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“It’s fucked.” Gage stood on my other side, his hand around the man’s throat who’d held the gun on me and touched Sienna. “Jamie in there?”
“I think so? I was too busy getting him out here.” I nodded to Brendan, who sat on the ground, his arms around his daughter,and turned back to Gage. “But you’re right. This is all sorts of fucked up. Jamie was his son. He was...”
“What the fuck? She was his sister?” the man in Gage’s meaty hand shrieked. The sound turned to a gurgle as Gage hoisted him to his feet.
“Let’s have a talk, my new friend.” He walked off, talking softly but threateningly to the Double B man.
A third car pulled up as I knelt to Brendan's level, and I didn’t have the bandwidth to check who. Jude could deal with the new arrival.
“Are you okay, old man?” I murmured.
“This isn’t the best of days,” he muttered, squeezing Sienna and tipping his face in my direction. “I failed her.”
I nodded. “I understand how that feels. I failed someone too, recently. Lost him. I should have done more but...” I sucked in a breath and got a lungful of smoke for my efforts. “It’s what we wear now.”
“It is.” Brendan reached out a hand toward me and I clasped it, squeezing tight. Sienna looked between us, her face streaked with soot and dust and salt.
A third face appeared in my range of vision.
“We can’t make a habit of this, Kyle. People gonna talk,” Jimmy muttered with a sidelong grin. “Hear you got yourself in trouble this time. There’re better ways to manage your grief than burning people’s house to the ground.”
Jude coughed apologetically above me. “I called him in. Thought we might need a little law on our side who Double B doesn’t have in their pocket.”
I managed a grin, scooping Sienna out of Brendan’s arms and lifting her to her feet, then him. “Appreciate the gesture.”
“The gesture?” Jude’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll give you a fucking gesture,” he muttered as he strode back to his truck.
“You wanna tell me everything that happened here today, Kyle?” Jimmy asked, his pad at the ready.
I snorted. “Man, you gotta curb that enthusiasm at the site of a tragedy because you, my friend, are telling a man his son was in there.” I shot a look at Brendan who nodded, rocking back on his knees.
“Who?” Jimmy leaned forward.
I grimace. “Let me tell you a story.”
****
Sienna curled into my chest, both of us tucked into one of Red Hart’s leather sofas near the fire. The rest of the house continued on like it usually did, though Trav and I shared that bottle of bourbon he promised me while my girl snored softly into my chest.
I didn’t resent the sleep she managed to steal one bit and having her in my arms again felt absolutely perfect.
Trav gave Brendan the bedroom upstairs his father used to occupy but only after insisting both were checked out by the local doc. I was grateful for his intervention, knowing Brendan and I would have fought over that particular issue until tomorrow’s dawn.
“You proposed to your girl yet?” Trav asked, refilling our glasses.
I raised both my eyebrows. “Today might not be the best time.”
In the space of twenty-four hours I lost an enemy, a friend, and gotten my girl back, who was currently as homeless as me. I still wasn’t sure where Brendan and I stood, or how I felt that the old man let his daughter be abused while trying to keep her safe at the same time.
Trav inclined his head and downed his bourbon in one. “Today is the best time.”
“When she wakes up, maybe.” We both knew it was a lie. “Guess I’ve gotta get on the road soon. You know anywhere I can try to make a home for Sienna and her father?”
He eyed me, the line of his jaw hard again. “They have a home. Just because it’s not one you want for them doesn’t mean they don’t have it.”
I nodded, his words swirling around me. He was right. I fucking hated the place.
“Rebuild it.” Gage slid onto the seat beside me, lifting Sienna’s feet gently. I glared at him, but my ire meant little to the jaded veteran. “Make the place somewhere you can have a base. You can still travel, both of you. She doesn’t seem to like being in one place, either. And she’s got those creams and things she makes. Help her find a place in the world but make it with you.”
