Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(75)

“This?” I withdrew the contents with a flourish. “This is your bouquet.”

My mother stared. “Those are fake.”

“Well, yeah. I mean they’re not fake. They are sub-real. They’re actually better than real flowers. They won’t wilt.”

“You expect me to walk down the aisle with fake flowers?” Her voice had elevated to a high-pitched squeal. It was the same noise I’d heard from her the day she confronted me about the rumors that I’d had sex with Cord Gentry. It was snarling disgust mingled with abject disbelief.

“Sorry,” I muttered, wishing for all the world I hadn’t come out here.

For once though, Amy chose to let it go. She grabbed the fake flowers with a roll of her eyes and ordered me to fill the vase centerpieces with honeysuckle potpourri. I was actually happy to have something to do.

As I proceeded with my mother’s wedding preparations I tried to push Cord out of my thoughts. I didn’t want him there. But, as always, he just refused to leave.





CHAPTER TWENTY SIX


CORD



“You should have gone,” Chase scolded.

I’d found a deck of cards in the gift shop downstairs. We’d been playing War for an hour on Chase’s food tray.

I kept my eyes down. “With Saylor?”

“Yes and you damn well know it.”

“Nah, who would keep you entertained then?”

Chase shoved the cards away and crossed his arms. “Fuck that, Cord. I don’t need you to babysit me. That’s not why you’re here now anyway.”

“Really? ‘Cause it sure feels like I’ve been at your side every possible minute.”

He shook his head. “You’re using me as an excuse.”

I looked him in the eye. “For what?”

Chase tapped his head and gave me a glum smile. “I’m the smart one, remember?”

“Yeah, I know. You’re a f*cking genius.”

He looked around suddenly. “Where’s Creed?”

“In the shitter,” I answered mildly.

It was a bald lie. Creed was off on a research mission. Now that we had both names and faces to attach to the *s who’d jumped Chase, we needed to figure out how to find them. I wasn’t going to tell Chase that. He didn’t need to know any more than Saylor needed to know. It would be dealt with. We would tell him when it was finished. It was what he would have done for us. It was how we Gentry boys had managed to reach the privilege of adulthood.

Chase yanked his hospital gown up and pulled the bandage off his abdomen. I flinched at the sight of the angry incision and at all the bruising surrounding it. He pointed to his injuries.

“I know this hurts you, Cord. I know it’s eating the two of you alive. I sat here all f*cking night trying to figure out how I would handle shit if it were one of you instead of me.” He sighed and tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I think it’s almost easier to be on this side. You can see things more clearly.”

“I would argue that’s the concussion talking.”

“Shit, Cord, I’d go after them too if I was you. Let’s imagine that we even know for absolute certain who’s responsible. I’d want to rip off their f*cking limbs and use ‘em for firewood.”

I glanced at the door. “We should stop talking about this.”

“Why? You haven’t done anything yet. I’m asking you not to. I’m f*cking begging you not to.” He leaned forward and clutched my arm. “Brother, pull Creedence off the ledge and come back down here, where there’s an actual future. Go find that sweet girl who loves your ugly ass and bury yourself inside her until all the bullshit gets f*cked out of your head.”

“Tried that,” I answered drily. “Only worked for a little while.”

Chase sighed. “You told me something once, you know.”

“I’ve told you a lot of things over the past twenty two years, Chasyn. What specific something are you referring to?”

“You said it the night before the three of us managed to scrape by and graduate from Emblem High. You know, we might not have deserved to graduate. The administration was petrified that if they didn’t pass us we’d be back the following year but that’s beside the point. We were talking about getting out. You said you needed to escape what it meant to be a Gentry of Emblem.”

I remembered that night. The three of us had climbed the old water tower to glare down at the town below. We drank and bullshitted and made plans for what we were going to do. It was the first time I could remember looking out at the world and understanding that it held possibilities, even for us.

Chase watched me. I wanted to give him what he asked for. I just wished it wasn’t so damn hard.

“Maybe,” I said quietly, “there’s no getting away from being a Gentry of Emblem. It’s what we are. You know it. Remember that quote you spit out the other night? ‘If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.’”

“And just what the hell do you think that means?”

“It means there’s no getting away from your past.”

Chase let out a hiss of air. He was getting angry. If he hadn’t been hampered by an IV and a hospital bed he would have gotten right in my face.