18. Dax
DAX
“ T hat was… exciting,” Travis said.
I laughed. “Yeah. That’s about the welcome I expected.”
“Maybe I should wait out here.”
“No, he wants to see you. He would’ve made it very clear if he didn’t. He doesn’t worry about social niceties. You might’ve guessed that from him stepping out with the rifle.”
“I guess he doesn’t have a lot of visitors way out here.”
“No, which is another reason he’s suspicious of any that come along. They’re either very lost, or they’ve come out with a purpose.”
“What if someone is just lost, and he shoots them?”
I shrugged. “It hasn’t happened yet.”
Travis followed me into my brother’s house.
House was really too generous a word for it.
It was a shack with no indoor plumbing and only a living area with an extremely rudimentary kitchen tucked in the corner and a closet-sized bedroom.
He had as much money as I did—and I suspected he did work he wasn’t telling us about that brought in plenty more—but this was how he chose to live.
Maybe he really did like it better, but I felt like he was punishing himself.
“Things are better with your brother now?” Ambrose asked Travis.
He nodded.
“Did you finally tell them how Rob treated you and how you wanted to get away from him but you couldn’t?”
My eyes widened as I stared at my brother, and Travis looked as confused as I was. “How the hell did you know that, and why the fuck didn’t you tell Beau if you knew?”
Ambrose held up a hand. “I know now. I didn’t know when it first happened.”
“Why didn’t you tell Beau when you found out?”
Ambrose shook his head at me like he found me disappointing. “Because it’s Travis’s story.”
I thought about how I’d said the same damn thing. If Ambrose had known when Travis was still with Rob, that would be different, but if he’d found out recently, then I had to admit he’d done the right thing.
Ambrose looked back and forth between the two of us. “What’s going on here?”
“LePlatt sent one of his?—”
“No,” Ambrose said. “You told me about that in your message, and I’d already heard the rumors.”
How Ambrose got as much information as he did when he never left the bayou was something I still didn’t understand. There were people who thought I could perform miracles, but my abilities were nothing compared to what my brother could do.
“I want to know why you’ve brought Travis here.”
I reached for Travis’s hand, and he threaded his fingers through mine. “Because I’ve sworn to protect him no matter what.”
Ambrose grinned. “You know he’s had a crush on you since he was, like, twelve.”
Travis made a strangled sound, and his cheeks grew adorably pink. “I… um… I never thought Dax would feel like that about me or that I would feel the same about him after all this time, but when he offered to help me after that morning in the bayou, all of it came back stronger than ever.”
Ambrose smiled, but I could see there was pain behind it. “So Travis is it for you?”
I nodded.
Growing up it had always been just me and Ambrose.
Neither of us had ever had a best friend or a girlfriend or boyfriend.
No one was more important to either of us than we were to each other.
Now there was someone for me, someone I wanted to be part of my life every day, someone I cared deeply for.
I wasn’t sure how he was going to take that.
“So…” Travis looked from me to Ambrose, obviously feeling the tension. “Are you okay with this, with us being together?”
I squeezed Travis’s hand and prayed Ambrose wouldn’t say something hurtful.
If he said something to me later in private, I’d be okay.
I just didn’t want him to make Travis feel like he was coming between us.
Years ago, I would’ve known Ambrose wouldn’t do something to hurt Travis’s feelings, but he was way more unpredictable now.
“I think you’re perfect for each other.” I stared at my brother. Had he really said that?
“Really?” Travis asked.
Ambrose smiled, a rare thing for him. “Yes, I do. I always thought you might get together when Travis was old enough, but then he and Beau left, and?—”
“I behaved like an idiot,” Travis said. “I thought I needed excitement. I was ready to do anything to escape from Beau bossing me around.”
“You were manipulated,” I reminded him. “You were young and vulnerable, and Rob took advantage of that.”
“But he was able to do that because I was angry with Beau, which was stupid. Beau had sacrificed so much for me.”
I started to speak, but Ambrose held up a hand.
“That’s true, but it doesn’t make you a bad person.
You had little chance to explore anything as a kid, and Beau did everything he could to change that.
Neither of you were in a good position, but no matter what happened between the two of you, no matter what you would change about how you treated Beau, what Rob did to you makes him the worst kind of fucking scum.
He should be glad he’s dead because I can only imagine what Dax and I would do to him if he were alive. ”
It had been so hard on Travis to tell me about what Rob had done, but he truly looked like he felt better afterward.
Now, though, he practically lit up. He understood what it meant for Ambrose to give us his blessing and tell Travis he wasn’t to blame for what happened to him. He knew Ambrose didn’t mince words.
I hadn’t heard Ambrose speak that much in years. It meant a hell of a lot to me too, and it helped me have hope that, given more time, my brother might become the man he was before he ran off and joined the army.
“Thank you,” Travis said. I know you always say what you mean.”
Ambrose nodded. “That’s never changed. So now that we’re clear on why Travis accompanied you here today, tell me how I can help bring this son of the bitch down.”
I told Ambrose everything I’d learned from Jean-Charles. “Do you have any info that can help us narrow down the location where they’re making transfers?”
Ambrose frowned. He seemed to be thinking.
“Not offhand, but I’ve got people who can look into it.
I’ve heard about this sheriff, though. He came here from Baltimore.
He thinks he can change how things are done around here, but he’s never going to succeed.
I have no idea how he got elected in the first place. ”
“Normally I prefer to keep my distance from cops, but we might be able to use him.”
I nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. The enemy of my enemy and all that shit.”
“Exactly.”
“Wait.” Travis held up a hand. “You think this guy would work with us?”
I nodded. “Law enforcement works with criminals all the time as long as they’re getting the bigger fish.”
Travis looked back and forth between me and Ambrose. “You’re the Theriots. Are there bigger fish?”
Ambrose grinned. “There are ones that are more easily caught and look damn fine on your resume.”
“We’re old school,” I explained. “We’re diversified. We have our connections established, and we know how to not get caught. LePlatt is already on plenty of people’s radar, law enforcement and others who’d like to eliminate him and make way for their own ventures.”
“So you really think this guy might work with us?” Travis asked.
“Possibly.”
“If not, then what?”
Travis’s worried expression made me want to pull him into my arms.
“Then we evade him and take care of the problem on our own. We’re more than capable, but if we can keep ourselves from fending off law enforcement on one side and LePlatt’s people on the other, this will be a lot easier.”
Travis smiled. “Yeah, I see that.”
“I’ll see what I can find out about the location and do some scouting,” Ambrose said.
“Shouldn’t we try to get this sheriff on our side first?”
“He’ll never know I was there.”
I smiled at my brother’s confidence. He might’ve stopped participating in society after he came back home, but he hadn’t lost any faith in the skills that had gotten him into a special forces unit and that he’d continue to develop while he was in the desert.
He’d always been able to melt into the bayou and make his way around.
Nothing scared him, not gators, not the half-feral people who lived out there, not the criminals who used the terrain to hide.
Travis looked concerned, and I patted his thigh. “He’ll be fine.”
“I’ll let you know what I learn.” Ambrose pushed back from the table. “It’s time for a toast.”
I looked at Travis with unease. It was tradition any time I came to see Ambrose that he forced me to endure the moonshine he made.
I was absolutely sure the stuff could revive the dead.
It burned all the way down and just kept burning, usually until I passed out.
I was more than happy to forgo the ritual, and I was worried Travis might be uncomfortable with the whole situation.
He wouldn’t want to refuse something Ambrose offered him, but?—
Ambrose set three bottles on the table. They were standard brown beer bottles, not the mason jars he stored his moonshine in.
“Ginger ale,” he said. “It’s homemade.” He popped off the lids and set one in front of Travis and one in front of me.
Travis gaped at him. “How did you know?”
“I told you, I listen when people talk.”
That hadn’t changed either. Ambrose had always learned things by being quiet.
I’d never had anywhere close to his level of patience.
When I wanted to know something, I demanded the answers.
There were times for each of those methods, and I missed getting to work side by side with my brother the way I had before he’d left. “Since when do you brew ginger ale?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been making it for years.”
“And you’ve never offered me that. Instead, you make me drink that foul moonshine.”
He laughed. “It keeps you strong.”
“It keeps me disgusted. You know there are better things to drink.”
Ambrose ignored me as he held up his bottle. “To the two of you and to giving LePlatt what he deserves.”
I fought back tears as our bottles clinked. I took a sip and realized the burn of the ginger was nearly as potent as the burn of his moonshine.
Travis coughed and waved his hand in front of his mouth. “You didn’t tell me it was”—he paused to cough some more—“lethal.”
Ambrose grinned. “I like it spicy.”
He drained his bottle, but Travis and I only made a small dent in ours. After he was finished, Ambrose rose to take the bottles to his wash basin. “The two of you should stay here for the night.”
The invitation surprised me more than the ginger ale. “I thought you didn’t believe in overnight guests.”
“I don’t believe in any kind of guest, but you’re not a guest. You’re my brother.
” Damn him for bringing me close to tears.
I needed to remember to thank Remington for insisting we talk to Ambrose in person.
I glanced at Travis and saw him smiling.
He knew what I was feeling, and if anyone would understand the significance of Ambrose’s offer, it was Travis.
What had come between me and Ambrose wasn’t something he or I had done, but Travis knew the pain of losing the closeness and comfort a brother could provide.
Having apparently had enough conversation and certainly enough sentiment, Ambrose rinsed the bottles with a jug of water he kept by the basin. “See you in the morning. Breakfast is at first light.”
When he closed the bedroom door behind him, I could tell Travis was trying hard not to laugh. “He’s so…”
“Fucking insufferable?”
“Not exactly. It’s like he’s the same as he used to be, just magnified.”
I considered Travis’s observation. “He’s ruder, more difficult, more abrupt.”
“I heard that,” Ambrose called.
Of course he had. “Well, it’s true.”
“Fuck off and go to sleep.”
Travis glanced around the room, then mouthed, “Where do we sleep?”
I held up a finger, telling him to wait. I opened a cabinet that was hard to see if you didn’t know about it since it faded into the wall. Inside were sheets and blankets for the couch bed.
I stripped down to my underwear and Travis did the same. He almost fell over getting out of his pants because he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me. I ate up every bit of the attention.
Travis looked nervous as he climbed into bed with me.
“Is something wrong?”
He glanced toward the bedroom, then whispered. “Your brother is right there.”
“My brother knows I’m not a virgin.”
Travis covered his mouth as he laughed. “Yeah, but?—”
“He knows you’re not one either. “We’re adults. You’re mine, and you’re sleeping in this bed with me.”
“Sleeping.” Travis emphasized the word.
That had been my intention until he said it so definitively. Right then, I decided I didn’t care about Ambrose’s proximity or how well developed his hearing was. Travis and I were both coming before we went to sleep.