Chapter 2
TWO
brINLEY
Three Hours Earlier
“You can’t be serious.” I chased behind my younger brother as he stormed down the hall and into my room.
“I’m very fucking serious,” he grunted as he ducked into my closet and pulled my suitcase from the back and tossed it onto my bed.
With a huff, I stopped in the doorway and crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, I’m not doing whatever this nonsense is you’re asking me to do.”
I was no stranger to cleaning up Dereck’s messes. They tended to be careless and bountiful.
But this one?
Not a chance.
“Told you I owe this guy a favor, and he called it in,” he said like that answered every single one of my questions. The most he’d given me was a grunt of the man’s name.
Dereck unzipped the suitcase, flung it open, then turned his back on me as he clomped over to my dresser.
He might have been trying to act casual, but I knew him better than anyone, which meant I knew he was lying.
“A favor?” I challenged, disbelief in my voice.
“Yup,” he grunted back as he snatched a giant pile of shirts from a drawer then turned and dumped them into the suitcase with total disregard for what I was supposed to pair them with.
As if that was my biggest problem with all of this.
“I have a job, Dereck. I can’t just leave.”
“You’re going to have to put in for vacation or sick time.”
Was he serious?
Worry threaded with the anger. “What, do you owe him money or something?”
Irritation billowed up. It was the typical culprit. Dereck getting himself in deep at every turn.
Drinking.
Betting.
Losing jobs left and right.
I shifted away from him, scratching at the furrows creasing my brow as I tried to gather myself.
To stop the anger and fear from bursting free.
It was my job to take care of Dereck.
It’d always been.
Unfortunately, that task was often more painful than I wanted it to be.
Annoying at times and excruciating at others.
But underneath it all, he was a good guy.
I inhaled a steadying breath, then exhaled as I began to speak. “Listen, we’ll figure it out. Whatever you owe him, I’ll get it handled.”
How, I wasn’t sure.
But we always managed.
Dereck shook his head, his shaggy brown hair hanging limply in his face, his jaw going taut as he shoved a few more things into the suitcase. “The only way to handle this one is to do what I say.”
It was right then that I noticed his tall, lean body appeared frailer than it normally did. The bags under his eyes darker and deeper.
Dread twisted my stomach.
“Is this guy…?” Bile rolled up my throat as worry took over, and I moved from the doorway to his side. My hand was soft as I set it on his forearm. “Is this guy threatening you or something?”
It wouldn’t be the first time Dereck got himself in that kind of trouble, and my insides quaked with the memory.
I gritted my teeth against the vision and forced myself to focus on what was going on right then.
Yeah, he made mistakes.
But he was human.
Made up of blood and flesh and soul.
And he was my brother. The one thing I had.
I would never allow any harm to come to him.
Dereck huffed out a gush of air, seeming to contemplate, then he whirled fully toward me and grabbed me by the outside of the arms.
He gripped on tight as he angled closer.
“Please, just do what I’m asking you, Brinley. Just this once. Then I promise you that this is going to end. I’m going to get myself together and you won’t have to worry about taking care of me anymore.”
He squeezed a little tighter when he rushed, “I am going to fix this. So please, do this one thing for me.”
My throat thickened as fear crawled through my being. “What are you fixing, Dere?”
For a moment, I swore that his golden eyes that were the same color as mine flared with guilt.
Then they went cold and flat.
“Just repaying a debt,” he said like it was no big deal as he turned away, moved to my closet, and hauled off a row of dresses.
While sickness curdled my stomach.
“You’re paying a debt with me.” The words were thin. Not a question.
“Do you remember what happened last time?” I heaved it out. Apparently, the skeleton I normally kept locked at the back of my closet, the thing that hovered in the air but we never talked about, had been given an escape route with Dereck dragging out my things.
With his back to me, he froze. Hair lifting at his nape. “It’s nothing like that, Brinley. Nothing.”
Guilt oozed out with it, then he seemed to shake it off and grumbled, “Whatever you might want to have over the next couple of weeks, I suggest you get it packed.”
Was I a doormat?
A pushover?
Nothing but a dumpster?
You know, just go ahead and pile all your trash on top of me.
Because here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of my brother’s car as we traveled through the desolate forest. Winding higher and higher up a mountain.
A blur of trees blinked by as we sat in uncomfortable silence.
My bags packed in the trunk and my heart beating a manic rhythm out ahead of me.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. That I let Dereck talk me into this without him giving me any real details.
It only made it worse that he was a bottled stir of anxiety, continually glancing in the rearview mirror like we were running away from something rather than heading toward something terrible.
But no matter how hard I shook him, he just wouldn’t crack. Refusing to offer anything else during the two-hour trip we’d taken.
“If you’d just tell me what’s going on…” I finally released into the suffocating tension.
“Would you just leave it, Brinley?” The words stabbed the air like little daggers.
I let go of a sound of disbelief. “You got me wound up in something that I don’t understand, involved in paying back a debt that I don’t know the cost of, and you want me to just leave it?”
He glanced over at me.
It was the first time I really saw what he was feeling.
Fear.
Blatant and etched on every one of his features.
So distinct it nearly pinned me to the side of the door.
“I need you to trust me. Just this once,” he forced out.
Trust him?
God. He’d broken my trust so many times that I wondered if he understood what earning it meant.
He knew what it cost me.
The wounds that had been gouged and gashed into my being.
I shoved it all back down where it belonged, refusing the flashes of memories that wanted to inundate my mind, then I shifted forward in my seat when we suddenly broke out of the woods.
A town was sprawled out below. Nestled in a little valley up high on the mountain.
The single two-lane road ran right through the middle of it.
We passed by a sign that read:
Now entering Crimson Creek
Est 1832
It was a lovely little town with quaint buildings painted soft white with colorful accents. Some roofs were spired, others flat or pitched.
A mishmash of shapes and sizes and styles.
The sidewalks were brick and had these gorgeous planters with flowering shrubs situated in front of the shops and restaurants.
It looked like a place I’d love to visit if it didn’t feel like I was being marched to my execution.
Dereck drove directly through then made a left at the end of the main drag onto another two-lane road that wound up a hill.
On either side of us were family neighborhoods with small homes sheltered in the trees.
About a mile farther, the road curved to the right and the houses gave way to industrial buildings.
A cement business and a scrap yard.
A roofing company and a two-story building with what looked like commercial offices.
My brother’s agitation amplified as what appeared to be a freshly painted sign came into view.
Torque & Talon Autobody Shop
He slowed and took the left turn into the lot, easing his car through a big iron gate that sat wide open. The entire place was surrounded by these massive walls that made it feel like we were entering some kind of fortress.
There were a few automobiles sprinkled about the edges of the lot, and an enormous metal building sat in front of us. It had a lobby door on the right and four bays to work on cars on the left.
But it was the men leaning against the wall that sent my stomach toppling to my feet.
Two giants slung casually against the wall like they were simply waiting on their prey to slink right on by so they could reach out and nab it.
Both wearing coveralls that were unzipped and rolled down to the waist. White tees that had seen far better days underneath.
The thin fabric stretched over their muscled frames, and tattoos covered every inch of exposed flesh.
There was just something about the look that sent my attention racing.
Calculating as Dereck came to a stop in front of them.
Motorcycles.
There was a row of them on the left side of the building.
All glinting metal and dark leather and bad intentions.
It didn’t take a whole lot to add it up.
Rage boiled to the surface.
I whirled toward Dereck, and I let the disgust pour from my mouth. “Bikers? Are you freaking kidding me, Dereck? Great. Just freaking great. I don’t know what the hell you’ve gotten yourself into, but this is—”
“They’re good guys, Brinley,” Dereck gritted, cutting me off, his knuckles white as he clamped down on the steering wheel.
“Oh, I’m sure they’re law-abiding, upstanding citizens.”
Panicked terror flickered inside me. Rather than succumb to it, I let the anger flood it. Gasoline tossed on a live wire.
“If you think for one second I’m gonna allow myself to get passed around like some kind of meat, then you have another thing coming. Because I can assure you that’s not going to happen.”
“I already told you, no one will touch you here.” It was close to a growl.
“You’re damn right they won’t.”
Incited by the fury, I tossed open the door and jumped out.
I ran smack into a wall of heat, basically giving myself whiplash as I slammed into the intensity.
A stark intensity slammed into me and kicked my heart into overdrive.
The offender?
The guy on the left who had pushed from the wall.
He had that type of energy.
Casually cool but far too keen.
Laid-back but oozing a ferocity that warned you’d do well not to mess with him.
In a flash, I knew he was king.
“You.”
Crap. Had I just seethed that out loud? It probably wasn’t the best move.
But damn it, he needed to know I wasn’t about to go along with whatever he was up to.
Wasn’t about to stand for however he was planning on manipulating my brother. However he was going to use me against him.
Or maybe his only intention was to use me to punish him.
Not gonna happen, buddy.
“Me?” He basically mouthed it, like he was confused by the accusation.
“Yes, you.” I let the words drop like stones.
The man beside him, who was this hulking heap of muscle, chuckled as he lifted a beer bottle and drained the golden fluid, wryness flitting through every grooved line of his features as he mumbled, “Told you so.”
The king only smirked like the two of them were sharing an inside joke.
I wanted to smack the amusement right off his ridiculously handsome face.
And when I said ridiculous, I actually meant terrifying.
Warm brown hair that was shorter on the sides and longer on top whipped around his razor-sharp cheekbones.
It sat at odds with a plush mouth that was clearly created to whisper the most decadent of lies.
His nose straight and his jaw chiseled.
He looked like Heaven and Hades had a baby, but the wickedness won out.
I heard Dereck’s door creak open then close softly.
The man shifted his attention to him for the barest moment.
In it, I saw a thousand things flash through his expression.
Hatred.
Disgust.
Fear.
The last one I didn’t get because I was certain this man was accustomed to everyone bowing at his feet.
He took a step forward, and I swore the ground trembled below, the muscles of his arms flexing and bowing over the black, shadowy designs that covered every exposed inch of skin as he clenched his hands into fists.
It drew attention to a crow in full flight with a skull hanging from its talons that he had tattooed on the back of his left hand.
I tried to conceal the shiver that rolled through me as I took him in.
I didn’t want to let him see me shrink.
But it was hard to hide when there was no mistaking his big body was nothing but a weapon. Not quite bulky but rippling with the type of strength that looked like it could strike you from a mile away.
A flash of lightning.
“Brinley,” Dereck all but choked. “This is Silas Mercer. He’s the one I told you about. The one you’re going to be staying with for a little while.”
Silas’s hazel eyes glowed, and another one of those smirks lit at the edge of his wickedly sexy mouth. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, gorgeous, but I’m pretty sure the sentiment would not be returned.”