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His gaze snaps to mine, penetrating but unreadable. Damn, we’re so fucking broken, all of us, but if tonight has done anything, it’s shown me that we are worth saving. The three of us need each other.
Time passes, but we don’t speak anymore. Rhett continues to pace. Dusty has his arm around me, pulling me close, the scent and feel of his skin giving me more comfort than anything else ever could.
Eventually the door opens, and Archer comes out, running a hand through his hair.
“The guy was hurting his girlfriend, or wife,” he says only for us. “East saw him through a window. He backhanded her in the parking lot, and when he came inside, East hit back.”
And there isn’t one of us standing here who wouldn’t have done the same. “Why didn’t he tell us that?”
Archer shakes his head at me. “Hell, I don’t know. I can’t pretend to understand what goes on in that head of his.” With a sigh, he adds, “There’s nothing we can do here tonight. I don’t know where the woman went when everything went down. I need to find her. Easton knows I’m telling you what happened, so Rhett can use that during his arraignment if we don’t get this all sorted out before then. For tonight, just go home.”
“We’re not leaving,” Rhett says, reaching for the door, but Archer stops him.
“He said he doesn’t want to see anyone tonight. He just wants to go back to his cell. I’m sorry, Rhett.” It’s clear from Archer’s stance, the way his arms are crossed while he guards the door, that he’s not budging. He’s not going to let any of us see East if that’s what East wants.
“Goddamn it,” Rhett says, then leaves without another word.
“What’s going on with you and my brother?” I can’t help but ask again.
Archer pauses, and somehow, the way he’s looking at me says he doesn’t have an answer. “Nothing. Check on him tomorrow.” Archer slips back into the room, shutting us out.
“Come on, baby. Let’s go home.” Dusty takes my hand, and I let him, follow him because there’s nowhere I wouldn’t go with him, but home sounds like heaven.
“We need to stop and get Pretty Girl first. Do you care if she comes to your house? Or I can stay at East’s with her.”
“You’re not staying anywhere but my bed,” he growls, nuzzling me. “Pretty Girl will be the only lady who ever shares it with us.”
I chuckle. Even though things are a mess, Dusty always makes everything better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Dusty
East is in jail for a couple of days before he gets out. They found the girlfriend of the man he beat up. She’s done with him and leaving him but doesn’t want to press charges. The guy didn’t know that, and in return for not having charges pressed against himself, he refused to press them against East. It’s not a perfect scenario. All of us would love nothing more than to watch that guy burn for hitting a woman, but unfortunately, not everything in life goes according to plan.
The good news is, she left the state, going to live with family in North Carolina, so at least she’ll be away from the asshole.
I knock on Rhett’s door, willing to kick the thing down if I have to. He hasn’t answered any of my or Morgan’s phone calls, only replying to a text to let us know he’s okay. Morgan tried to see him, but Rhett wouldn’t answer the door. Now it’s my turn.
“Open the fucking door, Rhett. I’ll come back with Archer and have him do a wellness check if I have to!” I call, pounding on it again.
A moment later, it tugs open. “I just want to be left the fuck alone. Is that too much to ask?”
“You pulled out of the race for mayor. You quit your job. We’re worried about you.”
He steps aside so I can come in, laughing humorlessly. “I want to be like my father, and you worry about me. I decide I want to be nothing like him, and you’re still worried about me.”
“You can’t change who you are because of him.”
That night, Rhett had driven his father home—Gregory had been waiting outside for him—but since then, it seems that something in Rhett has finally clicked, and while that’s a good thing in a lot of ways, it’s worrying too.
“I’m thirty-six years old and don’t even know who the fuck I am. I’ve wasted all this time trying to be him. I refuse to do that anymore. I haven’t spoken to him, and I don’t plan to. I’m done.”
I don’t know how to answer that, can understand how hard it must be for him, but I also know how stubborn he is. And no one can figure this out for Rhett. He has to do it on his own. “I’m proud of you, brother. You deserve to live your life for you, no matter where that leads you. Just don’t close the rest of us out. East needs you…Morgan needs you—”
“Morgan doesn’t need me. Hell, East doesn’t either. Not really.”
“That’s not true. All three of you need each other, and one day you’ll see it.” Reaching out, I squeeze his shoulder. “Morgan hasn’t stopped talking about what you did. He’s so proud of you.”
