and force my feet to lead me to my seat at the table in the center of the room. My eyes stare, following the natural waves and swirls of the wood grain, tracing the endless pattern as though it’s a maze I need to figure out so that I can move on.
A wave of exhaustion hits me with the force of a battering ram and I sag into my seat. Around me, my brothers have grown silent. When I raise my head, I’m surprised to see their focus on me.
Priest straightens in his high back chair. “I told them you were the one that called for the meeting,” he says, “we’re just waiting for you to tell us what’s going on.”
As I nod to each of my brothers, I realize Demon is missing.
“Where’s Demon? Shouldn’t we wait on him?”
An uncomfortable silence settles between us. Do they realize what’s happening? Do they even care? Confused and annoyed, I question Priest.
“How long are we going to let this go on?” I demand. “He’s our fuckin’ brother and he’s dyin’ right before our eyes.”
The pain that lances through my chest is reflected on their faces and I feel like a dick for bringing it up, but Demon’s been a loose cannon for years. A ticking bomb that’s finally reached its final countdown. And God help anyone who stands in his way when it explodes.
Bullet grimaces and tosses his cell onto the table. “I called him a few days ago. He didn’t answer. He also turned the tracking off on his phone. His last location was about four hundred miles south of here.” He crosses his arms over his chest.
My eyes fly to meet Priest’s. Fuck. Four hundred miles south would put him well into New Mexico and reaching into US border territory. I don’t know what business he has there, but it can’t be good. “I know,” Patch starts. “We’re all worried.” Fuck his attempt to placate us.
I slam a fist on the table, furious. “You’re goddamn right we’re worried, Patch. Do you realize what’s four hundred miles south?” I don’t give him a chance to answer. “The fucking border. Now I don’t know what the fuck he’s doing down there, but it does not bode well for him, or for us.”
“Angel’s right,” Priest interrupts. “We’ve been failing him for a while now. We’ve all seen him drifting. There’s no denying that. When he comes back… we’ll step in.”
I love Priest to death, but can he fucking hear himself right now? “If he comes back,” I mumble. I receive three hard glares, but I ignore them and throw my arms up. “What? We’re all thinking it!”
Bullet slaps me on the back of the head. “Yeah, but you don’t have to say it out loud, dipshit.”
Well, fuck. Maybe I didn’t, but I once heard that a sin whispered is a sin committed, so you may as well say that shit out loud. Whispering is for pussies.
Priest scrubs his hands down his face before he cuts in. “Can we get back on topic now?” He clamps his eyes shut for a short second. “Teagan has a back tooth coming in and she’s been sleeping like shit.”
Bullet grins. “You always say things that make me so thankful I got the boys after they’d gone through those stages.” He looks so damn proud of himself, like he orchestrated it to be that way, and I can’t help but knock him down a few pegs. “Until you knock Holly up. Then you get to experience every shitty moment firsthand.”
Bullet turns a lovely shade of baby vomit green, and Priest has his own laugh followed by Patch mumbling something about being thankful for small mercies. Their voices grow louder as the three of them discuss the pros and cons of babies and toddlers, and which of them has it easier. After much debate, it’s decided Patch is the winner of the ‘I got this kid at the perfect age’ award.
Conversation dies down, and again the focus is on me and my stomach knots.
“Rhys, one of my bartenders, came to my office today. He had some concerns about Malcolm.”
The flash of distaste on my brothers’ faces only stands as affirmation that Malcolm has been walking a thin line with each of us for some time.
“Are they concerns that need to be addressed immediately?” Priest asks with an air of authority.
I nod. “The first matter is that Malcolm has been short-changing customers. Rhys said it depends on the degree of the