“Don’t mention it. I’m just glad I could do something to help,” she smiled. A concerned look crossed her face as she pleaded, “Be careful, Cotton.”
“Always.” I stepped forward and gave her a tight hug before I said, “Take care of yourself, Sara. I expect to hear from you… soon.”
She nodded and watched as we loaded the plane, waving one last time before walking towards her car. Sara had really come through for us, and I was grateful. With her help, we were able to make it back to Washington before daybreak. When we walked into the clubhouse, Luke and Guardrail were waiting for us in the bar.
Luke immediately got up, walked over to me, and put his arms around me, hugging me tightly as he said, “Good to see you, man.”
“Good to see you too.”
He stepped back and smiled as he said, “Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep Mom from heading up there to see about you? She is not happy with you, bro.”
“Didn’t figure she would be, but there was no point in her coming all the way up there.”
He laughed as he said, “Yeah, well, you try explaining that to her.”
“I’ll set her straight. Where’s Derek?” I asked.
Guardrail stood up and said, “Stitch has him in the back. He’s pretty bad off. Not sure how much longer he’s going to make it.”
“And Cass?”
“She’s in the TV room. Had a hard night,” he told me.
I knew I needed to tend to Derek, but he was going to have to wait. I needed to see Cass first, to see for myself she was really okay. Before I headed for the TV room, I turned to Guardrail and said, “I’ll be there in ten.”
He nodded as I walked out of the room and headed to find Cass. When I found her, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. She was curled up on the sofa, sleeping with her head on Clutch’s shoulder. I was only standing there for a brief second when he looked up at me. He didn’t move, just sat there, holding my Cass in his arms. I knew they were close. They’d been friends since the day she started working in the bar, but there was something different in the way he held her.
My chest tightened in anger as I looked at him holding her close. I wanted to jerk him up off that sofa and rip his fucking throat out, but instead, I walked out. I’d lost her, and I had no one to blame but myself. I needed time to think before I acted; I had learned that much. I stood outside in the empty parking lot, breathing in the early morning air, and tried to clear my head. Then the back door opened and there he stood. I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Clutch. I could feel the uncertainty radiating off of him.
Without turning to face him, I asked, “How long?”
When he didn’t answer, I turned around and said, “Dammit, Clutch. Answer the goddamn question! How long have you been in love with her?” I pushed.
I watched as he considered what he was going to say, and I could see he was struggling. Finally, he answered, “Honestly, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with her.”
“Fuck,” I roared.
He took a step forward and looked me right in the eye as he said, “I’ve never crossed that line, Cotton. You should know me better than that. I followed the orders I was given, and I was a friend to her. That’s it.”
“Fuck,” I growled. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was following orders. As I always do. None of the other stuff matters. You saw the way she looked at you. We both did. She loves you, Cotton. Only you.”
“Does she know?”
He shook his head and answered, “No. She has no idea.”
Before I had chance to question him further, Guardrail opened the back door of the warehouse and said, “Everything okay out here?”
“Yeah. On our way inside,” I told him as I stepped forward. When I walked inside the warehouse, my brothers were surrounding Derek, who was bound to a chair in the middle of the room. His head was slumped down with his chin resting on his chest, and he had two bullet wounds to the chest. I noticed the pool of blood beneath him and quickly realized Guardrail wasn’t exaggerating when he said he didn’t have much time left.
I walked over to Derek and grabbed a fistful of his hair, jerking his head back to face me. His eyes blinked open, and when he saw me, an evil smirk curled across his face. He took a struggled breath and mumbled, “I was wondering when you’d show up to the party.”
“You’re not looking so good, cousin,” I smiled and released my grasp on his hair.
His eyes roamed over me, stopping when he saw the cane in my hand, and said, “Could say the same about you. Looks like I need to work on my fucking aim.”
“Among other things. But you’ve been pretty fucking clever. How in the hell did you survive the crash?”