Well, apparently, I was going to have a drink with my brother. I finished gathering my laundry and typed out a quick message to let Mav know I was running behind.
I stomped across the yard, tossing my dirty laundry on top of the car. When I got inside, Stephen already sat at his throne, two bottles of beer in front of him and a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth. “That shit’s gonna kill you if you don’t quit.”
“Everybody’s gotta go from something.” He plucked the smoke from his mouth and held it up between two fingers. “If it ain’t these, it could be bad genetics or a driver not paying attention greasing me.”
“Don’t even joke about that shit, Stephen.” I swallowed hard, not wanting to imagine anything that could take him out. He might be a pain in my ass, but he was still my flesh and blood. I didn’t always like him, but I loved the hell out of him. At the end of the day, he knew if hereallyneeded me, I’d drop everything to have his back. “Now, what’s going on? I’ve got places to be tonight.”
“I just bet you do,” he teased, waving a hand as if to indicate the marks on my back. “And you’re not off the fucking hook about that shit, but this is more important.”
He leaned forward, tracing a nicotine-stained finger along his lip. The longer the silence carried on, the more my irritation shifted to fear. Stephen was never at a loss for words, and he never let any emotions show other than anger and arousal. “Talk to me, man. What’s got you worked up?”
He glanced up at me and I knew—just fucking knew—I wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say. “I know you have your own shit going on, but I really need you here, Johnny. Not just at your place, but here by my side. I’ve got a bad feeling about some punks who’ve been hanging around lately, and no one can smell a rat quite like you.”
“I’m not patching in,” I insisted. I hadn’t wanted to before because I didn’t want to be his little bitch boy, but now, I legit couldn’t. They’d never accept Mav, and if he wasn’t welcome, neither was I.
“John, you know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’tneedyou here.” He looked a few seconds shy of dropping to his knees. “Shit’s getting real. I don’t know what Ironworks is up to, but I’ll guarantee it’s nothing good.”
“Shit.” My shoulders slumped. They’d had beef with Stephen and a couple of the others ever since they’d left. Shit wasn’t like what you saw on TV, meaning there was no body mutilation or any other shit, but that didn’t mean they held a going away party for the guys they’d deemed pussies who weren’t worth their time. We hadn’t heard shit from them in a few years, and Stephen was right; if they were back, it wasn’t for anything good.
“How do you know it’s them?” I sat back in my chair, propping one ankle over my knee. I dangled my bottle of beer between my fingers, watching it sway from side to side.
“One of the punks is a spittin’ image of his daddy,” Stephen explained. “You’d think Jag would be smarter than to send his own kid in fishing for intel.”
“Maybe he’s true,” I offered, trying to play devil’s advocate. “Just because he was raised by a pile of shit don’t mean he’s cut from the same cloth.”
“I don’t trust him.” Stephen took a long draw off his bottle. “With the weather getting warmer, I need you with me out there. If they’re getting sloppy, there’s no telling what they’ll get up to.”
“I need some time to think about it,” I told him. As much as I wanted to stick to my guns, I couldn’t cast Mav aside that way. And I’d have to if we were going to do this. He might be my dirty boy when he wanted to be, but he was too good a man to touch this crew.
I pushed off the table and stood. “You coming home tonight?”
Stephen followed me to the door. I shook my head.
“When will you know?”
“Don’t push this, Steam,” I warned him, using his road name. It was ridiculous and felt foreign on my tongue, but in this situation, it felt only right. “You have no clue how much you’re asking me to give up right now.”
“If it’s about your girl—”
I cut him off before he could finish whatever he’d been about to say. Even if Iwaswith a woman, when shit got serious, I wouldn’t have wanted her wrapped up in this mess, either. Partners became targets when someone had a vendetta. And stupid fuckers, like Ironworks, didn’t give a single fuck if they were signing their own death warrant.
“Don’t. Rush. Me.” I spun around, towering over him. I knew my size was part of why he wanted me riding next to him come summer. Brotherly loyalty was just a nice bonus. “When I have an answer, you’ll know it. Until then, keep me in the loop if you get more to go on.”
“Will do.” My brother was obviously pissed off, but he didn’t say anything else as we walked to my car. I fell back against the car, shocked as shit when my brother wrapped me in a hug. “I’m not trying to sway you, but I need you to believe I wouldn’t have asked if there was anyone else I trusted. And I hate that I did because it’s good to see you living again.”
“I know. Take care of you.” I thumped him on the back and kissed his temple. That was probably more affection than we’d shown one another in decades.
I wasn’t a religious man, but as I drove away, I offered up a quick prayer that I hadn’t just made the wrong decision.
* * *
“Honey, I’m home,”I called out as I stepped into the kitchen, laundry bag slung over my shoulder.
“The boys are playing in the basement,” Theron answered. I jumped, dropping the bag as I plastered myself against the wall. My head was all fucked up from the chat with Stephen earlier, and I didn’t immediately recognize the voice of the man whose house we were crashing at. “Easy there, big guy. Never knew you to be the jumpy sort.”
“Yeah, well it’s been one hell of a day,” I admitted. Theron pulled two glasses out of the freezer and poured something into both of them before jerking his head toward the living area. I took the glass and settled into the couch. I needed to find Mav, but I didn’t want him to see me this way.
“Anything I can do to help?” That was the kind of guy Theron was. I’d questioned his sanity for allowing someone who’d been online friends with his boyfriend to move in with them, but now I got it. He was a classic example of a caretaker. He pulled everyone to safety under his wing.
