Page 109 of The Bad Brother

Using the hand still wrapped around the steering wheel, I show River three fingers.

Seventy-five yards.

I show her two.

Fifty yards.

I show her one.

Twenty-five.

I drop my last finger and grip the steering wheel.

Now.

River’s door swings open and she disappears, a split second before the deafening bark of a gunshot echoes through the closed space of the car. I jerk the steering wheel and accelerate, my own door still firmly closed.

Please let River be okay. Please...

“What the fuck?” Ethan shouts, lunging at me from the back seat of the car. I feel his arm wrap around my throat from behind, anchoring me to the seat, the hard press of a gun digging into my side. “Stop,” he screams in my ear while I drop a hand away from the steering wheel to fumble it into the pocket of my scrub pants. “Stop right fucking now or?—”

Pulling it free, vision swimming from fear and lack of oxygen, I lift my stun gun, pressing it to the forearm gripped around my neck, the sizzling crackle of it warm against the side if my face, the last thing I remember before we slam into the tree.

ISTAND ON THE FRONT PORCH OF THEMill, heart pounding in my chest while I watch Sloane and River make their way home on my phone screen. They’re moving slowly, heading east on Riverfront, toward the bridge. The speed indicator on the app is set at thirty miles an hour. Ten under the speed limit on Riverfront. Sloane is driving slowly on purpose. Trying to buy them as much time as she can. Maybe hoping that Colt will catch up and pull them over before they get here. If that’s what she’s hoping, she’s in for a disappointment. Reese is Colt’s only deputy and she’s standing watch over her father. If Colt is still at the hospital like Cal said, he’s not going to be much help.

He's been calling me every few minutes. Probably wants to tell me not to do anything stupid. That he’ll find them. Bring them home safe—I just have to trust him. Be patient.

He doesn’t know what I know.

That they’re on their way here and there is no such thing as safe for anyone as long as my brother is still alive.

It’s something I’ve been avoiding for a long time. Something that Tank would’ve tried to talk me out of if he were here. I’ve let my brother make my life a living hell. Literally let him get away with murder and even after what he did to Lyla Strong, I let him keep torturing me because at the root of it all, he was still my baby brother and as long as no one else got hurt, I told myself I could take it. Maybe even that I deserved it.

You get in this truck, you get in alone because you can’t start over with a heart full of hate and you can’t be better with their bullshit dragging you down. Whatever happened to get you here, stayshere.You gotta let it go, kid.

That’s what Tank said to me the day I was released from prison. The day he brought me home and made me a Barrett and I’ve been trying. Every day, I’ve tried to put it behind me. Let it go. Move on. No matter what Ethan did, I tried to live my life in a way that would make Tank proud.

But I can’t do that anymore.

Because Ethan isn’t just hurting me.

He’s hurting my family.

He’s hurting the woman I love and I can’t let that happen. So, I guess I’m just going to have to settle for being glad that Tank isn’t here to watch me do what comes next.

Standing here, I watch while the little blue dot on my phone screen crests the bridge. They’ll be here in a few minutes. I don’t have much of a plan. Employing Cade means I can’t keep any real weapons on the premises.That leaves me with the baseball bat I keep behind the bar and Tank’s old hunting knife stuck in my boot.

The little blue dot on my phone screen slows to a stop at the base of the bridge while Cade’s name flashes across the top of it. Rather than close the app, I answer the call on speaker phone.

“Colt’s been calling,” he says by way of greeting. “He’s leaving the hospital now and headed your way.”

Shit.

“Tell him not to bother,” I say calmly. “I’m not at the Mill.”

Cade makes a rough sound in the back of his throat that says he knows I’m lying. “Where are you then?”

“Driving around, looking for them,” I lie smoothly while the blue dot on my screen decelerates slowly. They’re less than a mile away now. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

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