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“That would be an understatement,” I scoffed.
“She’s hiding something, and Op is losing his damn mind. Not only has he got Leo and Hadley’s shit to deal with, but this on top is gonna be the shit that broke the camel’s back,” he said seriously.
I smiled. “The straw that broke the camel’s back.”
He forced a smile. “You know what I fucking mean, asshole.”
I took in a deep breath. “She has skeletons in her closet, ones that have come back in force. She’s trying to do what she thinks is best to protect the people she cares about. But fuck, man, I don’t just want to stand by and watch her get hurt when I know there’s something I could have done about it.”
He nodded. “Secrets like that are never good. They hurt people. I put Hadley in the same position, and at first, I was angry at her for telling the club, I felt like it wasn’t her place to share that kind of shit.” He hung his head. “But now, I’m fucking thankful she did. I’m thankful she had the balls to do it.”
I could hear what he was saying, telling me that I needed to be straight up with Optimus and let him know, that Sugar would be pissed at me but in the long run, it would be better.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked softly. I didn’t want him to get defensive. I just wanted to know. We would have stood by him, we always fucking do.
He cleared his throat, his fingers squeezed into tight fists in his lap. It was strange to see someone who had always been the life of the party. The one person who you could always count on to crack a joke in a tense situation, just crumbling before your eyes. I wanted to see him smile, to hear him say something that would make me laugh, but instead, all I saw was my brother falling to pieces before my eyes.
“I was scared, man,” he finally answered, his voice so low that I had to strain to hear him. “Was afraid this would all be taken from me. That people would look at me differently. I’m meant to be that guy… the one who’s always happy, who could take a bullet and crack a joke about getting blood on the carpet. That’s who I am.”
“You’re also someone who means fucking everything to the people here,” I countered. “We would never judge you for going through some shit like that. We’d never think you were any less strong or any less worthy of being our brother.”
A tear dripped down his cheek and I was instantly off my feet, pulling him off the bed and wrapping my arms around him. At first, he wanted to get away, he pushed against me but I held him tight.
“We fucking love you, fucker,” I hissed, trying to control my own emotions. “Stop trying to hide and let us fucking be there for you.”
“I don’t want to drag you guys down with me,” he snapped even as his body went limp in my arms and he grasped hold of my club cut in his hands.
“We would ride to hell with you if that was what you needed,” I shot back. “We are a whole. Ain’t no dragging one person down. One falls we all fall. And we do it with a fucking smile on our faces.”
He let out a loud sob and buried his face into my shoulder.
Movement caught my eye and I looked up to see Optimus and Blizzard standing in the doorway. Their eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, and without saying a word they came inside and surrounded the both of us. Slider jumped as he felt two other bodies wrap around us. Not a word was spoken as we stood there in silence, Slider shattering into pieces, the three of us holding him together.
This was my brotherhood.
Four men standing in a fucking room, arms wrapped around each other as we fight back the tears, doing our best to collect the pieces of our broken brother and show him that we were there for him.
No matter fucking what.
We all took a step back at once, Optimus took one look at me, and I could see the words spoken in his eyes. This was what secrets did, they pulled us apart.
We were stronger together, and the sooner Sugar realized that, the better. Before she got too deep and before we lost someone else.
I cleared my throat and looked over at Slider. “You feel up for a ride? I might need your help with something.”
Maybe if he talked to her, he could help her to see some kind of reason. He could help convince her that doing shit alone and trying to hide your problems never came out well. Maybe if she could see the pain in his eyes, she would understand.
He raised his brow at me as he wiped at his cheeks. “Yeah, I guess. I got time.”
Optimus and Blizzard patted him on the back.
“Hadley and Leo are on their way back. They’ll be here tomorrow, and there’s a lot of shit we need to discuss,” Optimus said as they headed for the door. “Gonna need you both here.”
“No problem,” I answered.
Slider nodded. “I’ll be there.”
I patted him on the back. “How about that ride?”
