Chapter 29 #2
Maybe the guys should kick me to the curb. They deserved to know what kind of monster lived among them. What sort of man touched their little brother.
“Hey, Flynn, did I miss a call?” Holden answered, chatter and laughter in the background. “It only rang once, so I wasn’t sure—”
“I caught Snake at the junkyard,” I rasped hoarsely. “You need to send Dalton.”
“Fuck, okay. Is he restrained?”
“No, but the dogs have him covered. So do I. He’s not going anywhere.”
“All right, sit tight. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
I disconnected the call and shoved my phone in my pocket.
“It’s done,” I said.
“So are you,” he snarled, eyes burning with hatred. “I told you, Flynn. If I go down, you go with me.”
The brothers arrived five minutes later, and sheriff’s deputies five minutes after that. I didn’t have to sit in that junkyard with Snake for long, but it felt endless anyway. My head spun with his threats.
I knew he’d make good on them, even though they wouldn’t save him. He was vindictive. He’d want to hurt me, and this was the best way to do it.
All I could do was try to get ahead of it.
When the guys arrived, the dogs took off to go greet them, Taz leaping eagerly out of my arms to follow his pack.
Snake’s eyes darted around, looking for an escape, but I kept a firm grip on his arm and dragged him to his feet.
“It’s not too late, Dozer,” he said urgently as I dragged him forward. “I could get away. It wouldn’t be your fault. It’s for your own good!”
I tuned him out, unwilling to listen. I couldn’t let that poison get into my head. If I wanted a life with Bailey, the guys had to know everything.
This wasn’t how I wanted to confess my sins, but running wasn’t an option. Setting Snake loose to rob the guys later wasn’t either.
Axel came into view first, face grim, Gray and Holden behind him. Shiloh and Emory brought up the rear.
“Oh, good, the gang’s all here,” Snake crowed. “Oh, wait. Where’s the cute piece of ass that Flynn’s fucking?”
“Shut up,” I growled, giving him a shake. “Don’t talk about him.”
“Okay, geez. Relax. I just thought maybe your boyfriend would want to hear the news first.”
“What news?” Gray asked, voice guarded.
Snake grinned viciously. He was going to tell them. No stopping it. So I did the only thing I could do.
I stepped in front of the bus.
“I went to prison for killing a man.”
Gray blinked in surprise. Holden whipped his head toward me. Surprisingly, it was Axel whose eyes flashed.
“You what?” he barked.
I swallowed hard. “That’s what Snake wants to tell you all. I went down on a manslaughter charge.”
“What the fuck?” Axel demanded.
My throat closed up. The anger in his voice, the betrayal, was exactly what I’d feared for so long. They wouldn’t understand like Bailey had. Hell, he really shouldn’t have understood so easily. His heart was just too big.
They’d see me as a threat—and rightly so. I’d nearly hit Snake tonight. Nearly ended him for talking shit about Bailey.
Sirens sounded, pulling everyone’s attention away from my ill-timed confession.
“Axel?” Dalton called out from the darkness.
“We’re here!” Axel jogged toward the front of the junkyard and his sheriff boyfriend. Judging by the sirens, Dalton had brought backup too.
Gray turned to Holden. “What now?”
Holden shook his head. “Now, we let the sheriff do his job.”
“Aw, c’mon,” Snake said, a vicious glee in his voice. “Don’t you want to hear all about how Flynn killed his own fucking stepdad? Don’t you want to picture how that might have happened? He did it with his bare hands. He’s so fucking strong. You don’t want to be around if this man loses his temper.”
“It’s not how he’s making it sound,” I said urgently. “I didn’t mean to—”
Snake talked over me. “He’ll take one swing and fucking kill—”
“Shut him up,” Holden snapped.
I thought he was talking about me, but Gray surged forward and clapped a hand over Snake’s mouth. “Shut your dirty fucking hole about Flynn. He’s one of ours. You hear me?”
Snake’s eyes widened in surprise, but no more than my own. I’d been rehearsing my goodbye speech in my head, and Gray was…defending me? He didn’t even know what had happened yet.
Gray glanced toward me, gaze catching mine. “We know you, Flynn. Whatever happened in the past, we know you now. Don’t forget that.”
My chest squeezed hard, and to my horror, a wounded sound escaped me.
“Shit,” Holden muttered. “Shiloh…”
Gray pulled Snake away, marching him toward the authorities. To my shock, Shiloh came forward and wrapped his arms around me. “Shh. It’s okay. We’re here for you. The guys don’t turn their backs on the people they love. Don’t you know that yet?”
“Love?” I whispered hoarsely, watching Holden over Shiloh’s shoulder.
“Isn’t that what you keep telling me?” Holden said. “You love Bailey, right?”
“Yeah, of course, but…that’s not…”
I pulled away from Shiloh. I didn’t even know what I wanted to say. Why weren’t they yelling? Why weren’t they telling me to get the hell out of here?
“I’m dangerous,” I said. “I didn’t tell you about my conviction, even though I’m seeing Bailey. You must want to kill me.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not fucking happy this is how we’re finding out. You should have told us before you got involved with Bailey. I’ve got a lot of things to say about that, but—”
“Stop!” Bailey’s voice cut through the darkness, and he emerged a minute later, Axel and Gray behind him.
“Bailey?” Holden asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I just got to town, and I saw all the sheriff’s cars headed out here. But that shit doesn’t matter.” Bailey came to my side and jutted out his chin. “I love Flynn. He’s a good man. I won’t stand by and let you condemn him!”
“I’m not—”
“He protected his brother!” Bailey insisted, cutting off Holden’s words. “You’d all do the same for me, wouldn’t you? If someone was hurting me? He’s not a killer. He’s a protector.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it,” I said quietly. “I committed a crime. I went to prison. I’m not a hero in this story.”
Bailey turned. “But you are. You’re a hero in my story.”
My chest grew tight, and I drew Bailey close, burying my face in his neck, touched beyond words that he’d fight for me like this.
I didn’t know if his brothers would see it his way, but it meant the world that he’d try.
“You’re the hero in ours too,” Holden said finally.
His voice was quiet, but it carried on the wind, firm and unyielding.
I lifted my head, stunned. “What?”
“You stopped that asshole from robbing us,” he said. “Hell, you warned us about him from the start. You’re loyal, Flynn. You had our backs.”
“Even when he had leverage on you,” Gray added. “You could have let him go, and we wouldn’t have known.”
“I couldn’t do that,” I said. “He’d come back.”
Gray nodded. “Still, it took guts to face us, to own that truth.”
Axel crossed his arms, eyes bright and angry. “You could have told me. Why didn’t you trust me, Flynn? I thought we were like brothers. I told you we were fucking family!”
My breath caught in my chest. Shit. The betrayal on his face damn near killed me.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped. “I was going to tell you. All of you. I just…I was waiting for the right time.”
“And what about Bailey?” Axel challenged. “Did you tell him before or after you—”
“Before!” Bailey cut in. “He told me before anything happened, and before you ask, he tried to warn me off. I just wouldn’t listen.”
“That tracks,” Holden muttered.
Bailey leaned in against my side, squeezing me tight.
“I’d trust him with my life. That’s the truth.
You can all trust him. You already have.
This doesn’t change anything. If you think it does, you can fuck right off because I’m not going to stop seeing him.
Ever. And I won’t let you drive him away. You hear me? If he goes, I go.”
“We hear you, brat,” Gray said. “Calm down. No one is running anyone off.”
Holden nodded in agreement, expression too neutral to read.
Axel was anything but neutral, though. He still looked pissed as hell. Of all the brothers, I thought he’d be the one who’d take the news easiest. Maybe he would have if I’d told him weeks ago. I’d let it wait too long. I’d known, deep down, that I should trust them with the truth.
I’d been a coward, too afraid to act, and now they’d found out in the worst possible way.
“I’ll go check with Dalton for an update,” Axel said, voice short. “He’ll probably want the video footage for evidence of B&E.”
“Make sure they charge him with animal endangerment too,” I said. “He tried to poison the dogs.”
“What?” Axel growled, dropping to his haunches to examine Sugar. “Did they eat any? Why are you just now telling me?”
“I got here in time,” I said. “They didn’t eat anything. But there’s a piece of tainted meat a few feet that way. I kicked dirt over it, but I can’t promise they won’t eat it.”
Axel turned on his flashlight and started sweeping it in arcs over the dirt as he moved.
“They did try to take a few bites out of Snake,” I continued. “Sugar helped take him down after he tried to jump me.”
“Lucky the deputies got here,” Axel growled, “or I’d kill that asshole myself.”
Our eyes met, a sudden arc of understanding there. Axel had spoken casually. He wouldn’t have really killed Snake. But if he’d hurt his dogs, he’d have wanted to.
“Pretty sure Dalton prefers to keep you out of cuffs,” Holden said dryly.
Shiloh added, “Outside of bed anyway.”
Axel snorted. “How did my stick-in-the-mud brother end up with you?”
Shiloh smiled. “We both got lucky, I guess.”
Axel chuckled. “Yeah. Guess so.” He flashed me a dark look that said he didn’t think Bailey was so lucky.
The flashlight beam slid over something shiny. “What’s this? A knife?”
“Oh, yeah. Snake tried to use it on me. That should be good for assault too, right?”
“Oh my god,” Bailey said, sounding sick.
“I’m okay,” I said.
“He could have hurt you!”
“I’m fine. Not a single cut. I promise.”
Bailey wrapped himself around me again, tighter this time, and I held him to me. Axel watched, a frown creasing his brow.
“We should probably leave it there for the deputies to collect,” Holden said. “Axel, when you find that tainted meat, take it to Dalton. Then tell him where to find the knife, okay? We’ll head up to the house so we don’t trample evidence. Flynn can give his statement there when they’re ready.”
“All right.” Axel glanced at me, looking conflicted. “Thanks for protecting my dogs.”
“I love these guys,” I said. “I’d do anything for them.”
He nodded once and went back to his search.
He wasn’t ready to forgive me. I wasn’t sure I deserved it, anyway.
Axel had opened his heart and his home to me.
He’d been my biggest ally with the brothers.
I’d worked with him for weeks, just the two of us in the junkyard, before moving over to the shop, and all the while, I’d kept something from him.
“I really screwed up with him,” I murmured, mostly to myself.
Bailey heard me and reached for my hand. “He’ll get over it. Trust is a touchy subject with him, but I know how much he likes you.”
“I hope that’s enough.”
“It will be,” Bailey said, eyes on my face. “We’ll make sure it is.”
Gray sighed. “It’s been a hell of a night.”
“And it’s not over yet,” Holden said grimly, turning toward the front of the junkyard. “Come on. Let’s go get it over with.”
Bailey laced our fingers, holding me tight as we followed.
A ball of lead sat in my stomach. I hated that I’d let Axel down. Hated that I’d had to sideswipe the guys like that instead of telling them on my own terms.
But I was so damn grateful to have Bailey’s hand in mine. To have a huge heart like his beating for me, fighting for me.
With Bailey by my side, I’d never truly be alone.