Chapter 12 Cas
Cas
My head is banging, and I go to roll onto my side to get up when I nearly topple off the couch. I slowly heave myself up to my feet and I'm faced with my wife sat in the armchair. Getting home is a blur but the time before I left the house is clear enough I remember every second.
The destruction I caused last night has been cleared away and by the time I set eyes on my wife, she’s walking out of the room.
“Babe?” I call out leaning back on the couch for a clear view down the hall.
She grabs her purse and swings open the front door. It swiftly closes behind her and I’m left alone.
Shit, this is bad. I should chase her down and clear the air but the thought of moving fast makes me want to vomit.
My phone rings and rather than deal with Alannah’s anger, I pat down my pockets and answer the call from Trevor’s Towing.
“Cas?”
Clearing my throat, I grunt, “Yeah?”
“What do you want me to do with the motorcycle?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I ask, “What are you talkin’ about?”
He explains, “I’ve got a wrecked motorcycle off the side of the road. I'm pretty sure it’s one yours.”
“Bring it to the club and I'll get you paid.”
The call ends and I slip my phone into my back pocket as I stand.
In the kitchen, I pour myself a coffee before heading outside.
The heat is stifling already, and I put my coffee down on the porch rail.
I shrug out of my cut and take my t-shirt off before putting my cut back on and picking up my coffee again.
Using my free hand, I take out my smokes and use my teeth to pull one free.
Lighting it, I take a long pull and will the nausea to go the fuck away.
Sparky is parking up when I turn the corner and he nearly stumbles off his bike, though the bottle of tequila is held tightly and safely in his hand.
My brother wouldn’t waste a single drop, even if he was paralytically drunk.
Out of the two of us, he’s always been the more sensitive one. I'm not the only one hurting over our fallen brothers, but it sure feels like it when he’s not around.
While he stumbles his way over to me, I scope out the garages and only mine and now Sparky’s bikes are here. It could belong to any of the sons.
“Bonnie let you ride drunk off your ass?”
“Fuck knows, she made me sleep on the couch last night. I left before she got up. Though I had a dream that Bonnie was on the phone with Lana and telling her everything was gonna be okay.”
“Probably not a dream, brother. I… I got wasted last night down at Josie’s. Don’t remember much about it but I’m pretty sure your boy got me home. Alannah ignored the shit out of me this morning and left the house without a word.”
“She did?” I nod. “That don’t sound like her.”
“I got into it with Leo, she walked in and split us up.”
“Shit’s been tense, it was bound to happen.”
Trevor drives in and my heart palpitates when I see Leo’s bike tied down.
Tossing my coffee, I rush over and climb on the back of the truck and find it scratched, the right mirror hanging off, and the handlebars twisted.
Trevor, pushing his sixties and as grey as an eighty year old, climbs down from behind the wheel and dabs the sweat from his forehead with a dirty rag.
“You didn’t see Leo around?”
“No, no one was about. Looks like he skidded out, tire marks on the road.”
If it was an accident, Leo would have called for help. I have no missed calls but then again, he probably wouldn’t have reached out to me last night for help.
Taking out my phone, I call Leo and get his voicemail. I try again though I know it will be useless, and I'm again, met with his voicemail.
Sparky leans against the truck, swigging the tequila. Brushing past him, I instruct, “Put that down and get everyone here.”
Making my way over to Leo’s, I let myself in and find JJ and Gunner at the kitchen table having their breakfast.
“Is Leo here?”
He shakes his head. “Unless he crept in after I got you home last night.”
Moving to the bottom of the stairs, I yell, “Holly!”
After a couple of attempts, she appears at the top of the stairs with my grandson in her arms.
“Is Leo up there?”
“No, he hasn’t been home all night.”
I nod, keeping my face straight. I won’t tell her anything until I have facts. She doesn’t need the worry if it turns out to be nothing.
“Jay, I need you outside.”
He wraps up breakfast and takes Gunner upstairs to Harper. I wait out on the porch and light a cigarette. I try calling Leo again, but again, I get his voicemail.
The door opens and closes and JJ comes to stand beside me.
“I’m surprised you’re up this early.”
“Leo’s missing.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
“Trevor found his bike half fucked out on the main road, and his phone keeps going to voicemail. When was the last time you saw him or heard from him?”
“Not since yesterday.”
“Fuck.” Inhaling deeply on the cigarette, a rush of smoke exhales. “Ya dad’s calling everyone in. Shouldn’t take long, we’re low on numbers around here.”
“It’s not the time to making digs about Leo, Cas.”
“I ain’t, I’m stating facts.”
We walk around to the bar and JJ gets on the phone, getting Leo’s voicemail just like I warned him he would.
“Maybe he headed into town, maybe he was hurt and called for an ambulance?”
Arching my brow, I get what he’s doing but he’s wasting his breath. We both know it.
“You know Leo as well as I do, if he went to the hospital, he would have called. He definitely would have called Holly.”
“If Hopper has got to him…”
“Let’s wait till we know more before we jump to conclusions.”
Though it too has crossed my mind.
There's still no sign of Leo when the sons start riding in. I walk into the bar and slide onto a stool.
“Get me a bottle of water,” I order the prospect.
I gulp it down as soon as it’s in my hand. The twins are first to walk in, followed by JJ and Sparky.
“Where’s Zachery?”
Sparky shrugs. “Didn’t answer his phone.”
I don’t know whether I’m glad or not Zachery isn’t here. Though he wasn’t biologically Slade’s son, Zach’s face is a stark reminder of the guy we’ve lost.
Turning my attention to the sons, I ask, “Have any of you seen or heard from Leo today?”
Heads shake. No one has seen my son, and I start to regret last night. Where the fuck is he?
“I want everyone out looking.”
“If Leo had an accident he would’ve walked back here,” Myles murmurs more to himself than to any of us.
“Which means someone, and by someone, I mean Hopper, must’ve taken him,” Mason pipes in.
Flashes of Oak fill my head. I squeeze my eyes shut to get rid of him. Leo is not Oak. Leo will come home.
“His bike was found out on the main road, start from there and see if you can find anything.”
With my instruction, they get ready to leave when my phone rings and Leo’s name fills the screen. The knot in my gut begins to loosen.
“Wait!” I order the sons and answer the phone. “Where the fuck are you?”
“Ah, Castiel. Since I've got my hands on the monkey, I can now deal with the organ grinder, perhaps we can get down to business.”
Hopper.
The call ends and a picture message comes through. I'm on my feet, staring at a photo of my son, his hands tied behind his back and tape slapped across his mouth, in what looks like the back of a van.
I call him back but yet again, I get Leo’s fucking voicemail. I pointlessly try again and want to throw the phone hearing his voice kicking in telling me not to leave a message.
JJ takes the phone from me and grunts once he’s seen the picture. He passes the phone to Mason who in turns passes it to Myles.
“We should hit the road,” JJ snaps. “We start from where Leo’s bike was found and go from there.”
Myles hands the phone to Sparky and says, “Let’s go.”
“No,” I bark out.
“What the fuck, Cas? We know Hopper has him, that’s our starting point,” Mason argues.
“None of us has heard from Leo since yesterday, Holly said he hadn’t been home all night, which means they have at least twelve hours on us. They could be at least six hundreds miles away.”
“Or they could be hiding in town somewhere,” JJ argues.
Ignoring them all, I grind out, “He called and sent a photo. He’ll call back.”
JJ kicks at the nearest chair and it flies across the bar. “You want us to wait?”
I nod. “That’s exactly what I fuckin’ said.”
Myles clears his throat and says, “Shouldn’t Jay be making the calls, since he wears the VP patch.”
Narrowing my eyes, I take a step toward him and then stop. “Have any of you been in this situation before?”
“I mean, not this exact situation, but we’ve all been through shit.”
“Leo is my boy and until we get him back, you listen to me. You got a problem with that, keep it to yourself.”
The little shit shuts his mouth and hangs back.
“Shouldn’t we at least call Luca and the Dog City chapter in, bump up our numbers?” Mason suggests.
“I’ll deal with it.”
Luca is better situated in the city. Willow’s Peak was my responsibility for nearly thirty years and now it’s Leo’s. Luca’s responsibilities are in the city.
“Hopper’s irrational,” Sparky mutters quietly. “It might be a good idea to hunt them down.”
“He’ll call.”