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I stood at the doors watching her speed out the gates, the tires of her mom’s car kicking up stones. I should be going after her, chasing her down and asking her what the hell happened, demanding that she listen to me and just stop for a second. Then when I saw that pain in her eyes, the pain that told me she wasn’t coming back, and I decided it could be for the best.
I turned around and stormed back inside, kicking at one of the chairs.
“What the hell happened?” Leo asked as he and Blizzard wandered over, the both of them looking just as confused as I was.
I shook my head. “I have no fucking idea. I saw her crying upstairs and coming out of my room. I was getting Eagle’s buddy to touch up the tattoo I got.”
She hadn’t even seen it.
It was a picture I found scrawled on a napkin. Maybe a fucking dove or something… some kind of bird. I liked it. I guess you could say it was my vow to her that I wasn’t going anywhere, that she didn’t have to worry.
But now…
“She fucking tried to lay me out.” My brow knitted together. I had no idea what the fuck had just happened. My brain couldn’t even compute what was going on.
“I think I know,” Jess noted as she came down the staircase chewing her lip, my half naked brother behind her. “She walked in, and we may or may not have been in your bedroom—”
“You fucking what now?” I demanded, taking a couple of steps forward. I saw the instant fear and regret on her face, which was saying something for someone as strong and confident as Jess was. Not a lot rattled her.
“Hey,” Romeo interrupted as he pulled his shirt down over his head and moved to stand in front of her. “It was my fault, okay? Things got a little hot in the hallway… your room was right there. I dragged her in there, so leave her alone, all right?”
Running my fingers through my hair, pulling it back from my face, I shook my head. “No. Not all right, Romeo.” I couldn’t believe this was about to happen.
“There’s time,” Blizzard urged. “You go after her now, you could catch her in town—”
The flashing lights of two police cruisers pulled up outside the gates. They didn’t use their sirens, just their lights, so we knew they were serious, but so I didn’t have time to run.
Romeo stood a little taller, I could practically see the gears in his head turning over, and the sweat beading on his skin. “What’s this?” he asked, his eyes moving from the officers who were now climbing out of their cars to Leo and Blizzard, and then back to me. Optimus stepped out of the hallway, Wrench just behind him. They all kept quiet, leaving it to me to dump the news.
“We have a friend in the police force in Athens,” I explained, leaning back against the doorframe and closing my eyes. “They finally processed the evidence. He rang to let us know that the guys over at the jail in Huntsville were sending someone over to get me.”
Romeo was shaking his head, but not saying anything. His hands clenched at his sides. He was looking at me, the guilt in his eyes shining back at me. He knew this was on him. He took my gun. He used it to shoot the sheriff, and then he left it there for them to find. I didn’t blame him, but his stupid fucking choices were about to make my life a little harder—just like the choice he’d just made to fuck Jess in my bed had made my relationship much harder.
I was going to prison.
Could be a couple of weeks, could be a couple of months, or fucking years—at this stage, it was anyone’s guess. Given it was an officer of the law that was killed, they would try and take me for everything and anything that they could. They would try and make an example of me.
I was ready for it.
But obviously, my little brother wasn’t.
“You’ve got my shit organized?” I asked, looking over at Blizzard. I was trying to hold my shit together, but I felt sick. I’d been locked up before, but in a place where I had allies and not for killing a cop. I heard the prison officers don’t take too kindly to that kind of thing.
Something to look forward to.
Pain.
Blizzard nodded. “I’ve got your bag. We’ll get it over to you as soon as possible.”
Because Deacon could get in a shit pile of his own for giving us a heads up about this, I couldn’t walk out there like I was expecting them. It had to all be a surprise and not the pleasant kind. Part of me just wanted to say fuck it, if they’re going to arrest me anyway, I may as well make it worthwhile and chase Meyah down and make them come after me.
It wasn’t that I wanted her here while this shit was going down, seeing me put into handcuffs and being forced into the back of a police car wasn’t exactly a vision which would warm her and keep her positive over the few weeks or months that I might be gone. But I also felt like seeing her just before I left might give me some kind of strength to come out of this on the other side.
“You could have stopped her. You just let her walk,” Leo accused, grabbing my shoulder and making me to face him.
“She doesn’t come anywhere near the prison,” I ordered, pulling back from his embrace, eager to get this the fuck over with before all the women who were outside with the kids realized something was going on.
The handful of brothers behind me followed as I started my walk toward fate, including Romeo who still hadn’t spoken.
