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ChapterTwenty-Three
PEYTON
“Let’s go,”Reaper said, sliding out of the driver’s seat. When I tried to leave for the office this morning, he’d snatched the car keys out of my hand and said he would drop me off. I was too nervous to face my team to fight with him.
I’d called Betty while he was in the shower, and her silence after I explained what happened had spoken volumes. I knew I’d have to face the consequences of breaking the thing that mattered most—my team’s trust—but before she hung up, she told me she’d fill them in on the basics.
I got out of the truck and caught up to Reaper on the sidewalk. The clubhouse seemed more ominous than the last time I was there. “Why didn’t you drop me off first?” I hadn’t paid attention during the drive, but I’d assumed he was taking me to work.
He slowed his pace so I didn’t have to run to keep up. “I sent out a text last night for my brothers to be on alert but need to fill them in on details. Then I’ll drop you off.”
I should have thought of that, and the fact I hadn’t further proved the poor quality of my mental state.
Inside the clubhouse, brothers milled around, talking and listening to music like they were having a small party at ten in the morning. One by one, they noticed me standing there and their conversations trickled off. By the time I was halfway through the room, someone had turned off the music and everyone was staring at me.
In my peripheral vision, I caught a fist flying toward me and ducked, but the punch wasn’t aimed my way. The fist slammed into Reaper’s jaw, snapping his head to the side. Another punch caught him in the stomach.
Boomerang followed up with a punch to Reaper’s kidney. Reaper finally reacted, tackling my brother to the ground.
They rolled around, grunting and making poor attempts to choke each other out. I swallowed a laugh. It wasn’t funny, but I couldn’t help myself. I’d seen better grappling from toddlers.
Boomerang finally broke free and reared up, fist cocked. “I didn’t get her away from our raving bitch of a mother so that you could get her killed. I told you to stay away.” He threw a jab into Reaper’s nose. Blood soaked them both, but neither seemed to notice. “What the hell were you thinking? She could’ve been taken. Targeted,” he roared.
The fury behind his words triggered a part of me that I’d thought long dead. This uncharacteristic show of concern from my brother shouldn’t have mattered. Not after years of thinking he tolerated my existence at best. But I found myself questioning everything I thought I’d known about our relationship as they continued to fight, their snarls and growls filling the air.
Boomerang put the full weight of his body into his next punch, and I winced at the force with which Reaper’s head slammed into the ground. He lifted his head, his features hidden behind the blood coating his face. “Stop fucking hitting me, you shithead.”
“I warned you what would happen if you touched her.” Boomerang got to his feet and rammed the toe of his boot into Reaper’s ribs.
The murderous expression on Reaper’s face had me taking a step back. I was about to witness how he kept the brothers in line. Starting with mine. Except just when I thought the tide would turn and he would put an end to the fight, he merely wrestled Boomerang to the ground. Reaper was fighting back, but he wasn’t giving everything he had. I could see the way he pulled his punches at the last second. He was letting my brother take his rage out on him, but I didn’t understand why.
I had to resist dual urges to walk away and insert myself by breaking them up. My feet were rooted to the floor, so walking away wasn’t an option. And I knew better than to put myself between two people determined to break each other’s faces.
Uncle Wolf and High walked through the door and stopped for a moment before jumping in. Their presence had the other brothers springing to action. Within seconds, Boomerang and Reaper stood facing each other, both surrounded by brothers and breathing heavily.
“That was the one and only time you get to hit me because of her,” Reaper said in such a low tone that I had to strain to hear him. “I let her go the first time because of you and Midas. That was a mistake I won’t make again. She was mine then and she’s mine now.” A smug smile pulled at his bloody mouth. “Get used to calling me family, brother-in-law.” He threw a wink at Boomerang, then strode out of the room.
I double blinked at Reaper’s insinuation.I am going to shoot out his kneecaps.
Boomerang stood in front of me, his face even more murderous than before. “Tell me he didn’t call me hisbrother-in-law.” He spat the words out like they tasted sour. “Did you marry that fucking idiot?”
I snorted. “No. Can’t you tell when someone’s trying to get under your skin?” His shoulders slumped, and he wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.
I sized him up, thinking back to the events of the past fifteen minutes. “You have two minutes to clean up and meet me outside by the picnic tables. Seems we have some catching up to do.” I crossed my arms and waited for him to respond, not about to let him get out of talking to me.
“Give me five.” He took one step and stopped. “Stay away fromhimwhile I clean off his blood.” The hatred pouring from him confused me. He’d always been angry at the world, like he couldn’t find a reason to be happy. To smile. But this went deeper than that, and I intended to find out why. For the first time in our lives, we were going to sit down and—hopefully—have a civil conversation.
As I got comfortable at one of the picnic tables, I chuckled to myself. I’d bet my whole ass that my brother had no idea what the word civil even meant.
With a beer in each hand, Boomerang joined me a few minutes later. He handed me a bottle and sat down across from me but stared into the trees over my shoulder. Just before I opened my mouth to speak, his eyes locked on my face. “Did you ever question how I got the nod to join the club?”
That wasn’t how I expected this to start. “First, how did you know what happened last night? I only told Betty, who said she was only giving my team the bare minimum.”
His face reddened and he looked away. “I uh—” He cleared his throat. “I was in a position to overhear that something happened with you and Reaper. I came straight to the clubhouse.” After a second, he turned back to me. “Let’s get back to what I asked. Do you know how I got my patch?”
“I want you to know that I’m going to dig and find out how you got that information. As for the club, I assumed that being a legacy?—”
Boomerang shook his head. “Legacies are for sons, not nephews. I joined the old-fashioned way. Came in, told my story, hoped it was good enough.” Boomerang’s knuckles turned white around the neck of the beer bottle. “Do you remember what it was like living with them?”
