Chapter 24 Chaos #2
“Of all the brothers to fall.” Soul slaps a palm over his chest like he’s been shot. “Damn, I didn’t see her taking you down, brother.”
“Neither did I,” I admit.
He chuckles, dropping his chin. “You want me to go with you?”
“Nah, the club needs you here.”
“The club can get by without me for a couple of weeks. It’s been a long time since you’ve been home, Chaos, and from the sound of it, your brother and stepdad aren’t going down without a fight.”
“Yeah, neither is Willa’s father.” After learning what he did to the cattle and how he threatened Willa with her mother’s death, I finally see him for who he is.
A man worse than my stepfather, which I didn’t think was possible.
“If anything goes down, I’ll ride out. Doesn’t matter when.”
“I appreciate it.” And I do.
Soul isn’t offering for the same reasons Steel was. This isn’t about the club’s protection, even if he would stand at my side and take a bullet for me if it came down to it. This is friendship. Something that makes us brothers beyond the patch.
No one quite understands me like Soul does. Even when our brothers were single, there was always this line. They were on one side, and we were on the other. A little too reckless. Always getting into trouble.
Numbing our demons with the same kinds of medicine.
Trying to outrun our pasts through any means necessary.
When I got locked up, Soul was the one who visited every week. He reminded me what I was fighting for. When shit goes down, he’s the one always standing beside me, good or bad. Which is why I don’t blame him when he asks—
“You coming back?”
I take a deep breath, staring at the picture on the wall of church that reminds me of my first ride with the club as road captain. It was a quick run up North to deliver product to the crew operating out of Portland. The roads were so slick I almost died.
Still, it was one of the best trips of my life. I was happy to be alive.
Happy to be a part of something.
A family unlike the one I left after Mom’s and Grandpa’s deaths.
“I’ll be back,” I say finally, knowing there is no me without the club, and hoping I can help Willa understand that. “I just don’t know how that looks anymore.”
He nods, lifting from his chair. Walking past, he slaps me on the shoulder. “Safe travels then, brother.”
For the first time since leaving Texas twelve years ago, I feel like I’m saying goodbye.
“You’re still here.” Grandpa stops at the railing beside me with his coffee in hand.
The sun hasn’t fully risen yet, but the sky is already starting to melt into a canvas of color.
“Who said I’m leaving?” I glance at Grandpa, who hitches an eyebrow as he takes a sip.
When he lowers his mug to the railing, he’s no longer looking at me. His gaze is on the ranch stretched out before us. On the brink of coming to life for the day.
This is my favorite time to be out here because the world hasn’t woken up yet. My problems haven’t woken up yet. Everything is just…
Quiet.
“I know you, boy,” Grandpa huffs out. “You were always leaving the second you graduated, even before your mom passed, God rest her soul.”
He bows his head, hiding the grief that flooded his eyes at the mention of his daughter. And I look away, not able to face that pain. It’s the only way I’m still holding it together. It’s why I can’t be around my brother either.
Kincaid has her eyes.
Her nose.
Everything around this place reminds me of her.
“I just gotta get away for a little while.” I pat the railing, standing up tall.
“I get that.”
“You aren’t going to try to talk me out of it?”
He shakes his head. “We all got paths to take in life. If this is yours right now, then so be it. I understand.”
“What about the ranch?”
“You let me worry about that. Besides, Kincaid isn’t going anywhere.”
“Yeah, and he’s turning into his father.”
“Your brother just needs to figure out who he is. Just like you do.” Grandpa grips my shoulder.
He doesn’t hug. He doesn’t show much affection at all. But his hand squeezes once, and it’s enough comfort to let me know I’m making the right decision.
“Do you know why I bought this land, Dean?” He lets me go, resting against the railing.
My brows pinch. “For the ranch.”
“To build a home.” Grandpa looks around.
“I was a lot like you growing up. My dad was a… difficult man, to say the least. I left the moment I had the chance and saved up working as a ranch hand until I could afford a little piece of land of my own. When I sold that for five times what I bought it for, I got this place. And I built a home. Not just for my family, although it became that. But for anyone who needed it. For anyone who might have been like me—a little lost.”
Memories play in his eyes as he looks out at the ranch. His gaze stops on a truck pulling up to the barn with the morning crew.
“This is a home for anyone who needs it. Not just us.”
“It’s a good home,” I say, meaning it.
Just because I can’t be here anymore doesn’t make that any less true.
“It is. And it’s here if you ever need it. Even when I’m long gone, this land is for my family and anyone we bring into it, blood or not. Here, you’re always welcome. Here, you’re always home.”