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Because what Red wanted, Red got.
And he didn’t give a shit if that was true for the rest of his life. He would break every goddamn finger trying to give her what she wanted. Just to keep what he needed.
Which was Red.
Fuck, he wanted her so goddamn bad, it hurt. And never in his life had he wanted anything so badly.
Except for his sister Syn to be safe.
“Gonna leave it up to Red,” he finally said to Trip. “She needs to agree to stick with me. If she does, she needs to wanna stick here. She does, gonna do my best to repair what’s broken. Me. Her. And you and me.”
“Then I hope she sticks,” Trip said softly.
“Yeah, me too, brother.”
“Now, one more thing...”
Sig groaned. But what Trip said next surprised him.
“Need to fuckin’ apologize. To you and to her. You’re sittin’ here, so gonna start with you. We made a bad call with the Shirleys. We shouldn’t’ve waited. Wanted those fuckers to come off that mountain so we could snag ‘em one at a time and dispose of them properly. And by dispose, you know I mean the pet crematorium. Was waitin’ for that paperwork to all be settled. We waited too long. I’ll take the blame for that. Wanted shit to be fuckin’ neat. Sometimes life ain’t neat. Sometimes we gotta get our hands bloody to protect ourselves. Promise you, won’t make that mistake again. We need to handle shit? We’re gonna handle shit.”
That sounded promising, but Sig hoped shit like what happened up on that mountain never happened again. Even so... “Havin’ that fuckin’ crematorium’s gonna make handlin’ that type of shit a fuck of a lot easier, Trip.”
“Yeah. Not only a perfect way to keep shit neat, but it’s profitable, too. Hope we don’t need it in the future to clean up messes, but if we do?” Trip shrugged and smiled. “We do.”
“Ain’t gonna hurt to have it. Will also keep any future prospects busy and makin’ scratch for the club.”
“Yeah,” Trip answered.
“That it?” Sig needed to get back to Red. It had been over ten minutes and he needed to get this conversation over with. And the one with Red over with, too.
Trip rapped his knuckles on the table. “Talk to Autumn.”
“Doin’ that next.” Sig pushed to his feet.
When he began to head toward the stairs, Trip stopped him. “Sig...”
He paused and turned his head to look at his older brother.
“You stay? Gonna need to get our colors inked onto your back. Wanna know you’re all in. Think it’s time for you to plant some roots. It’ll help keep you on solid ground and out of those fuckin’ concrete boxes. Because I know it only too well, bein’ in one of those ain’t a way to live, brother.”
Sig only gave him a nod and then jogged down the stairs. Red was waiting.
Autumn chewed her bottom lip as she heard a key turning in the lock and then held her breath as Sig came through the door. She let her gaze slide over him from head to toe to make sure he was okay.
He looked fine on the outside and hoped that was true on the inside as well. Even though Trip and Sig were brothers, there always seemed to be some tension between them.
Neither were responsible for the sins of their father, so why their relationship was rocky, she didn’t know.
“Everything good?” she asked him as he closed the door and locked it behind him.
“Should you be up like that?”
She stood at the sink, filling a glass with water. She wasn’t doing anything taxing. “Yes, I’m fine. Moving around is good, running a marathon is not.” Though, she couldn’t wait to get back to her walks around the farm with Stella. She missed their chats, too. The bar owner had quickly become the sister Autumn never had.
His brow furrowed. “You ever run a marathon?”
Only down that mountain the day you found me. “No. Never. You?” she asked, teasing.
“Baby, we need to talk.”
Crap. “I figured. The baby’s been born, there’s no reason for me—”
“No. Not about that. Well... Yeah, about that... Fuck. Sorta.” He dragged a hand down his bearded face on one side, the other, then he scrubbed at his forehead. “You need to sit.”
Her pulse began to speed up. “Is it that serious?”
“No. Well... Yeah. Fuck. Sorta. Goddamn it.”
Oh boy. “Where do you want me to sit?”
“Truth? On my fuckin’ face, but that ain’t happenin’ any time soon.”
Well, she knew the man had no filter so she shouldn’t be surprised by his answer. At least he was honest. “Yes, well... I wouldn’t suggest that right now. But I’ll keep it in mind for the future.”
“That’s what we need to talk about.”
“Me sitting on your face?” she teased. She didn’t like how heavy the room had become, but her teasing him wasn’t helping relieve any of that tension.
