“They’d herded us all into the back room,” Knox recounted, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Fat Eddy Torres had Sabrina down on the bed while Arturo Garcia—everyone calls him The Rat—and Jonny Fuentes kept Cooper and me to our knees. They put guns to our heads and made us—” He stopped and swallowed, shooting a guilty glance toward Sabrina. “They made us watch while Fat Eddy tortured Sabrina.”
Britt gritted his teeth.
Thatanyman could hurt a woman, someone smaller and weaker than himself, wasn’t something he would ever understand. Just like he’d never understand those heartless sonsofbitches who abandoned puppies on the roadside or who drowned kittens.
The one thing hedidunderstand, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that the world was full of evil men. And as much as it pained him, the fragile-looking woman on the end of the sofa had the terrible luck of running into a particularly bad one.
Although…she doesn’t look very fragile now.
Sabrina’s jaw was as hard as a rock. Her eyes were flinty as she stared unseeingly at the black-and-white photographs hanging on the far wall.
Something told him if she ever got the chance to put a lead round in Fat Eddy’s brainpan, she wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
Disgust laced Knox’s every word as he continued. “Jonny made the mistake of getting down on Cooper’s level to whisper in Cooper’s ear and taunt him about what Fat Eddy was doing to his sister. That’s when Cooper struck. He head-butted Jonny square in the nose.”
“I can still hear the crunch of the cartilage,” Sabrina said quietly. “I didn’t know it sounded like that when someone’s nose broke.”
“Cooper more than broke Jonny’s nose.” Knox’s voice was filled with satisfaction. “He knocked the sonofabitch out cold, and then he lunged for Fat Eddy. Since Fat Eddy’s pants were down around his knees, the two of them went down in a heap on the floor, kicking and snarling and biting. Cooper was a wild man. Absolutelyferal.You should’ve heard Fat Eddy squeal like a pig when Cooper bit off a piece of his ear.”
“Like that old Johnny Cash song,” Hew mused from his seat on the barstool at the counter outside the compact kitchen. The first edition copy ofA Wrinkle in Timedangled between his fingers, but Britt had yet to see him crack the cover.
“Huh?” Knox blinked in confusion.
“Never mind.” Hew made a rolling motion with his hand. “Proceed.”
“So anyway, I used The Rat’s distraction to make a play for his weapon. We were fighting over it, doing a bit of kicking and snarling ourselves, when I heard the gunshot.” Knox winced. His Adam’s apple made a jerky journey up the length of his throat and back down again.
“I managed to get The Rat’s gun away from him. But when I turned around, I saw…” Knox lost it then. His voice broke. His eyes filled with tears. And he looked away from the group, toward the front door, as he battled his grief.
Britt understood in that moment that Cooper Greenlee had meant more to Knox than a simple prison cell bunkmate or undercover partner. The men had formed a true friendship. They’d shared true affection.
His gaze tracked over to the black-and-white photographs hung on the wall. There were three in all. One showed a much younger Hunter Jackson with his arm thrown around a stony-faced drill sergeant. Another showed a beautiful dark-eyed woman whom Hunter said had been like a mother figure to his unit when they’d been stationed in Afghanistan. And the third? Well, the third was a photo of the Black Knights.
In short, the pictures showed Hunter’s family.
And that’s what the Knights had become to Britt, too. Brothers in arms, for sure. But so much more. And the thought of losing even one of them made the hot chocolate in his stomach turn to acid. So hegotKnox’s grief. Understood it on a cellular level.
“During the struggle, Fat Eddy grabbed his weapon off the nightstand,” Knox continued wetly. “He only managed one shot. But one shot was all it took. I think Cooper was dead before he knew what hit him.”
“Ihopehe was,” Sabrina whispered hoarsely, twisting her fingers together. “I hope he didn’t even feel it.”
“I should’ve…” Knox cut himself off so he could shake his head. When he glanced at Sabrina, there was no disguising the guilt in his eyes. “I should’ve done more. I should’ve…fought harder. Faster. Maybe I could have?—”
“What happened to Cooper wasn’t your fault,” Sabrina assured him.
“He was my best friend,” Knox argued. “We had each other’s backs in prison. And when Keplar approached us to do the cartel job, we promised we’d have each other’s back through that, too. But I failed him. When push came to shove, I couldn’t have his back.”
“But you did.” Sabrina’s chin firmed. “Because you did what he couldn’t do. You got me out of there. You saved me. You’restillsaving me.”
“I didn’t save him, though.”
Britt felt like he’d taken a hand grenade to the chest, his heart blown wide open, as he watched a single tear trek down Knox’s leathery-looking cheek.
After dashing the drop away, Knox wrapped his fingers around the arms of the chair, and Britt took note of the scars on his brother’s knuckles. A few of them were old, faded to little more than silvery-white lines. But some of them were new. Still pink and puckered.
Leftovers from his most recent stint, no doubt.
Julia cleared her throat. “So you were able to get The Rat’s gun,” she said quietly, pulling them all back into the conversation. “Fat Eddy shot Cooper. And what else? You said Fat Eddy only managed to get off one shot. Why was that? Why didn’t it turn into a Wild West shootout?”
