Chapter Thirty-Two
chapter THIRTY-TWO
“I still can’t believe he canceled. What are the odds?” Ethan asked Beau as they headed north. Back toward home.
“Think it’s a sign?” Beau asked with a chuckle.
“Hell no. You’re getting that tattoo.”
“Yeah?”
Before Ethan could respond to Beau’s comment, his cell phone rang. Grabbing it out of the cup holder, he barked a short greeting. “Walker.”
They were about half an hour outside of Austin, which meant they would hit Coyote Ridge in about forty-five minutes. His phone had been blowing up with texts for the last twenty minutes or so but until now he’d done a good job of ignoring it.
“Where the fuck are you?” Zane growled.
“On the road,” Ethan said as calmly as he could muster. He wasn’t all that thrilled with being yelled at. “Why?”
“You need to get your ass home.”
“On the way. Again, why ?” Ethan glanced over at Beau briefly.
“It’s Dad.”
Ethan sat up straight in his seat, the phone pressed painfully against his ear, every muscle in his body tensed. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, unless you consider the fact that Mom’s probably gonna kick his ass, nothing serious.”
“What the fuck! You scared the shit out of me, fucker. What’s going on with Dad?”
“You know how he’s like almost seventy?”
Ethan was getting frustrated with Zane. And his storytelling abilities weren’t rating all that high with him at the moment, either. Knowing that talking wasn’t going to rush the situation any, Ethan kept his mouth shut.
“Well, Trav had to bail his ass out of jail last night.”
“What?” Ethan nearly dropped his phone.
“What’s wrong?” Beau asked, reaching over to touch Ethan’s arm.
“Hell if I know,” Ethan told him as he hit the Speaker button so Beau could possibly help him translate. “You’re on speaker. Beau’s here.”
“Yo, Beau! What’s up, man? Did you get that tat?”
“What the hell is going on?” Beau asked, completely ignoring Zane’s attempt at casual conversation.
“Well, Dad’s in jail. Or rather he was in jail. He’s out now. Sheriff Endsley’s at the house talking to him. Mom’s not too happy with him.”
“What did he do?” Ethan asked, speaking slowly in an attempt to rein Zane in.
“According to him, he snapped.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” Ethan asked Zane and glanced at Beau. “You’re gonna have to make this beast go faster.”
Beau nodded, and the engine roared as he accelerated.
“Zane, I need you to be serious here for a minute, bro,” Beau said calmly. “We’re about half an hour out, but we need to know what’s going on.”
“Well, that freak show Jimmy, yeah, well, he’s gonna have a headache this morning. Might even need some makeup to cover up the shiner he’s sporting.”
Ethan stilled instantly. Jimmy? As in Jimmy Reardon?
Keeping calm, Ethan said the following words very slowly. “What did Dad do?”
“I’ll have to let him tell you that part. I wasn’t there. But I’m on my way to their house now to see him. Sawyer is fit to be tied, so I just wanted to give you a warning. Head on over there when you get back. I’ll let them know you’re on the way.”
Ethan nodded, realizing Zane couldn’t see him after it was too late and Zane had disconnected the call.
“You wanna call Sawyer?” Beau asked, his eyes focused on the road.
“Nah. We’ll hear about it soon enough.”
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Beau was pulling into the driveway of Ethan’s parents’ house. Neither of them wasted time in getting out and heading inside. It wasn’t hard to find where the commotion was coming from because there were at least seven or eight towering males standing in the middle of the living room in what appeared to be a screaming match. Ethan couldn’t tell who was winning.
Beau let out a piercing whistle, and the ruckus died instantly, all heads turning to look at them. Great. Way to call attention to us.
Ethan took a moment to do a mental roll call, noticing that there weren’t any women present.
Good to know.
“What the hell is going on here?” Ethan barked, glancing from one man to another. His brothers were surrounding their father, but Gage had the good sense to stand off to the side of the room, a mischievous smirk on his lips.
At least this wasn’t a critical issue. If it had been, Ethan doubted Gage would be grinning like that.
“Not a damn thing. Your brothers need to learn to mind their own damn business,” Curtis bellowed, sinking into his chair.
“You are our damn business,” Travis argued. “And I’m not all that thrilled about having to come get your ass outta jail last night.”
“I warned you,” Curtis argued.
“True. I did get a warning call.”
Ethan turned his head to see Sheriff Endsley sitting on the couch right in the middle of the mayhem. He wasn’t in uniform, which Ethan considered a good sign. It wasn’t that the sheriff and his father were close friends, but they had started to chat more, ever since the incident with Zane.
“I told Mack to call him, did I not?” Curtis asked no one in particular.
Ethan lowered himself onto the arm of the couch, and Beau came to stand behind him. For some reason, having Beau there with him was comforting, not disturbing. He figured at this point, his family knew where he’d been, so explaining himself wasn’t necessary. Not that he would tell them if they asked.
“What happened?” Jared asked, sitting on the edge of the fireplace, his hands hanging between his knees.
“Dad whooped up on Jimmy Reardon,” Zane offered and earned a round of shut the fuck up s from the rest of them.
“That’s not what happened,” Gage clarified, his eyes darting over to the sheriff.
“No, it’s not. Jimmy showed up at Moonshiners with his brass balls last night,” Sawyer growled. “The bastard thought he could start running off at the mouth, and Pa intervened. Unfortunately for Jimmy, Pa doesn’t do well with threats.”
Ethan watched the sheriff, wondering why his father had ended up in jail if that was the case.
“So why did Trav have to bail him out of jail?” Zane asked, sounding just as confused as Ethan felt.
“He didn’t,” Sheriff Endsley stated.
“We never said he bailed him out, you dipshit,” Sawyer groaned. “We said he had to go pick him up.”
“Same difference.”
“I wasn’t arrested, boys.” Curtis leaned forward in his chair and glanced around the room. “Regardless, I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t use my behavior last night as a guide to how to handle a situation like that.”
“You hit him?” Jared asked, a smug smile on his face. If Ethan had to guess, his cousin was impressed.
“Jimmy threw the first punch,” Travis intervened quickly. “Who knew Dad could move that fast?”
Ethan felt his father’s eyes on him, and he couldn’t look away.
Curtis sighed before explaining further. “Your mother and I have taught you not to judge people. You don’t look down on someone else, and by God, you don’t have the right to decide what is right or wrong for anyone else. That’s where Jimmy went wrong. His actions have hurt a lot of people. He should’ve been punished long ago, and maybe he’d have had some time to sit and think about how his actions affected others.”
What was his father talking about? There was no way he could know what had happened. Could he? Ethan glanced over at Sawyer, anger and betrayal boiling deep in his gut. How could he tell their parents? No one was supposed to know.
“You sound as though you’re talking about something specific,” Brendon stated.
Ethan didn’t look at Brendon. He didn’t look at anyone but his father. Please don’t say it has anything to do with me.
“Bren, it’s not my story to tell,” Curtis said. “If and when the time comes, then I promise you’ll understand.”
Ethan felt the heat of Beau’s body behind him, and he was the only reason Ethan didn’t make a run for it. That and he’d have to walk to his house because they’d arrived in Beau’s truck. It wasn’t because he was comforted by Beau’s presence, although there was that. But because he knew he wouldn’t get far. Beau would come after him and then he’d be forced to face the fact that he’d put his family in this situation.
It didn’t seem to matter that he had tried to protect them all these years. He had still failed.
BEAU WAS CONFIDENT that his confusion was written plainly across his face. Based on what he’d learned from Ethan, Curtis shouldn’t know what went down with Jimmy Reardon. Of the men standing in the living room, only Sawyer would’ve been privy to that information.
For clarification, he wanted to ask Curtis for the whole story, but he knew this wasn’t the time or place. And he didn’t really think it would make much of a difference anyway, but he could sense Ethan’s emotions. He could see the way his shoulders deflated and knew he was taking on the responsibility for everything that had happened although he couldn’t have possibly been to blame.
Then again, humans were often strange like that. Taking on blame even when things were out of their control.
As the group disbanded, Beau stayed behind, waiting for Ethan. When he realized Curtis was trying to get Ethan’s attention, Beau snagged Ethan’s arm and then motioned toward the eldest Walker before attempting to sneak out the back door to wait outside.
“Beau, wait.” Curtis’s booming voice thundered through the house, and Beau came up short, much as he had when he’d been a kid and he and Zane had been caught doing something they shouldn’t have been doing.
“Yes, sir?”
“I want to talk to you and Ethan. When everyone leaves.” Curtis’s voice was low, as though he didn’t want the others to hear.
Shit. This couldn’t be good.
“I really need to get home,” Ethan said sullenly, his eyes never making direct contact with his father’s.
“Tough shit, boy,” Curtis replied in his usual growling baritone and then followed Jared and Sheriff Endsley to the back door.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Ethan groaned, his hand balling into a fist at his side. “I’m not fucking ten years old. I don’t need my father talking to me. It’s not his fucking place.”
Beau placed a hand on Ethan’s arm and wrapped his fingers tightly around his strong bicep, not letting loose when Ethan tried to pull away.
“You don’t know what he is going to say. Give him a chance.”
Ethan glared at him, and Beau knew he was overstepping, but he didn’t know what else to do. It wasn’t like they could just walk out. Curtis would just demand they come back and then they’d feel more like children than they did already.
“Sit, boy,” Curtis said to Ethan, motioning to the couch in the living room as he moved around to his recliner.
Beau was uncomfortable, desperately wanting out of this, but the look Curtis shot his way said he needed to be there, so Beau followed Ethan around the couch and dropped to one end while Ethan occupied the opposite.
Curtis addressed Ethan directly, and Beau wished like hell the couch would just swallow him whole. He knew Ethan would hold it against him if he witnessed any sort of reprimand from his father—especially if the past was involved.
Then again, if Curtis was about to lay into Ethan, then he wasn’t sure he could sit by and not say something.
“I’m not gonna get in your business,” Curtis began. “I’m not here to ask questions or even suggest that you talk to me, but I am going to inform you that should you need me, I’m here.”
Beau noticed when Ethan’s body tensed, his hands fisting in his lap. Did he want to talk to his father? It wasn’t a bad idea. He wasn’t sure whether Ethan felt any relief whatsoever after sharing his story about what happened because they hadn’t spoken another word about it. The last couple of days had been strangely comfortable, almost soothing. They’d spent alone time together, much of it being naked, and Beau was under the impression Ethan had wanted to bury his pain, and Beau would offer himself to Ethan for that purpose as long as Ethan wasn’t hiding from him.
Would this change everything? Would all their progress be reduced to a couple of days of mere memories? Beau couldn’t handle that any more than he could handle hiding what he felt for Ethan.
“Why’d you do it?” Ethan asked, shocking Beau with his question.
God, he didn’t need to be here for this.
“Do what?” Curtis asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing one ankle over the opposite knee.
“Jimmy. Why’d you let him antagonize you?”
“I didn’t let that bastard do anything, Ethan,” Curtis answered roughly. “Let me let you in on a little secret. I’m just as human as you are. Things get to me. I let Jimmy get to me long before he did what he did last night.”
Beau watched the exchange between father and son, reading between the lines. Even if Curtis didn’t admit it, he knew what had happened to Ethan—what Jimmy had done. How could he not? He was Ethan’s father. Coyote Ridge was a small town, and surely Curtis and Lorrie would’ve been worried about one of their kids if he disappeared off the grid for longer than a day. Ethan had to know that, right?
“Thanks.”
Beau’s head snapped in Ethan’s direction. Had he just thanked his father for beating on Jimmy Reardon? Of course, thanks were probably in order because the man wasn’t going to stop until he realized exactly what his actions had caused. Not that this would slow him down any.
Curtis nodded, effectively ending the conversation in that subtle way he did that left anyone who knew him wanting to open up and tell him their deepest, darkest secrets. Curtis never pushed, never questioned, never made you feel weak. But he damn sure made certain you knew he was there if you needed him.
Beau envied Ethan in that regard. Curtis was exactly the opposite of his own father. He just hoped Ethan didn’t take that for granted because from what he’d learned in his life, that relationship between father and son was rare.