Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(60)

“Jester,” Declan muttered. I could tell from the sudden tension in his posture that the name meant something to him. “When?”

“A few days I think. Deck, Cord has always said that you know everyone and they’re universally scared shitless by the mere mention of your name. Is there anything you can do?”

“You’re asking for my help?”

“Yes.”

Declan smiled and his eyes suddenly shifted in my direction. His gaze worked me over real well. “And I see you brought a treat along to bribe me with.”

Saylor put her hands on her hips. “Don’t be a pervert. This is my friend, Truly.”

“Hello Truly.”

“Hello Declan.”

He had a fluid way of moving. It was nearly hypnotic. Declan Gentry stood mere inches from me and ran a finger lightly over my arm.

“You got a man, Truly? Or are you looking for one?”

I met his gaze without flinching. “I’m with Creedence.”

“Ah.” Declan dropped his hand and then shot me a regretful grin. “That’s too bad. My cousins seem to have a knack for finding the best women before I can.”

“So will you help?” Saylor asked. I heard the desperation in her voice.

Declan dropped his tough guy act. He seemed sad. “I don’t know if there’s much I can do, honey. I know the kind of fights you’re talking about and there’s no calling in sick.”

“The last guy who hit the ground in one of these fights? He didn’t get up again. He died later the same night.”

It was too horrible to contemplate.

“Please,” I whispered.

Saylor glanced at me and her face crumbled when she saw that I was crying. The tears had simply arrived without warning. I was afraid they might never stop.

Declan stared. “Don’t you go showin’ him that shit,” he said a little sharply. “It’ll f*ck with his head.” He looked out in the direction of the ghastly trailer we’d passed before finding our way here.

“I’ll get my ass up there today,” he said quietly. He gave me a hard look and I saw the same stoic resolve I’d seen so often in Creed. “Those boys are my blood and I’ll do what I can for them.”

“Thank you,” Saylor breathed.

Declan nodded to us soberly. “Now go on. Get out of here. You stick around too long and you might wake the beast.”

That was all Saylor needed to hear. She pulled me back to the car and we left Declan Gentry standing there in the hot sun.

When we’d reached the relative safety of downtown Emblem I asked Saylor a question. “Just how scary is the beast?”

“Benton Gentry? He’s the scariest goddamn thing I ever saw.” She shuddered.

As we headed back to the valley I looked in the rearview mirror at the place Creed had come from. I wanted so badly to be in his arms.

“I’d like to see a lot of things, places where there’s not just brown dust and heat. And I’m takin’ you with me, baby.”

A hideously sick feeling washed over me. It was heartbreaking loss, or rather the threat of it.

This is what happened when you risked holding someone in your arms all night long.

It’s what happened when you began to feel as if your day meant nothing unless the man who’d carved his name into your heart was with you.

Such things could go terribly wrong. You might find yourself gouged out, bereft. You’d wonder if breathing would ever come easily again.

I pulled the car to the shoulder of the road, my hands locked onto the steering wheel for dear life. Saylor watched me silently.

“It hurts,” I choked out. I was crying again. I wasn’t just crying for Creed, but she didn’t know that. “It hurts so much.”

She hugged me. “I know. I know it does.”

We sobbed together for a little while before we drove home.





CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR


CREED



“She didn’t tell you where she was going?” Cord asked with a frown.

“No,” I answered, taking a sip of coffee. “Why don’t you try her phone again?”

Cord pounded out a text message, then stared at the screen for a minute. “Was she upset about something?”

Yes.

But I did the gutless thing. I shrugged, which in this case was the same as lying to my brother.

I didn’t have time to think about that though because Chase lumbered into the kitchen. He looked awful.

“You sick?” I asked him sarcastically as he fumbled around in the kitchen cabinet.

“Yeah,” he coughed. “I’m sick.”

I set my coffee down. Cord shot me a warning look. The look said, Don’t do this right now. It’ll just go badly and won’t solve a thing.

I answered his look with one of my own.

I have to.

“Come here, little brother.” I pulled a chair out.

Chase eyed me cautiously but sat down. As soon as he was there I lost whatever words were in my head. I just looked at them, both of them. I’d been looking at Chase and Cord my whole life and it didn’t seem nearly long enough. In twenty two years I’d never spent a day without them. That meant something else too. It meant they’d never spent a day without me.