Regret and pain speared me, going right through my sternum.

I should’ve been a better friend.

Hell. I should’ve been a friend.

I’d been lost in my own world, the one where I was not thinking about my dad.

Tab yelled at me months ago for not being a good friend. She was right.

She was talking, “...He threatened my dad.”

“You heard it?”

She was nodding, but said for Channing, “Yes. He said, ‘Pay up or we’ll hurt your wife and kid.’”

Thud!

All of us whipped around. Jordan was leaving the room, a hole in the wall where he’d been standing.

Aspen’s mouth turned into an O. Blaise shifted her to the couch, easing out from under her. He shot Cross a look before heading after Jordan.

Now that was interesting, but Cross stayed put. So did Zellman.

“I don’t want to know what that was, and since I’m not hearing any screams, let’s move on. Sweets, what exactly were the words used?”

She was still looking in the direction Jordan had gone, out through the kitchen and into the backyard. “Um.” She was blinking again, shaking her head. “Oh. He said what I said, but when my dad started to get upset, he said, ‘If you don’t pay, we’ll put your wife in the hospital.’” That was it. My dad got quiet after that, and I left the room. My mom’s been sick this summer. They’ve been running tests on her to find out what’s going on, but she can’t take any more stress. And I don’t know what he meant by it, but nothing can happen to my mom.” Her voice started rising, shaking.

I shifted on my feet, feeling a pull to go to her, but Aspen was on her feet, heading for Tabatha before I got there. She didn’t know Tab, but it didn’t seem to matter. She stood next to her, taking Tabatha’s hand in hers and it seemed to help. Tabatha nodded, her eyes closed, and she spoke again, her voice more firm, “I’d met Tim Harper, Junior, a few times. I knew he liked me, and I knew that his dad doted on him, so I thought I could date Tim, get him to call his dad off of mine.” Guilt flooded her face and she looked to where Jordan was outside. He was standing there, Blaise not far from him. The two looked like they were talking, or Blaise was talking and Jordan was listening, his hands in fists at his side. “I think it worked, but now the group knows and,” she couldn’t finish, her eyes finding mine. There was a deep plea in them, one I felt deep down, and was answering the pull before I even knew it. I was crossing the room, standing next to her. I didn’t hold her hand. That wasn’t the type of person I was, but I was there. I was at her side, and I spoke for her now, “There’s a room of guys in here who want to beat the shit out of Junior.”

Aspen said, “Blaise already beat him up once.”

Cross frowned, his eyebrows dipping. “Blaise asked to have first crack at Harper.”

Aspen’s mouth turned inwards. “Yeah. I think he really enjoyed it. He’d like to justify a second go.”

Channing chuckled from his end. “Jesus, that kid. Okay. Listen to me again. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with shit like this. Girl, stop putting yourself in the path. You’re just messing yourself up and hurting people who care about you. Harper, Sr. might have held off because of his kid, but I think you know that it’s not a long-term solution. I guarantee he’s probably waiting until at least Thanksgiving before delivering another threat anyway.”

Cross asked, “How can you guess that?”

“He’s using weaknesses. Thanksgiving is the next time his kid will be home. My guess is he’ll threaten Tabatha the week before, say he needs the money or he’ll have something happen to the girl. The wife threat will still be there, obviously, but he’ll just double down.”

“Oh, God.” Tabatha reached out, grabbing onto my arm. She just held onto me.

I turned, locking eyes with her. “He won’t touch you.”

“No.” Channing’s voice filled the room, firm and assertive. “He won’t. I’ve got guys and I’ve got connections. We’ll send teams out to start watching Harper’s goons. There’s only one team of guys he uses for jobs like this. We won’t let anything happen to you or your mom. You can hang up there, do whatever college kids do, and don’t get my sister in trouble. You hear me, Cross? That last one is for you. Bren doesn’t get arrested. It’s my rule. She goes to jail and I’m hunting your head.”

Cross flashed me a grin. “I got it.”

“Good. Okay. Bren, I’ll call later. You all just steer clear of Harper and wait until I let you know what’s happening on the adult end. Got me?”

Zellman asked, “Can we still hurt Junior?”

Cross shot him a look.

Zellman shrugged. “You know Jordan will go at him anyway.”

“I’m going to pretend I wasn’t asked that because I can never condone violence, not if I’m going to continue being an upstanding moral leader for my sister, who I don’t want arrested ever again.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cross leaned forward to my phone, picking it up. “We got you.” He ended the call and looked at me. “We’re going to find Harper tonight. Put an end to that shit from our end.”

I could feel Tabatha trembling, still holding onto me, and a darkness was moving inside of me.

It was the old Bren. The one I stuffed down, the one I thought had gone away. She was still there, but it was as if she’d been sleeping all this time. Now she was waking, and she was smiling, stretching.

She was getting ready.

I smiled at my boyfriend. “Sounds good to me.”

BREN

I was sitting outside at the patio table, alone.

Everyone left. Jordan took Tabatha for a drive, but I was assuming both would be back to stay the night here. Zellman got a call from someone and took off for their house. He was now resorting to quick text updates with a random name like this last one.

Zellman: Headed to Biff’s. Back later.

Me: Who the hell is Biff?

Zellman never answered. Neither did Jordan, because Zellman’s text was to the whole crew. The back door opened a minute later. Cross came out, carrying his phone in one hand and a drink in the other. He paused as the door closed behind him and looked up from his phone and then at me.

“Who’s Biff?”

I sighed, slumping down in my chair. “Fuck’s sake. How are we supposed to go and get him if we don’t know who Biff is?”

Cross shrugged, coming over to put his drink down. His phone went into his back pocket. “You want a drink?”

Did I? “God, yes.” I was suddenly parched.

“Be right back.”

“Where’s your brother?”

He didn’t look back, just motioned toward the street. “He and Aspen took off when you came out here.”

Huh.

My phone rang.

Channing calling.

I hit accept. “Hey.”

“Do I need to be worried about you over there in Cain?”

There would’ve been a time I would’ve hated hearing those words from him, would’ve felt he hadn’t earned that right to be worried about me. Now I accepted them, welcomed them, cherished them. Warmth spread through me, and I smiled. “I’m good.”

He was silent a second. “Fuck. I’m still going to worry.” He groaned on his end. “Anyway, I am assuming one of those dipshits is going to move on Harper’s kid. Don’t confirm or deny. I don’t want to know, but I’m letting you know that I’m assuming it. We’ll plan for it.”

He was doing what he did, taking care of people. It wasn’t a role Channing asked for, but somehow he took it on, and now it was just his to own. Everyone in Roussou knew it, too.

He sighed into the phone. “We’re going to watch Harper here as much as we can, so get the word out to our usual people. If he dispatches his team and they’re heading to Cain, you might need to owe a favor to your team there.” He kept going, “I don’t know your team that well up there. Brock has a good rep. He’s solid. Was military. Hawk’s known, too. Gramps and Bonnie have been around forever, so their rep is nationally known.”

Right. Not my usual crew, but my job crew.

He continued, “They’re known as tight-knit. Mostly a family group. Gramps and Bonnie hooked up later in their lives, but still, they’ve been together probably twenty years. Bonbon is nuts, so stay away from her if you can. She’s Bonnie’s daughter, and rumor is that she’s obsessed with Shetland. You’re staying away from Shetland, right?”

“As much as I can.” He and I hadn’t discussed any of them, not to this length, at least.

The door opened again, and Cross came out. Blaise was behind him, a cocky smirk on his face, as usual.

Cross frowned at the phone, but placed my drink in front of me, taking the seat next to me. Blaise pulled out the chair on the far side, sitting down and immediately lounging back, throwing one arm over the back corner of his chair.

I noticed he didn’t have a drink, and there was a restless edge to him. He was staring at the phone, too.

‘Taking stock.’ That’s what Cross said his brother did, and I was seeing it now. The cocky smirk was a mask, but there was a serious air to him. His eyes flashed to mine, and for a second, he looked like he knew he was caught. Then his smirk came on full force and he didn’t move. He didn’t say a word, but I sensed him transforming. He was pulling back, the mask being pulled more firm, more set, and then it was only mask.