Maybe he just took a bad fall,’ but Jonah wasn’t about empty platitudes or wasting words on empty sentiments.
The rest of the drive passed in silence, Cas squeezing Jonah’s hand hard enough to make his muscles ache. When the Wired sign came into the distance, a lump formed in Cas’s throat. They exchanged another glance as they pulled into the packed lot. Surely, if something had happened to Red, the place would be crawling with first responders?
They were almost to the front doors when Madi stepped from the shadows. “What the fuck are you two doing here?”
Jonah said nothing, just stared Madi down with a look that shook Cas to his core. Madi frowned, looking from Jonah to Cas and back again. Cas didn’t like the weird tension, so he filled it with words. “We were on the phone with Red when the call got disconnected. We came to check on him.”
“Well, he’s fucking dead. Hannah had to clean the place up a bit before she called the cops, for obvious reasons, but you two shouldn’t be here.”
“What are you doing here?” Cas asked.
“Hannah called me. She needed help. Her usual ‘clean-up crew’ was indisposed. I told her I’d watch the doors. Once the cops arrive, I gotta go tell Levi that Red’s dead.”
Tears formed in Cas’s eyes at the casual way Madi spoke. “He was our friend.”
Madi’s gaze flicked to Cas almost like an afterthought. “You think I don’t know that? Hell, you’re probably the reason—”
Whatever Madi was going to say died as Jonah punched Madi in the face, sending him stumbling into the door. For a moment, Madi slumped there, stunned, then he lurched forward, a bloody grin on his face.
Everybody froze as the wail of sirens sounded in the distance. Madi swiped at the blood oozing down his chin, his lip already swelling. “Go. Get the fuck out of here. We’ll settle this later.”
“Count on it,” Jonah growled, gaze hot with fury. “Let’s go, Cas.”
“That’s it? We’re just going to leave?” Cas asked, letting Jonah drag him along.
“We don’t have any fucking choice.”
Cas knew he was right, but it didn’t make leaving any easier. He gave one last look at the club, heart squeezing at the thought of Red being gone, of leaving Madi to be the one to break the news to Levi. It just seemed so…personal. Was Madi really the best candidate to tell somebody the person they loved was never coming back? Cas thought of his and Madi’s last real conversation. The one where he’d casually carved Cas’s heart from his chest and told him he was a child who didn’t stand a chance with Jonah. Cas had never even questioned him.
On second thought, maybe Madi was the perfect person to tell Levi that Red was never coming home. Madi would be quick, his words leaving no room for question or disbelief. Just rip off the Band-Aid and go. Wasn’t that the best way to receive bad news? Tears stung Cas’s eyes. Red’s death wasn’t a Band-Aid, it was a bullet wound, and Cas was the one who felt like he was bleeding as Madi’s implied accusation echoed in his head.
This was all Cas’s fault.
18
Jonah
“Ithink you broke Madi’s nose.” It was the first thing Cas had said in fifteen minutes since they’d gotten back into the Camry.
