Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(78)

“Pop the hood,” he ordered me.

Several of those men who had been shouted over surrounded the car’s engine and talked among themselves. Presently one of them came along with a pair of jumper cables and attached them to a nearby pickup truck. Within moments my car coughed back to life. I jumped out and stared into the depths of my struggling vehicle.

“It’s a piece of shit,” said the original tattooed man, “but it might do for you a little while longer if you change the battery and handle some minor maintenance.” He tossed the jumper cables back to one of his buddies and then proceeded to climb into the passenger seat of my car.

“Come on,” he directed. “You’re driving.”

I glanced around and then poked my head in the window. “Uh, listen dude. I’m grateful, but not that grateful. You get what I’m saying?”

The man gave me a withering look. “Look, I heard enough of that family reunion in there to know you’re my cousin’s girl.”

I pulled back. “Cousin?” And then I had a flash of memory. It was of a boy who’d always seemed like a man to me although in all likelihood he’d only been about five years older. I knew his name. He was rumored to be the same kind of violent troublemaker as the rest of the family he came from. I vaguely remembered hearing that he’d joined the Marines. He had the overpowering build of the Gentry men but unlike the triplets he was black-haired and dark-eyed, more closely resembling his Mexican American mother. Cord had mentioned him before.

“You were Declan Gentry,” I said.

“I still am, baby,” he answered with a grin. “Now get in the car. We’re going for a drive. Jesus, don’t look at me like that. I already told you, I get it. You’re Cord’s girl and you seem all closed off and shit anyway.”

Reluctantly I got in. “Where are we going?”

“Where we came from,” he answered simply.

“Listen, I’m not trying to be a dick, but are you high?”

Declan turned to me and grinned broadly. I saw shades of his cousins in that arrogant, knowing smile. It made my heart hurt a little. Cord still hadn’t responded to my text from earlier.

“Why?” he teased. “You trying to offer me something?”

“Uh, no. But why do you need me to drive you anywhere?”

“Because I did you a favor and now you’re doing me one.”

“Do you always speak in f*cking riddles?”

“Ain’t my fault you have trouble listening. Turn down Free Road. Keep on it until you’re out of town. Then a left on Coyote.” Declan stretched in the seat beside me and opened the window as I tried to concentrate on where I was going. He said something in a low voice.

“What?” I snapped.

Declan Gentry gave me a hard look. “I said I’m just trying not to end up like my father.”

“And how was that?”

“Road kill, sweetheart.”

A black cat scrabbled across the road. It appeared to be carrying a dead ground squirrel in its mouth.

“Oh,” I said softly. “You’re Chrome’s son. Sorry, I’d forgotten.”

Declan shrugged. “It’s okay. He forgot too sometimes. I’m just not seeing so straight after sucking down a little too much juice. Not a good time to get on my bike.”

“I get it.” Free Road was a pot-holed two lane stretch which led southeast of town. There were no street lights out this way and the darkness settled fast. “So I’m kind of operating as your designated driver?”

“Cheaper than a cab,” he nodded, “and safer than my buddies.” He paused. “Besides, you can tell me all about the boys.”

“They’re your cousins. Why don’t you just call them?”

Declan yawned. “Maybe when I wake up tomorrow I will.”

I eyed his vast collection of ink. “You still a tattoo artist?”

He held out his avidly decorated arms. “How’d you guess?”

I studied him from the other side of the car. I was pretty certain this was the first conversation I’d ever had with Declan Gentry. He was years ahead of me in school and by the time I reached Emblem High he was long gone. He had a familiar kind of swagger about him which made me feel exceptionally lonely. Haltingly, I told him about Chase’s injuries. I left out my uncertainty over Cord’s quest for vengeance. He seemed to know there was more to it all than what I was saying although he didn’t pry for more information.

I squinted in the descending darkness. “This is it, isn’t it?” I asked. “Most of you Gentrys live out here.”

Declan pointed. “I’m crashing in an ancient single wide about a half mile back that way. Belonged to my dad.” He gestured in the opposite direction. I could discern the faint outlines of a small clot of neglected trailers. I braked to a stop and stared at the quiet desolation.

“So that’s the place,” I wondered softly. “That’s where the Gentry boys came from.” I’d never seen it before, never had any reason to come out this way.

Declan nodded soberly. “Yeah, and it’s as splendid as it looks.”

“Their folks still there?”

He sighed. “They’re still there.”

Declan didn’t say a word when I turned the car off and stepped out. I needed to see it up close, the place of Cord’s terrors, the place which both made him and broke him. I walked a few dozen yards, doing my best to step over unseen desert shrubbery which tried to catch itself on the hem of my dress. There was a faint light coming from a small window of the largest trailer, the one in the middle. I couldn’t take my eyes off it as I moved closer. I pictured Cord, my sweet strong boy, running out of that ratty door trying to escape the horrors within. The vision nearly made me weep.