Hold (Gentry Boys, #5)(57)

“Oh, shit,” Cord muttered softly and then he too looked like he was going to be sick.

“Conway wasn’t in the accident, was he?” I asked. Even if he wasn’t involved, of course he would still be devastated. I’d seen firsthand what a close bond the brothers shared. Those two were like peanut butter and jelly and probably had been since they were babies. So yeah, Conway was bound to take Stone’s arrest pretty hard, given that his brother was almost certainly looking at a lengthy prison sentence if everything Gaps had said so far was true. Still, I felt like I was missing something that my brothers understood.

“He wasn’t involved,” Gaps confirmed. “I know he’s been putting in weekends at Carson’s Garage so I sent a car around to look for him there.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“You know Erin,” Chase told me. “We met her. Con’s girlfriend.”

And in a flash I understood what they already knew. I remembered the way she hung on his arm, a pretty young girl in love. And I remembered the way he stared down at her as if he couldn’t believe his dumb luck that she was with him.

I just stared at the ground. Nothing I could say would be adequate. A horrific tragedy had just become even more appalling.

Gaps hurried away when another officer beckoned. With Chase leading the way, we edged a little closer to the fatal scene. Glass was everywhere. Two mangled cars – one a beat up classic Chevy and the other a newer model Toyota – had come to rest about fifteen yards apart after the crash. The corner was the site of a four way stop and Gaps had said they were racing. It didn’t really make sense how they would crash into each other if they were racing side by side, but I supposed there were any number of scenarios that could have happened. Maybe they were trying to avoid another driver, or a pedestrian. Maybe one had spun out and smashed into the other.

It didn’t matter how it had happened. The result was still the same.

The three of us stood there, miserable and silent. It seemed wrong to leave. Stone had been hauled off to the police station but no one had seen Conway yet. We couldn’t abandon him if there was a chance we might help him in some way.

“Erin! Get the f*ck off me, man. ERIN!”

By now a sizeable crowd had gathered on the perimeter of the wreck. Emblem residents had walked away from their dinners and their places of business to see what all the fuss was about. Once they heard just how bad it was they spoke in hushed whispers and stared sadly at the ruins while staying at a discreet distance, lest the horror of it get too close to them.

We heard Conway shouting before we saw him break through the crowd. His face was wild as he shoved aside spectators and first responders, trying to reach the scene. One nearby cop moved to grab him but he backed off when Gaps appeared and issued a quiet request to the other officer.

“ERIN!” Conway screamed.

Gaps put a kindly arm around the kid’s shoulder. We were close enough to hear him say, “I told you, son. She’s gone. I’m sorry.”

Conway Gentry just broke. He dropped right down to his knees and even though he didn’t let out a sound, the sight of the way he just crumpled would have singed even a frozen heart.

Several in the crowd murmured with sympathy and turned away, a few wiping tears from their cheeks. Emblem wasn’t that big of a place and tragedies were always just a little more tragic in small towns. Many of those flanking Main Street likely knew the Gentry brothers, and they likely knew Erin as well. Maybe their kids went to school with these kids or maybe they picked up their prescriptions from Conway’s mother at the pharmacy or shot pool with Erin’s father. This would manage to reach them all in some way.

Chase knelt beside Conway and gathered him into his arms as if Con was a small child instead of a nearly grown man. The boy wept on my brother’s shoulder and then slowly raised his head, looking around with anguished, red eyes.

“Where the hell is Stone?” he demanded.

Gaps leaned down and rested a hand on his shoulder. He met my eyes. “I haven’t told him yet,” he explained quietly.

Con threw Gaps’s hand aside and stood. “Where the hell is he?”

“Stone isn’t hurt,” Chase assured him.

Conway stared right at him. There was so much warring emotion in his face. Heartbreak for sure. And something else. Anger. “Of course he’s not. He’s never f*cking hurt. So where the f*ck is he?”

“Your brother was the driver,” Gaps told him. It was another hard piece of news to take but there was no point in avoiding it. “He was behind the wheel of that stolen Chevy and the girl, Erin, was in the passenger seat.”

Conway blinked at him. He didn’t move. He didn’t breathe.

Gaps shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Your brother was arrested at the scene and is being booked at the station.”

“Stone was the driver,” Conway muttered as he raked a shaking hand through his hair. “Stone was the driver.”

Chase reached for him but Con suddenly hit a boiling point, pacing back and forth and breathing in gasps. His hands went to his shaggy dark blonde hair, the same hair that my brothers and I had if we ever decided to let it grow long. He pulled at the roots hard, as if he was trying in vain to substitute one small pain for another much larger one. I didn’t know if it was kinder to stand back and let him blow or try to yank him back our way to be wrapped with sympathy.