Chapter 7
Brandt slowly drove his truck up the gravel drive leading from the highway to Kaid’s property, and the houses of all the older generation of their shifter clan.
But this time he was not headed to visit his parents, or even seek advice from Kaid.
This time he was actually reluctant to be there.
He parked outside Avaleigh’s and Daniel’s home, and took a minute to settle his nerves before he finally got out.
This was not a conversation he was looking forward to having.
As he walked toward the door, Daniel pulled it open.
“Hey, Brandt. How’s things?” Daniel asked.
“Ain’t gonna lie, they could be better,” Brandt answered.
The slight bunching of Daniel’s brows let Brandt know that Daniel had heard him, but instead of digging for answers, Daniel chose to let Brandt reveal whatever he’d come to talk about in his own time. “No baby yet?” Daniel asked.
“No, and she’s about ready to go jogging to get something to start happening!” Brandt said.
“It’ll happen soon enough,” Daniel said.
“Mind if I come in and talk to you and Aunt Avaleigh for a bit?”
“No, come on in. You want something to drink? You hungry? You know Avaleigh’s got food for an army in here.”
Brandt chortled a little. “Nah, I’m alright. Thank you, though.”
Daniel waited for Brandt to walk past him, then closed the door. “Avaleigh! Brandt’s here!” he called out.
Brandt could hear the clank of a spoon or a spatula against a pot coming from the kitchen.
“I’ll be right there,” she called. And true to her word, it was only a few seconds before she was breezing into the living room to hug Brandt. “Hey, baby! You good?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m alright.”
Avaleigh looked at Daniel, who gave her a little shrug. “Everything okay?”
Brandt sighed as he began to shake his head. “No. No, it’s not. That’s why I’m here.”
“What’s going on?” Daniel asked.
“I came here first because I owe it to the two of you to tell you what’s happening in private rather than spring it on you in front of everybody else.”
“Alright…” Daniel said, putting his arm around Avaleigh’s waist, the two of them standing together to face whatever it was that Brandt had to say.
“Is Remi alright?” Avaleigh asked quietly.
“He’s not injured, but he’s far from alright,” Brandt said. The expression on his face clearly conveyed the anxiety he was experiencing from being in the position he was in, but there was nothing he could do for it.
“What’s happened?” Daniel asked.
“He’s left the clan,” Brandt said.
“What?!” Daniel half-shouted.
Brandt raised his hands to signal that everybody stay calm.
“I don’t understand, Brandt! He was always proud to be a member of this clan! Why would he leave?” Avaleigh asked.
“He’s been struggling, Aunt Avaleigh. He’s found coping mechanisms that are just off the charts, and directly in conflict to the rest of us.”
“Like?” Daniel demanded.
Brandt sighed. “I didn’t come here to tell you all about his behavior. I just wanted to let you know before everybody else found out.”
“Brandt, I appreciate that. But I’m thinking you better start from the beginning and tell us everything. I don’t want anything glossed over to spare our feelings. I want to know what the hell has happened and why our boy isn’t a member of our clan anymore,” Daniel said.
“Let me just start by saying that I hope it’s temporary. I hope he pulls his head out of his ass and makes things right, but until then, I can’t have him the way he is.”
“Tell us,” Avaleigh said.
Brandt sighed and launched into the facts that brought him and Remi to have a face off.
“He’s drinking cases of anything he can get his hands on daily.
He’s only been to work a handful of times in the last month and when he does show up, he’s half drunk and gets there in time for maybe a half a day.
Tried to tell me that he’s been doing accounting instead of being at the work site, which is bullshit, I had Angelle pull up the sign-in log for me, and he hasn’t worked in the books for weeks. ”
“Do you have any idea how much alcohol it takes to get a Dragon drunk and then cause a hangover?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, I do. So, you see the problem,” Brandt said.
“He’s up all night blaring the music so loud he’s making the windows at his neighbor’s house rattle, and having different women at his house every damn day.
Which, the women, that’s his business, but the noise and shit all night long has to stop.
Christian lives on one side and Kiernan and his family on the other.
He’s waking the kids up all night, every night.
Keeping Kiernan and Shaun up all night, and they get up for work before six every day.
Christian comes home to get some rest between rotations at the hospital, and he’s just stopped coming home because there is no rest when Remi is partying all night.
Then lately he’s got with this girl that is just a problem from the word go. ”
“For example?” Daniel asked.
“I went to his house to drag his ass to work a couple of days ago. Almost noon and they’re still sleeping.
She is screaming and yelling at me. He’s pissed because I woke him up.
She’s threatening to sue me because I dared to trespass on ‘their property’.
I told him to get her off our property because the whole time I’m trying to deal with him, she’s screeching at me at how Remi told her to consider his house her house and how I have no right to be there.
I finally told her myself to get out before I put her out.
He tried to defend her, but I wasn’t having it.
Found out that she’s been intimidating Abby and the kids when she’s there.
Abby is outside in her own yard with the kids, who the hell wants to intimidate a young mother with babies?
Nothing physically threatening, just dirty looks and glaring at her and the kids.
And I’m sorry, no matter who it was, I’m not allowing that shit.
Not from a stranger, and certainly not from Remi.
Our people look to me for safety, and this little…
” Brandt stopped himself when he realized he was getting angry about Olivia again, and refocused.
“Anyway. She left, and Remi was angry. I told him about not taking care of his responsibilities and to get to work, and he just scoffed. He never did show up at work, but later on Vince called me and told me to come get him. He was falling down drunk at Vince’s and the customers were beginning to get uncomfortable. ”
“Jesus,” Daniel said, shaking his head.
“On the way to get him, I find Olivia walking on the side of the road. That’s the girl he’s hooking up with.
As much as I didn’t want to, I stopped and picked her up and took her back to town to drop her off, then went back to Vince’s.
Vince had been feeding him milkshakes for almost an hour to try to sober him up, by telling him they were alcoholic drinks.
By the time I got him home, he was angry and sullen but I tried to talk to him like a man.
Told him this girl was no good for him and she was bleeding him dry. ”
“How do you know that?” Daniel asked.
“She said in the truck that he owed her money for her bills, and some clothes, because he promised to pay for those things if she went to Vince’s with him, and since he said he would, he was now responsible for it.
He made me a signer on his account years ago.
The bank contacted me to let me know he was overdrawn.
Then when I tried to direct deposit his money into his account to cover it, the bank contacted me to let me know that the balance was still negative.
I told him that, and he said that wasn’t possible because he had it set up that if there was ever an emergency the checking account would draw from the savings account if needed.
I pointed out that that meant his savings was gone, too.
He mentioned that he gave Olivia a card, but he knew she wouldn’t do him like that.
Anyway, the whole point is that when I dropped him off, we had words.
He was pissed because he didn’t have his car — we left it at Vince’s because no way I was allowing him to drive.
He said he’d get Olivia to take him to get it, and I told him to have her pick him up on the highway because she wasn’t allowed on our property, and to have her call a locksmith, too, because I had his keys and he wasn’t getting them back until he sobered up.
I wasn’t about to leave his keys with him so he could drive in the condition he’s been in.
I should have taken them away from him before now.
Well, he got pissed and threw a rock at my truck, shattered the back window, and I lost my cool and got in his face.
We had words, and I asked if he was challenging me since he bowed up to me and shattered my window.
I told him to clean up his life or I’d remove him from the clan.
He said he didn’t want to be here anyway, he didn’t need any of us.
I told him to remember he made the choice, not me, and that he had three days to get off the property.
Then I hit him. I haven’t seen him since. ”
“You said you had words, what words?” Daniel asked.