Pulling him back so he’s sat up straight, he falls forward and I catch him before he face plants the bar top.
“Cas!” I repeat raising my voice. “You either wake your ass up, or you’re going over my shoulder like a bitch.”
There's nothing from him. This is the last thing I want to deal with tonight, but I’d never leave him here, alone and vulnerable.
I would have called dad to come deal with him, but he’s been buried in a tequila bottle since Slade was killed. He’d only make shit worse.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter rearranging the man I’ve known my whole life, and bend to throw him over my shoulder. Once I get him in place, Josie runs around the bar and opens the door for me. She jogs over to the truck and opens the passenger door.
“Thanks,” I grunt.
I throw him down on the seat and rearrange his legs so they’re in front of him so I can close the door.
“What the fuck?” he roars, and I step back in case he throws a punch.
“Calm down, it’s me. JJ. I came to take you home.”
Blinking, he looks around and relaxes back into the seat. “Where am I?”
I jerk my chin to Josie’s, and he sighs.
“My bike?”
He takes his pack of smokes out of his cut pocket, his movements heavy and slow.
“I’ll get the prospect to come pick it up once I get you home.” I start the truck and pull away from the bar. “It’s not like you to drink alone in town, let alone get wasted,” I point out.
He's quiet for so long, I glance over and check if he’s fallen asleep again.
“I’m not usually grieving my brother,” he finally mutters.
“True.” I hit the gas and push the speed once we’re out of town. “We’re going to take them all out, Hopper will get what’s owed.”
“Yeah,” is all he says.
He stares out of the window and passes out again by the time he makes it home. It takes an age to get him out of the truck and up onto his porch. Alannah must hear the commotion and opens the door. I manage to get him inside and drop him on the couch before I step back and sigh with relief.
“I can take over from here,” she tells me.
Over at Leo’s, the house is asleep and there’s no sign of my brother. I head up to the room Harper and I are sharing and undress. I slip into bed and pull my old lady against me. Her warmth sends a chill through me, and I kiss the back of her shoulder.
She stirs and I whisper, “I’m sorry I walked out earlier.”
“It’s okay. I’m not sorry for what I did, but I am sorry it came between us.”
“What’s done is done, it’s over.”
But, it’s only just begun. None of us will breathe easier until every Hog is dead and buried far beneath the ground.
12
Cas
My head is banging, and I go to roll onto my side to get up when I nearly topple off the couch. I slowly heave myself up to my feet and I'm faced with my wife sat in the armchair. Getting home is a blur but the time before I left the house is clear enough I remember every second.
The destruction I caused last night has been cleared away and by the time I set eyes on my wife, she’s walking out of the room.
“Babe?” I call out leaning back on the couch for a clear view down the hall.
