back with his arms loaded, carrying gauze and tape and alcohol among other things.
The door opened as he sat down on the couch next to her and started to work, and Dennis looked at them in horror. “That needs stitches.”
“And we’re going to get them,” Ethan said with infinite patience, not even looking up. “I’m just fixing her up long enough to get her out of town. Our in house nurse will take care of it.”
“Where are you going?” Dennis asked, closing the door and securing the lock and bolt in place. “She needs twenty-four hour protection.”
“I know,” Ethan replied. Brett held her breath as the alcohol stung, and she let them handle the conversation. She was on the verge of passing out. “We’re going north, and she’ll be at a safe house. I think it’s probably best if you come with us.”
Dennis turned to Brett in question, and she managed a nod. “The Devil’s Flames are here to support us, in whatever it is. So, whatever you wanted to tell me, you should probably tell us all.”
With a deep breath and a large sigh, Dennis relented. “I guess maybe I should’ve been a little nicer to you, bro. We’ve got a lot of shit to discuss.”
“Yes, we do,” Ethan agreed, rolling his eyes up to meet Dennis’s briefly. “But first, thank you, for getting her to safety. It goes a long way in earning trust with me.”
Dennis rubbed his head, and his shoulders sagged. “Believe it or not, I give a shit about Brett, just like I do about the club.” He turned to Brett. “Everything I’ve done has a purpose, and I hope you’ll see that. I’ve just reached a point where I know that if I don’t get some backup, I’m going to end up just like Martin. Swinging in the wind.”
Brett gulped. “He’s dead, Dennis. They found his body.”
She hadn’t expected to see pain and regret line his face, and she knew now that she’d pegged him completely wrong. “Jesus, Brett, I’m sorry. I loved that man, I really did, even when he did dumb shit.”
Brett nodded. “Me, too. Maybe we can work together to fix the shit that’s broken, and that will at least keep his memory alive.” She hoped so, anyway. She needed a resolution to present itself, and soon, or nothing would ever get fixed.
21
As much as he wanted Brett on the back of his bike, she wasn’t up to riding, so Ethan called in the detail he’d had on her to drive her up to the Devil’s Flames clubhouse. He and Dennis followed along behind on their bikes, giving Ethan time to ruminate on what a huge mistake he’d made, letting Brett go off alone. He was grudgingly grateful to Dennis, boiling in anger thinking about what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up. The idea that he would have been a few minutes too late had Ethan beating himself up.
But what the hell was Dennis doing? If he wasn’t at the center of everything that had gone wrong, who was? They had been so sure Dennis had either engineered or been involved in all these events, but that didn’t add up with him rescuing Brett. Sure, there was a possibility that he’d saved her because even he had a moral compass that didn’t allow for hurting women. But he’d threatened Brett in the past, so what game was he playing?
If he really had something to hide, would he be riding behind Ethan right now, ready to give them whatever information he had? Ethan couldn’t imagine him taking that kind of risk, even to feed them lies that would misdirect them, especially knowing that their private investigator would find the truth eventually. And Dennis’s reaction when Brett told him Martin was dead had been sincere.
As they finally neared the clubhouse, Ethan tried to find a modicum of calm energy within. He didn’t want to go in there half cocked, rile Brett up after what she’d suffered when she had to get medical care, or confront Dennis in a violent way. And in all reality, he needed to keep a cool head in front of the rest of his club. If he lost it, he wouldn’t prove anything about his sense of responsibility and ability to handle the situation.
He wasn’t surprised to find Rafe, Zeke, and Rocky waiting, with Leigh meeting Brett at the car and ushering her inside as quickly as they could move. Zeke rubbed his eyes and shook his