Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(65)

I shoved him. “Stop f*cking with her, Chase.”

Chase was offended. “Oh, like you guys are a team now? Guess what? I figured out that our soon-to-be Mrs. Gentry has a secret. A big one. Well, right now it’s a little one but give it a few months.”

“He knows,” Saylor told him cheerfully.

That took the wind out of Chase’s sails a little. He pouted. “You told him before you told me?”

“He guessed. He knows me too well. How did you figure it out, anyway?”

Chase pointed to her stomach and grinned. “You shouldn’t wear those form fitting sundresses anymore unless you want to advertise the bun in the oven. You’re bustin’ out already, sweetheart.”

Saylor reddened but Chase jumped up and wrapped her in a firm hug. “I’m just teasing. Congratulations, honey. Cord’s gonna be a great daddy.”

She lit up with happiness. “I know. He’s excited.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Am I still helping you plan the wedding?”

“Yes. We’ve just kind of tabled it for now. We’re waiting until-“ She broke off abruptly and looked my way. I knew what she was going to say though. They were waiting until all the fight shit was sorted out. I couldn’t stand the way her face fell. I couldn’t have that, not in the midst of what should have been a happy moment of celebration.

I slung my arm around Chase’s shoulder. “So do we get to walk you down the aisle?”

Saylor smiled a little. “I think Cord will want you standing up next to him.”

Chase stared at her stomach curiously. “Just how many do you think are in there?” He knelt down and started talking to her abdomen. “Hello! It’s Uncle Chase.” He turned around and explained to me. “The earlier the fetus gets used to the sound of your voice the more responsive it will be to your presence when it emerges.”

Saylor backed away from him, laughing out loud. “Is that so, professor?”

“It is,” he nodded seriously. He tugged at me. “Come on, Creedence. Talk to the baby.”

“I’m not talking to the baby. The baby doesn’t even have ears yet.”

“No imagination.” Chase shook his head.

I sighed and picked up my guitar. “I’ll one up you, junior.” I started to tune the strings and then launched right into ‘Danny’s Song’. It was what I’d sung the first time I ever picked up a guitar in front of Saylor. I didn’t know if she’d remember or not.

Chase led her back to the couch and they sat down together. I went through the entire song, losing myself in the music as I always did. When I finished the last note and looked up I saw them both wearing identically tragic expressions.

“Dammit,” I whispered, setting the guitar down. Everything always came back to the fight. The only comfort I got from everyone’s pain was the knowledge that soon, one way or another, it would be over.

Bullshit.

Lying to yourself is a f*cked up thing to do. It’s like pulling the covers over your head in the hopes the monster in your bedroom won’t see the outline of your body. It’s futile. It’s cowardly. If I wasn’t able to make it home in two nights then only my pain would be over. For the rest of them who’d been left behind, it would go on forever.

We all made a valiant effort to be cheerful when Cord came home. Chase kept patting him on the shoulder and calling him ‘Daddy’. Cord held tight to Saylor and tried to smile but when he glanced my way I saw the way his mouth turned down. I also saw the crease between his eyebrows; it always appeared when he was upset. It would likely be there until he was an old man.

Declan strolled in casually a short time later. Cord seemed perplexed to see him. Deck gave Cord a hard handshake and then turned to Chase.

“Hey, man. You blazed out of town so quick a few weeks back we didn’t get to talk.”

Chase closed his eyes briefly and then raised his chin, directing an intense glare at Declan.

“That’s right,” he said. “We didn’t talk.”

Deck stared back for a moment then gave a short nod, signifying he understood whatever silent warning Chase was issuing.

But Cord was curious now. “You were down in Emblem?” he pressed Chase. “When?”

“Few weeks back.” Chase shrugged. “I went for a drive. It’s not important.”

I could tell from Cord’s narrowed eyes that he felt differently. I felt differently too. The last time the three of us ventured down to Emblem was to proudly offer our mess of a mother a big piece of our carefully saved cash. We’d gotten word that Benton was in lockup for a little while and we figured maybe that fact plus the money would be enough to jump start Maggie Gentry. We should have known better. She grabbed the money out of my hand, gave us all an unfocused grin and then shuffled back into the trailer. It had been a cloudy late autumn day and the sweat rolling off my body had nothing to do with the weather. I collected my brothers and sped out of that bad memory as fast as I could.

I hadn’t returned. If I never saw the place I came from again it would sit just fine with me. To my knowledge, Chase and Cord hadn’t gone back since then either.

“Did you take my car?” Saylor asked Chase and for once she sounded irritated with him. “I remember that. You used up nearly a whole tank of gas.”