Chapter 36
Cameron
When I hear another car slide into the parking lot, I’m positive we’re in trouble.
Because after the last hour or so–hell, after the last week–I don’t think anyone could fail to notice that we’re in trouble.
Bear has been publicly attacked and reprimanded, and then suspended, over trumped-up charges that no one is willing to fight.
Mars and his gang have been attacked, Gunner has been misled, and Sammy. ..
Sammy’s been fucking kidnapped, and barely got away for long enough to let us know where she was.
So another truck showing up right now doesn’t exactly scream ‘Hey, crew, things have changed in your favor!’
More likely someone else has come here to hurl insults and accusations at Bear, or tell me and Sammy we don’t know what we’re talking about. Hell, if this Duane guy has his way, it sounds like bringing someone else to the party will just give him a new way to try to steal my girl.
But I’ll be well and truly fucked if I’m going to let them do any of that. I’m sick of people trying to take Sammy from me and even sicker of people saying Bear’s one thing when it turns out he’s something different.
That last point comes as a surprise even to me, but when I slow down enough to turn it over, I realize I’m right.
I’ve hated the man my whole life because he was never there for us, and when he did come back, he was cold and distant to us while giving everyone else in town a charming smile and warm handshake.
I’ve spent my whole life thinking it was because he didn’t love us. Didn’t have time for me.
Wished he wasn’t a father at all.
But since he’s come home, I’ve seen him take one look at Sammy and realize she needed protecting. Go into my shop and try to understand my work.
Hold the two of us like we’re precious gifts rather than unfortunate repercussions.
And I may not know the reason for that, or be sure of what it means or even how to deal with it. But I want to find out.
And I can’t do that if this Duane guy manages to get Bear arrested or thrown out of town–which is exactly, I’m guessing, what he means to do. He obviously knows Bear from their time in the Marines and has some strong opinions about what Bear did there.
But it sounds to me like Bear went back after men who were trapped.
And that sounds a whole lot like the man who helped Sammy save a dog and then spent an entire night sitting on the couch with us, watching movies and asking how we liked our popcorn.
So when I swing around to look at the new truck, I’m taking my anger in my hands and getting ready to use it as a weapon against whatever new enemy we’re facing.
I’m surprised when I see that it’s not an enemy, though, but family.
Gabe’s driving, with Taryn practically in his lap, and when I turn my eyes to the passenger seat I see...
Gunner.
I see Gunner.
Gabe throws the truck into park before it’s finished moving and opens the door before it’s still, his lanky body shooting out of the driver’s seat with a grace I never realized he had.
He’s carrying Taryn but puts her down the moment she starts struggling, and the two of them walk forward hand in hand like this is some sort of fucking movie and they’re the fucking heroes.
Typical Gabe. Always has to make a goddamn entrance. Always has to be the big man of the show. If we’d had a high school football team–we didn’t, because our school is too small–he would have been the fucking quarterback.
Asshole.
I grin when I see him, though, because as much as I hate to admit it, he is a fucking hero, and if he’s here, it’s because they brought what I asked them to bring.
He meets my eyes and winks, and I know immediately that it’s going to be okay.
I step forward and take Sammy’s hand, anxious for the moment when she realizes it too, and can feel when she looks up at me. Bear is standing behind her, his chest against her back and his breath hot on the top of her head, and I turn my eyes to the most important man in the parking lot right now.
Gunner Hawke.
Because he might not be on the council or the sheriff or even the mayor, but he is the most powerful man in town.
Born of the Hawkes who started the place and still in charge of one of the most powerful businesses in town, Gunner is the man everyone goes to when they have a problem.
He’s the leader of the town, in both name and standing, and when it comes down to it, his voice is the one that matters.
And yes, Bear has the same lineage. Gunner’s blood runs in Bear’s veins, and Bear should therefore have the same standing.
But power doesn’t work that way, particularly when you have one man who stays in town and fights for his people and one who runs away, too intent on searching for himself to see what he’s leaving behind.
Bear came back, though, and I’m hoping that right now, with his little brother in trouble and Gabe and Taryn on Bear’s side, Gunner is finally ready to be the brother Bear needs.
“What’s going on here?” he asks gruffly, with the straightforward, no-nonsense tone I’ve always expected from him.
Duane and Archie start speaking at the same time, both of them babbling about the sins Bear supposedly committed and Sammy’s supposed insanity, the crime in town and the new band of bikers that Duane claims must have followed Bear here from wherever he last was.
Gunner cocks his head and looks at Duane like he’s insane, which matches what I’m thinking, and then turns toward us and gazes at Bear, his face completely neutral.
When his mouth quirks, though, I feel the tension melt out of Bear, and I can swear I hear him chuckle, though moments later I think I must have imagined it.
This isn’t the time for laughing. Gunner still hasn’t told us what he’s here for. But when I look to Gabe and Taryn, I see expressions of...
Victory.
“Sammy?” Gunner asks suddenly. “Is what these men are saying true? Did Bear kidnap you? Has he abused you in any way?”
“Absolutely not,” she says firmly. “Bear’s my family and he would never. Gunner, he helped me rescue a dog.”
I hear that for what it is–the highest praise she can offer anyone–and feel the stress in her voice.
She doesn’t know why Gunner is asking, how he could possibly believe this man over his own brother, and if I know my girl, she’s holding her temper with two hands, trying desperately to keep from murdering Gunner for failing to take care of his family.
She was furious with him before, when he told us he wouldn’t help Bear, and I’m not sure she’ll sit quietly again.
The girl is a spitfire and doesn’t take well to being told no.
If Gunner lets her down again, I’m not going to stop her from flying at him.
But then his mouth quirks again.
“And are you... insane?” he asks.
Christ in Heaven, Gunner Hawke just made a joke. We’re in the middle of a tense standoff between his brother and the man evidently trying to take him down, and Gunner is choosing right now to grow a sense of humor.
I might have to punch him myself.
Sammy doesn’t think it’s funny. “No,” she says coldly. “That man kidnapped me and threatened me, and Bear and Cam came to save me. These men are my family. They’re also yours.”
The arrow strikes true, and I see Gunner jerk as if she actually just hit him.
Good. He should have welcomed Bear when he got back to town. Given him a place in the family business and made him legitimate. Instead, he’s been keeping his distance like his own reputation is more important than his brother’s life.
When he lifts an eyebrow, though, I think I may have misjudged him. Maybe not over the past several weeks, but right now.
He looks toward Archie and Duane and starts to scowl. “So you two are attacking Bear for no reason? Without any proof whatsoever, and just because you... don’t like him? Is that what’s going on here?”
“That man is a menace,” Duane snaps. “I don’t know if you realize, but he was dishonorably discharged from the Marines because he left men behind–”
“No,” Gunner says firmly. “According to the paperwork I received, he received an OTH discharge for refusing to follow orders.” He looks down at a paper in his hand, then back up, and this time he meets Bear’s eyes again.
“They told him to leave his men behind, injured and in need of help, and he refused. He stayed until he’d saved everyone he could. And for that, they punished him.”
Each word drops like an anvil on my heart.
He stayed and saved every man that he could. And for that, they punished him. His commanders had told him to leave men behind and he’d refused.
My god, I’ve misjudged the man.
“He still left men behind!” Duane screeches.
“And you not only kidnapped a girl, but also gave us false evidence,” Gunner snaps. “You paid for information on my brother and my niece and nephew. You brought foreigners into our town and paid them to make trouble. And you.”
His eyes snap to Archie, who visibly cringes.
“You took money from this man to do his bidding. You accepted thousands of dollars to try to take our sheriff down. To attack my brother.”
Holy. Shit.
The moment he says it, the pieces start snapping into place. The other biker gang. All the tourists. The fact that they wouldn’t stop attacking the residents of Wood–and that the council gathered just to accuse Bear of causing it.
If Gunner’s right, it was all Duane’s doing.
And Archie himself was in on the plot
“You have no proof of any of that,” Archie says, though his voice is weak. He knows how powerful Gunner is.
He knows that Gunner wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.
“Actually,” Taryn says suddenly, stepping forward and drawing herself up to her full height. “We do. See I have lawyers in the city, and it turns out people like that are awfully good at research. Even when you call them at 9 in the morning and say you need information immediately.”