Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SEBASTIAN
“ A sher?” Leena asks. “As in, Asher Campbell? Your brother?” She turns to Luke, but he doesn’t look at her. He just… stands there.
I know what he’s feeling.
I wish that I didn’t.
“Luke?” I ask, my voice softer than I usually use with him around others, but I don’t fucking care. Luke must notice, because it pulls him out of his shock and he looks up at me.
I watch as despair quickly turns to anger.
“Fuck!” he shouts, standing to run a hand through his hair, the towel barely staying on his waist. “Are you sure?” he asks Colton.
“The intel was solid on this one. I’m sorry,” Colton says, and I know he genuinely means that.
“Doesn’t he know this is fucking suicide?! No one leaves the Deck except in a bodybag. Especially when you’re goddamn leading it. How could he fucking do this to our family? To us? ” He waves a hand toward me. “We gave up the force getting him out of this mess the last time and now he pulls this shit?”
I watch as the man I care about falls apart. I need to do something.
Or maybe punch something.
Thankfully, Leena is better at this than me. She walks over and gently places a hand on his bare back. He turns into her, holding her as if she’s the one he lost, not his brother.
Because that’s just it. Asher is gone.
Luke squeezes his eyes shut, and I try to figure out a way to fix this entire situation. But there isn’t one.
I know there isn’t.
Luke holds Leena tighter as he slowly opens his sad eyes, his voice is barely above a whisper when he asks me, “How am I supposed to tell Ma? Dad? The girls?”
I clench my jaw. Because there’s no answer to that question.
I’ve been around Luke’s family for as long as I’ve known him. Holidays, birthdays, after school… I spent more time there than anywhere else, even before I was placed into the foster system. I know the Campbells better than my own family.
I know this news will break them.
“What do you want to do?” Colton asks, and Luke lets go of Leena, walking toward him.
“Right now I want to fucking drink. Give me the bottle.”
—
It was really hard to get drunk with all the water Leena kept bringing us, but we managed. I look over to where she fell asleep nearly an hour ago. She’s all curled up in the lounge chair behind us under a blanket, but we should probably get her inside soon.
I turn back to the guys. The three of us are sitting on the edge of the pool, our feet in the water, passing the bottle between us as we try to figure this shit out.
“I just–” Luke says, running a hand over his face for the hundredth time tonight. “I just don’t get it. I know I don’t talk to him as much as I should, I don’t stay in touch. But I really thought he was doing okay. I just wish he would have talked to me.” He takes another swig, then passes the bottle to Colton.
“Well, do you want to try and talk to him? Or… get involved?” I ask.
“No. We’re not getting involved, we’re not going there again. He made his choice, and now there’s nothing we can do. He can’t even get himself out of it now, so I don’t see the point in us trying to,” he says. “And I don’t care what war they’ve got going on, we’re staying out of it. We’re keeping Leena out of it.”
“Okay,” I agree immediately. If this would have happened two years ago, Luke would have wanted to go after his brother. Hell, I might have even talked him into it, but we have Leena now. We don’t want her mixed up in this shit again. Not when she’s finally out of it.
“Thanks for coming by, Colt. I appreciate it,” Luke says quietly.
“Yeah, man. Of course,” he says. We’re all silent for a long moment. “Do you mind if I…” Colton asks, swirling around what little is left in the bottom of the tequila bottle.
“You know where the spare room is.” I chuckle.
“Are ya sure? I’ve never gotten a DUI in a helicopter before. Could be a fun time,” he jokes. I roll my eyes.
“Hey, Colt, next time you decide to stop by, maybe call first?” Luke berates him, no doubt dealing with a similar case of blue balls as I am currently.
“What? Did landing my helicopter on your roof interrupt something?” He smirks, downing the rest of the bottle.
“Yes,” I grumble.
“Well tell me this, is there ever a time you’re not fucking?” Colton laughs.
I consider that for a moment.
“Probably not.” I snicker. Then I decide that my sudden good mood must be from the alcohol, and not because of how fucking happy I am that we get to fuck Leena all the time. That I get to fuck Luke all the time now too. That the three of us–
“Okay, time to put on some pants, big boy,” Colton says, pointing the bottle toward my lap as he stands. I look down.
He’s right, I’m getting hard.
I probably should’ve put pants on earlier. Or a towel. But I didn’t fucking feel like it.
As soon as Colton walks away, Luke’s gaze finds its way to my lap. He stares with a look that has my cock twitching.
“Well, that’s not going to fucking help,” I grumble, glaring at him before I stand, palming my dick to urge it the fuck down.
Colton wanders back over after throwing away the bottle and puts his hands on his hips, looking between us.
I glare at him, because he has this goddamn smirk that tells me he’s up to no good. I guess he’s always up to some shit, but I know it’s going to be extra stupid when he has this look on his face.
“Welp, I’m heading to bed,” he says, his tone chipper. Too chipper. He leans forward and back on his heels, stretching. Then, before either of us can do anything about it, he snags Luke’s towel. He takes off with it, laughing as he sprints into the house, a butt-ass naked Luke chasing after him.
I hear something inside the house break, several things, actually.
Leena’s going to be pissed.
Oh well. Their problem, not mine.
I smile when I hear their deep laughter, and hear more things break. I chuckle, then lean down to scoop our sleeping girl up into my arms and carry her to bed.