Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(72)

“Wait,” growled Creed, pulling me back when I started to climb the stairs. He insisted on being the first one up there and motioned to Cord to keep me behind him. I supposed they were trying to protect me, but this was my world, and my mess. I would be the first one to face it.

Cord was startled when I pushed past him. Creed let out a curse when I shoved him aside to get to the door first.

“Alonzo!” I yelled, kicking the bottom of the door. “Open up the hell up!”

He must have been waiting. He opened the door so suddenly I nearly fell through it. Creed caught me and tried to protectively move me behind him but I wasn’t having any of that shit. I shook him off and faced the man who’d been my brother’s friend, the man who still might actually be my friend.

“Come in, everyone,” said Alonzo in a mild tone as he held the door open. The right side of his face appeared swollen and he didn’t seem surprised to see any of us.

“Chase!”

He had been standing beside a frayed sofa but he was moving and grabbing me up in a fierce embrace before I could take another step in his direction. I couldn’t talk. I could only relish the solid feel of him.

“Let’s go home,” I whispered but he shook his head. He turned around and looked at someone. When I’d burst through the door I only had eyes for Chase. I hadn’t even noticed the man who’d been sitting on the couch behind him.

“Hey, Steffie,” the man said softly and all I could do was stare.





CHAPTER TWENTY SIX


Chase



The day I’d dropped Alonzo off at his apartment I’d seen what door he disappeared behind. I knew exactly where to look for him first. As I stood outside the door I called his number and heard it ringing just on the other side.

“Gentry,” he sighed when he answered. “Figured I’d hear from you soon.”

“So tell me, buddy, are you gonna open the f*cking door or do I need to break it down?”

He opened it. The expression of sober regret on his face made me pause but only for a moment. I barreled hard into his chest, knocking him over. I slammed the door behind me.

“Shit,” he shouted as he crashed into a chair. “Calm the hell down.”

“Fuck you. You figure out yet why I’m here, *?”

He hung his head and swallowed. “Yeah. I didn’t know Stephanie was your girl or I would have warned you sooner.”

That unleashed a growl from my throat and I went for him again. I got in a solid hit to the right side of his face and it felt good, satisfying, to do at least a little damage. From what little I was able to see of him in the video he wasn’t the ringleader, but he’d f*cking been there and that was enough. And he was the only in front of me to hit, for now.

“Dammit, Chase,” Al grumbled, holding onto his face and stumbling. “Look I get it and if all you need to do is beat the hell out of me, then you just keep going.”

I was rearing back for another blow but I paused. “You think you can explain this shit away? Go ahead Al or Alonzo or whatever the f*ck you’d like me to call you. Tell me how you got off on watching a girl get forced into ruin.”

“I didn’t!” he shouted and his face was twisted into a painful expression. “Jesus, that was f*cking awful watching her up there.”

“Not as f*cking awful as it was for her,” I snarled and hit him again.

Al staggered and sat down hard on the floor. I’d figured out by now that he wasn’t going to fight back. His obvious guilt over being present for the cruelty inflicted on Stephanie seemed genuine. What I didn’t know was who the hell she was to him. So I asked.

He sighed and answered in a grim monotone. “Her brother Robbie was my best friend. When I ran into her out here I promised myself I would look out for her, try to keep her out of real trouble.” He winced and leaned back into the wall. “Instead I led her to the wolves.”

My eyes narrowed and my blood boiled. “What wolves?”

Al’s dark eyes snapped to my face. “Don’t go there, Gentry. Don’t even think about it. Just go home and take care of her as best you can.”

“I want their f*cking names Al.”

“Well tough shit. I’m not f*cking giving you that. And before you say it, you ought to know that they aren’t the ones I’m protecting here.” He struggled to his feet and looked at me imploringly. “Get out of here, Chase.”

“That’s good advice,” said a voice and for the first time I realized we weren’t alone.

I didn’t know how the hell I missed seeing the guy since the apartment was tiny but there he was, sitting on a crappy sofa and observing us silently. There was something disturbingly familiar about him and the combination of his tense posture and the sharp look in his brown eyes told me he might be one tough son of a bitch. I also noticed the way he kept his right hand inside the pocket of a jacket he didn’t need to be wearing indoors.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked, watching the way his hand stayed hidden, as if he was holding onto something I couldn’t see.

A knife? A gun?

Whatever he was hiding wasn’t going to keep me from demanding to know his role in all this.

Al shot me a warning look and cleared his throat before addressing the man. “This is Chase Gentry.”