Page 18 of Bear

I glance at the nurse who hurries by, and the other people and patients roaming the hall, and I take my brother’s arm and lead him into the hospital chapel. It’s empty—thank God for small mercies, because if there’s one thing this town knows how to do it’s talk. Bobby Ray having a meltdown in the middle of our tiny hospital is bound to set tongues wagging. “What’s going on?”

“I’m in trouble, Juju.”

“Then you best tell me what kind of trouble before I strangle it out of you. Who was on the phone just now?”

“The bikers who shot up the garage.”

“What?” I frown. “Why would they be calling you?”

“Because I been moving drugs through the garage for them.”

I blink at my brother in surprise because there really isn’t any other response to that kind of idiocy. “How could you be so fucking stupid?” I lower my voice. “Through Kings territory? Through Daddy’s garage?”

“I know. I know.” He nods, and for the first time in my life, my older brother cries in front of me.

“How? How were you moving drugs through my shop right under my nose?”

“The guys from Atlanta would bring in a vehicle; the Bayou Bastards would too. I’d swap the packages from one car to the other. Complete a basic oil change or fit new brake pads so you didn’t suspect anything.”

“The blue Civic and the Ford Raptor?” I shake my head, unable to believe my idiot brother could have fucked us so badly.

“I’m sorry, Juju. I’m so fucking sorry. When they saw the Kings there, they just assumed I’d crossed them. When Grant got shot, I moved the drugs. I knew the cops would be crawling all over the garage and we’d all be screwed. But we missed the window for the exchange. Now both sides are gunning for my blood because they think I’m cutting in the Kings. I already told them I have the merchandise, but they no longer want it. They want me out altogether and if I don’t come up with the money for the drugs, they’re gonna burn the garage to the ground and come after me.”

Tears of exasperation sting my eyes and it’s suddenly hard to swallow around the lump in my throat, but I fight my emotions because if I don’t, we could lose everything. I almost lost a good friend and employee to these men. I could have lost one of my brothers. I’ll be damned if they’re getting anything else from me but the money my brother owes. “How much?”

“Seventy large.”

“Jesus, Bobby Ray. What the fuck were you thinking?” I pinch the bridge of my nose because I’m afraid I might pass out.

“I was trying to get the garage out of trouble.”

“What?”

“Aren’t you tired of scrimping and scraping funds at the end of every month just to pay the rent on that place?”

“That place was our father’s legacy.”

“Yeah, and now he’s dead, and we’re stuck with the debt that comes with it.”

I reach out and slap him. It’s instinctual, it’s wrong, but I’m so fucking angry I’m shaking. “Don’t you dare. That garage has kept you fed and with a roof over your head your whole life.”

“I was just trying to fix shit. Aren’t you tired, Juju? I’m so fucking tired of this town, of this life, of working my ass off day and night just to scrape even.”

“No one’s forcing you to be here, Bobby Ray. Jesus.” I shake my head. “Well, I guess that’s not true now, is it? Because if we don’t come up with the money, we’re all well and truly fucked.”

He rakes a hand across his shaved scalp. “What about staging another race? I bet we could bring in half the money right there.”

“Bobby Ray, are you doing the drugs you’re supposed to hand over to those people? The most I’ve ever made in one night was ten thousand dollars. I’d have to run races back-to-back every night for a week before I could make that kind of money. And if I lost to anyone, we’d be out even more.”

“You won’t lose. You never do.”

“I can’t do what you’re asking. If we get caught—and we will if we’re hosting a meet every damn night—I go to jail. We lose the garage anyway.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“We should go to the cops. I should turn your stupid ass in.”

“No.” He falls to his knees and grabs my hands, squeezing hard. “Please? You can’t. If you go to the feds, I am done. I go to jail for the rest of my life and there’s no telling if they’ll leave the rest of you alone. They’ll probably burn the garage down anyway.”

He’s right. As angry as I am with him right now, I would never turn him in. He’s my blood. This kind of stupidity though? That must come from some looney tunes old ancestor, because Mama and Daddy would never do something like this just to keep the garage out of trouble. “Goddamn you, Bobby Ray.”

I may give them hell every day at work, and as much as they drive me crazy, I adore each and every one of my brothers, but this? I may never forgive him for putting me in this position.

There’s only one person I know who could get me that kind of cash. I just have to decide if I can live with what I have to do to get it.

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