13. Delilah #2
“What’s wrong with your arm?”
“I cut myself. Can you stitch me up real quick? Like you used to?” Hazel eyes, the same as mine, stared at me from under the brim of Colin’s hat.
“I haven’t done that in years. If you need help, you should go to the hospital.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Colin’s jaw clenched as he tightened his grip on his arm.
I looked for a truck or car. “How did you get here?”
“I had someone drop me off.”
“Great. So not only did you come back after you swore to stay away, but now your asshole friends have been here, too?” I thrust my hands through my hair.
I had to get Colin out of there, and fast. Before Dad or one of my brothers came by.
“Let’s go inside. I’ll put on a pot of coffee, and we’ll figure out a way to get you out of here before someone sees you. ”
“I don’t want to stay away anymore. I’m ready to come home.” Colin didn’t move but stayed as still as one of the beams holding up the porch.
The fact my brother had the balls to stand there after everything he’d put the family through made me see nothing but red. “Get your ass in the house or I’ll call the sheriff’s department. I’ve got enough info on you to put you away for a good long time. Is that the way you want this to go down?”
“No. I need to figure out what to do.”
“Don’t say another word until you’re sitting at my kitchen table.” I cast a glance around, not trusting my brother that he didn’t have someone watching us from the woods. How had the best night of my life suddenly turned into the worst?
Colin shuffled his feet, eventually following me through the front door. “Can you leave the dog outside?”
Buster had followed us in, continuing to growl.
“I’ve never seen him act like this.” I glanced back at my brother, then motioned for Buster to go out front.
I grabbed a clean rag and tossed it at my brother, then threw a pot of coffee on to brew.
By the time we finally sat down at the table, two fresh-brewed mugs of coffee between us, I gritted my teeth and gave my older brother a long, hard glare.
“Show me what you did to your arm and tell me what the hell you’re doing back.” I’d pulled the small sewing kit my mom had given me from a drawer. It had been a good long while since I or Colin had stitched each other up, not that either one of us had ever been very good at it.
Colin lowered his arm, revealing a deep gash on the underside of his forearm. “I didn’t mean for things to go this way.”
“How did you manage to cut yourself?” The edges of the wound were jagged, not like he’d sliced it clean with a knife.
“Doesn’t matter. Can you put a couple of stitches in?”
“I can try but it’s going to hurt like a bitch.”
“Good. I deserve it.” Colin dabbed at the cut and tipped his chin toward the cabinet where I kept my whiskey. “Got a shot I can use to dull the pain a bit?”
I grabbed a bottle along with a short tumbler.
Colin’s hand shook as he downed the shot. He nodded and I cleaned out the wound, less concerned about being gentle than I was about making sure I wiped away all of the blood.
“Shit.” Colin made a fist with his other hand and bit down on his lip.
“Change your mind about going to the hospital?” I asked.
“No. Keep going. I need help.”
I shook my head. “Tried that once. As you’ll recall, it didn’t go so well.”
“It’s the dog-fighting ring. At first all they wanted me to do was move some money for them. But it’s gotten out of hand. Folks come in from all over. Big names, Jasper. I’m trying to get out, but I’m in too deep.”
“Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to go back to them after the last time I bailed you out of trouble.”
“I tried to get a job somewhere else. Nobody wanted to hire a guy with a record. What was I supposed to do?”
“Uh, stay clean, keep your nose out of trouble—you could have started with that.” I squinted as I threaded the needle I’d soaked in whiskey. Why now? Why did Colin have to show up when we had so many things riding on getting Ido named the most romantic small town in Texas?
“I tried.” He reached for his mug and took a gulp of coffee.
“What the hell do you want me to do?” I knotted the thread.
“Dad’s struggling to hang on to the orchard.
The whole town’s trying to schmooze a beauty queen who’s here to judge the Most Romantic Small Town in Texas contest. I’ve kind of got my hands full already without taking on your bullshit as well. ”
“I’m sorry. I should have been here for you.” Colin scrubbed a hand over his face.
I took in a breath through my nose. “Here comes the sting.”
I pierced Colin’s skin with the needle, taking my time to try to make the stitches as even as I could.
As much as I wanted to help my brother, I’d been there done that so many times I could have written a sad country song about it.
Colin never wanted to change his ways, he just wanted help getting himself out of whatever hot water he found himself in.
As soon as the problem was solved, he’d make all kinds of promises he never intended to keep, then go back to his old ways.
When I finished, I’d put twenty-two stitches in my brother’s arm. I tied off the thread and cut it. “Not quite as good as new, but it will do.”
“Thanks. And for what it’s worth, it’s going to be different this time.” Colin glanced up. Something odd shone in his eyes. For the first time in a long while, I found myself wanting to believe my brother.
“Hypothetically speaking, what the hell would you need me to do?” I asked as I cleaned off the needle and tucked everything back into the case.
“I’m ready to talk to Bodie. Tell him everything I know so he can finally catch those sick bastards.” Colin’s gaze didn’t waver. Either he meant it, or he’d gotten a hell of a lot better at bullshitting people.
“You’re telling me if I call Deputy Phillips and have him meet us somewhere, you’re ready to spill the beans on the whole operation?”
“That’s right.”
“What about Mom and Dad?”
“What did you tell them before?”
“I told them we had a fight. That you said as long as I was here, you wouldn’t set foot in the state of Texas again.”
“And they believed you?” Colin asked.
“Unlike you, I haven’t spent my whole life lying to them, so I guess they figured I meant what I said.”
“I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way.” Colin’s head hung low.
I had no doubt my brother meant it, at least for the moment. But what would he do when Bodie showed up, ready to take a statement? “If you’re serious about me calling Deputy Phillips, I’ll do it.”
Colin glanced up and ran a hand over his face. “Can we do it tomorrow? I haven’t slept in two days. Let me catch some shut eye, then we’ll call him when I wake up?”
“Give me your boots.”
“What?” Colin squinted at me.
“I can’t take the risk that you’re going to wake up and bolt out of here.
” I didn’t know much about how my brother had been spending his time over the past few years.
But if I knew anything about him, I knew there was no way Colin would leave his handmade, custom boots behind, no matter what kind of trouble he was in.
“You’re an ass,” Colin said, already pulling a boot from his foot. “Can I crash here for a bit?”
“Sure. But I don’t want Mom or Dad to know you’re back, not until you talk to Bodie and figure out what’s going to happen.”
“That’s fair.” Colin leaned over and set his boots next to his chair. “How’s everyone been?”
“All right. Twister took out most of the orchard in August. We’re trying to rebuild. Might focus on turning the barn into an event center while we replant.” It was no use reminding my brother if he’d made different choices, he’d know how things were because he’d be part of making decisions.
“Dad’s heart doing okay?”
“Yep. Mom’s still forcing him to eat more greens and less red meat.”
“I bet that’s going over well.”
For half a second, we shared a laugh. Reminded me of the good ol’ days, when the two of us used to shoot the shit over a beer or two every now and then. But that was before . . . before Colin had torn the whole family apart.
“You can take the bedroom. I’ve got to get up early anyway.” I drained my coffee and set the cup in the sink. Then I reached down and picked up Colin’s boots. “You don’t mind if I keep these close, do you?”
“Suit yourself.” Colin stood, a little unsteady on his feet. Looked like he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “Thanks, bro.”
I took one last look at the older brother I used to idolize as Colin shuffled past me on the way to the bedroom.
When we were younger, I didn’t just think Colin hung the moon, I thought he’d hung all the stars in the sky as well.
It was hard to watch someone I admired take a bad turn.
But here we were. And it was up to Colin to figure out which direction he wanted to take from there.
That’s what would matter.