Page 87 of The Bad Brother

Cade’s my friend.

Probably the best friend I’ve ever had and he’s family. Him. Sera. Colt. Their parents. Tank didn’t just leave me a bar and an old pick-up when he died.

He left me a family.

But Cade is Cade, which means he’s an asshole most of the time and I made a mess of things, so while he might be done being mad, he’s gonna make sure I don’t forget it.

“I’m in love with her.” It’s about the dumbest thing I can say but I say it anyway because it’s the truth and I know that above all, trying to make it right is something that Cade can understand.

“Yeah.” Sitting back on a tired sigh, Cade’s shoulders slump. “I know. But if you don’t figure out a way to tell her before Ethan gets ahold of her, I don’t think it’s gonna matter much, one way or the other.”

THE ONLY THINGS I KNOW ABOUT ORTONRedford, other than his sketchy medical history is that he’s fifty-six years old, his daughter is one of Colt Montgomery’s deputies, and that whoever attacked him tried very hard to kill him.

Patient is a fifty-six-year-old white male smoker with multiple laceration and puncture wounds to the chest, back and abdomen.

So far, I’ve repaired a lacerated liver, removed a ruptured spleen, closed multiple intestinal punctures, and patched four arterial bleeds. One of the stab wounds nicked his right lung. Another came to within a half inch of his left atrium, which tells me the most important thing I know about Orton Redford.

He's lucky to be alive.

… Billy found him, laid out in the dirt between his shop and the house…that poor boy. Reese too, after losing their mom that way…

Deb’s husband was on call last night when it happened. Tank Barrett’s truck was set on fire… they’re thinkin’ who ever attacked Red is the one who did it.

Things like this don’t happen here. They just don’t… I hope Colt finds whoever did this and puts him away, quick.

I listen to the nurses and surgical techs gossip around me while I work, concentration zeroed in on my hands and the tools I’m using to repair the damage done to the man I’m standing over. Delicately probing Mr. Redford’s intestines, I make sure I didn’t miss anything before I call it good and close him up.

“Who’s Tank Barrett?” I ask without looking up while I check to make sure the arterial patches are holding. Everything looks clear. His pressure is stable and there is no evidence of new blood in the thorax.

For a second, no one answers me. While I’m friendly with my surgical team and they all seem to like me well enough, they’ve come to expect nothing from me beside laser focus and quiet concentration when we’re in a surgical suite. I’m not one of those surgeons who plays music and likes to chat while I’m operating. I prefer to focus all my attention on the task at hand.

“Uhhh…” I can feel them exchanging looks above my head. Three of the four nurses on my team live in Barrett, but only one of them grew up here. She’s the one who answers me. “Tank was Penny Montgomery’s brother but he died a few years back. He used to own The Mill before he left it, and just about everything else, to Jensen Pryce.”

For a second, it doesn’t register.

None of the words floating above my head make sense.

And then they do.

“Jensen?” I say his name carefully. Like maybe we aren’t talking about the same Jensen after all. “You mean JensenBarrett?”

“One in the same,” she says while my eyes blur and my hands start to shake. “My husband played football with him in high school and?—”

Jensen is a creeker.

I knew that.

Figured it out, all on my own.

But he’s not just a creeker.

He’s a Pryce.

He’s Ethan’s brother.

Because you knew Hanna’s name and my brother hates me enough to send someone across the river to open me up with a razor blade, Peach…

“Dr. Gaines,” I say, stepping away from the table. “Close up and prep Mr. Redford for transport to recovery.”

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