Wild Fire (Chaos #6.5)(35)

He went silent but did it looking to Hound and Jagger for support.

And found none.

He would discover why immediately.

“Got a brother at your back?” Hound asked.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Hound—”

“Do you?” Hound bit.

“No,” Dutch bit back.

“Are you fucking shitting us?” Jagger demanded.

“Okay, now, let’s just—” Georgie tried.

“Quiet, girl, you’re not in this,” Keely ordered.

Now, wait a fucking minute.

“Do not,” Dutch clipped.

His mother blinked.

Hound got closer to his wife.

Georgie pressed closer to his side.

“This is my home, and this is my woman, Ma. Do not speak to her like that in my home. Or ever.”

“Your woman?” Georgie and Keely both asked at the same time.

“We’re new,” he said to Georgie and looked to his mother. “She’s new. But the point still stands.”

Keely couldn’t argue that and didn’t.

She asked, “How new?”

“We haven’t even been out on a date,” he told her.

“And she’s coming in your side door?” his mother inquired.

“Keekee,” Hound warned.

Keely shut her mouth.

“Respect, I love you, but how many dates did you go on with Hound before he was at our breakfast table?” Dutch asked.

There was utter silence, until Hound chuckled.

“Gotcha there, Ma,” Jagger said.

“When you all have children, I will be laughing,” Keely stated.

“Maybe I should—” Georgie started.

“They’re leaving, you’re not,” he told her.

She sucked in her lips and lifted her brows.

“Right, about this murder,” Hound said.

Dutch looked to him. “It’s mine.”

“Dutch—” Hound began.

“It’s mine. I’m doing what I have to do. It’s mine.”

Hound stared into his eyes and Dutch knew this bit. It stung. It pained him.

This man took them out to get candy on Halloween.

This man sat them down and gave them their sex talks.

This man put their names forward to be brothers at Chaos.

This man gave them a baby brother and made their mother happy again.

But what Dutch was doing for Carlyle was about Carlyle.

It was about Khalon Stephens.

And it was about Graham Black.

Dutch knew it would not erase his father’s death or Carlyle losing his own dad.

He also knew, for whatever reason, he had to do this.

If he didn’t, he’d never be right again.

He sensed Georgie knew it.

And looking in Hound’s eyes, it didn’t surprise Dutch in the slightest that Hound knew it too.

Hound Ironside knew his boys down to the soul.

So he knew this.

Keely sidled closer, whispering, “Dutch.”

“It’s mine, Ma,” he said firmly, now staring her straight in the eye.

She halted, nodded, her expression troubled.

“Maybe it should be mine too,” Jagger put in.

He looked to his brother.

Jagger got it too.

And he would go there because Jag deserved the shot to have whatever Dutch was going to get out of this.

Except…

He looked to Georgie.

She shrugged and bit her lip.

She then nodded and said, “It’s not fair. They’re on again and it’s not right, Dutch.”

He nodded back and asked, “You or me?”

“What the fuck?” Jagger cut in.

Georgie looked to his brother. “Okay, I’m sorry. So sorry. But, well…”

She faltered.

Dutch stepped in.

“She’s usin’ you, man. Carolyn. She’s got a bunch a’ guys she mooches from and it’s not life-is-tough shit. She’s got a cocaine habit.”

Jagger’s upper body swayed back.

Shit, Christ.

“Brother, I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “But it’s true.”

“I’m not a pain-in-the-ass sister, Jagger,” Georgie added. “I’ve been on her for a while to get herself cleaned up and to stop…uh, what she’s doing with, um…using you and the, uh…other guys.”

Fuck.

“I told you, boy,” Hound said.

“I did too, honey,” Keely put in softly.

Whoa.

He had no idea his parents had figured shit out about Carolyn.

Dutch looked to Jag.

Jag was staring at Georgiana.

“The other guys?” he asked.

She jolted again and then asked back carefully, “You didn’t know?”

“I knew, but she takes money from them?”

“Yes.”

“All of them?”

“All of you.”

Jagger’s tone was not right when he asked, “Cocaine?’

Shit, this sucked worse than he already knew it would.

“It was recreational at first, and I was still concerned,” Georgie said. “But I don’t think it is anymore. She used to not hide it. She hides it now. And she sometimes sells handbags, or shoes, when she’s in between guys, I suspect so she can keep supplied.”