“Why did you bring him?” Cole asks, not even bothering to hide his hatred for Shane.
Bennett opens his mouth to speak, but Shane is the one who answers. “I got a message too.”
I scratch the back of my head. This can’t be happening. “From—”
“Evan Scott,” he interrupts me. “It was in a three-way chat with Bennett.”
“You didn’t mention he was in the chat.” I look at Bennett.
“Yeah, well, my mind wasn’t completely alert when I was woken up in the middle of the night.” He glares at Cole. “After I was hung up on, I looked at it again and saw where Shane was also involved in the message, and I called him. Told him the same thing I was ordered to do, which was ‘pack a bag and get his ass to the airport.’”
I grab their luggage and place them in the back and then slam it shut before we all crawl into the SUV. Silence fills the inside of the car, and I can’t take it, so I turn up the radio. “Can’t Go to Hell” by Sin Shake Sin plays.
“So, what …?” Shane begins to ask, but Cole reaches forward and turns it up louder to drown him out.
I take a quick look at Shane in the rearview mirror, and his eyes are glaring holes into the back of Cole’s head.
This should be fun.
We walk into Cole and Austin’s house. “You’re at the end of the hall.” Cole gestures to Bennett. “You’re on the couch,” he tells Shane, not bothering to look at him.
“Don’t you have four bedrooms?” he asks.
“I’m in the other one upstairs,” I answer him. It’s been months since I’ve spoken to Shane. The last time was the night he got into it with Cole at the hospital.
He frowns. “You’re living here?”
“Isn’t that what he just said?” Cole snaps.
Shane drops his duffle bag to the tile floor in the entryway. The motion makes Austin’s damn Halloween ghost go off.
Here we go.
“What is your problem?” he snaps at Cole.
Cole takes it as an invitation and doesn’t waste a second. He’s just waiting to beat the shit out of someone. “You are my problem!” He growls, getting in his face. They’re nose to nose. “I don’t trust you here! Around Austin.”
Shane snorts. “That’s rich. Out of the four of us in this room, you and Deke are the ones whose body count are the highest when it comes to our dead friends. And he’s fucking living here!”
“I trust him.” Cole growls.
“He’d kill Austin without a thought if you told him to.”
Cole goes to punch him, but I push his chest, knocking him out of the way. “Okay!” I say, stepping between them. “Can we at least limit the bloodshed to outside? I don’t want Austin killing me when she comes home to find blood everywhere,” I joke.
No one laughs.
“Come on, Shane.” Bennett slaps him on the back and pulls him out of the entryway, grabbing his bag up off the tile.
Cole goes to walk up the stairs, but I stop him. He looks at me over his shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt to have numbers on our side,” I tell him.
“It only helps if you know they’re with you and not against you.”
I feel a pain in my chest for him. “No one is gonna touch her, Cole. I promise.” He says nothing. “You know I would protect her, right?” Austin is like the little sister I never had. Shelby was always the big sister, and we’re close, but Austin is just different. She’s just like us. Not afraid to get her hands dirty. Where Shelby would run and hide, Austin would jump to be out in the front. And I think that’s what scares Cole the most. He can’t hold her back if she decides to dive in.
He finally nods, and with that, he turns and walks up the stairs.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
