I wasn’t aware of this part of the plan, but it makes sense. None of us can move forward while there is a rat amongst us.
Brothers split into smaller groups as the hours pass. Leo hasn’t said a word, he stands, most of the time unmoving, watching everyone. I’ve watched the brothers for so long, I think I'm starting to see things that aren’t there. A brother staring too hard at Leo for too long but was it only a second. A brother who reaches for his phone too many times or is he just looking at the time?
“Most of us have been up since first light yesterday,” Tack says as he approaches Leo.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t sleep. Go get your heads down, but no one leaves.”
Word spreads and brothers begin to head into the bar to get some sleep. Slapping Leo on the shoulder, I say, “You shouldhead home, you need at least a few hours kip if you wanna keep ya head clear.”
“I’ll walk over with you.”
I forgot we were staying with Leo and Holly. I nod but then say, “I’m gonna check in on Gunner then I'll be over.”
Before he calls it a night, he instructs the twins and all prospects to surround the club and to alert him if someone tries to leave. The last of the brothers shake their heads and disappear into the bar.
I knock quietly at Alannah’s seeing their lights still on and Cas answers the door.
“I came to check on Gunner.”
“He’s asleep upstairs in his room.”
I dart up the stairs and quietly open his door. I know he’s safe here, yet I need to set my eyes on him. Sprawled out on his bed, he’s peacefully in the land of dreams. He has no idea what the hell is going on and for the first time in my life, I'm jealous.
For once I'd like to lay my head down at night and not have to plan to survive the next day.
Closing the door, I head back down the stairs and Cas is sat at the kitchen table with three empty beer bottles and a photo album. I hadn’t seen him slip away.
“I take it Leo has called it quits for the night?” he murmurs looking up at me.
“Yeah, brothers are getting their heads down. I'm guessing we’ll pick it up again in the morning.”
“No one is gonna own up to it, to find them you’re gonna have to go lookin’.”
“What do you mean?”
“Money trails. Phone records. Any expensive purchases that are well out of someone’s means.”
“Leo’s on it, but Zach hasn’t been answering his phone since the funerals and Slade...”
“Is gone. Yeah, well-the-fuck aware.” He finishes the last of his beer and I grab him a fresh one from the fridge. “Here.”
I sit at the table and go to light a cigarette when I remember Alannah doesn’t allow smoking in the house.
Cas slides the album around so I can get a better look, and points to a picture of him, Slade and my dad with cigarettes hanging from their mouths and a gun in their hands.
“This wasn’t long after the three of us patched into the club. Look how young we were.”
I should have gone back to Leo’s with him. Leo's on a mission but Cas is running down memory lane.
“Look at this life,” he says as he flips through the pages. “This is what the club is about. Brotherhood.”
“Cas, you’re remembering the good times like they’re the only ones that happened. You know better than anyone how fast it can change.”
The fondness of the pictures disappears, and his stare hardens.
“You’ve known Leo your whole life, you’re like blood brothers before being patch brothers. You can read each other in fights or even in a game of pool. You can tell when something’s up, you can tell when he’s hiding something. It's why he didn’t hesitate to make you his VP. Now imagine, he’s shot dead in front of you. Dead. Not coming back no matter how much you will him to.”
The more I see, the more I don’t believe the old timers will come back from this. It's only Dad and Cas left now, they’ve had too much taken from them in a short amount of time. Everyone has a breaking point, this could be theirs.
