Page 29 of No Fear
“She what?” He finally managed to squeak out.
Colt sighed, “Yeah, I had a feelin’ you knew nothing about that.”
“Evidence? What evidence?” He demanded.
“Hell if I know. That’s why Sky’s been freaking out since she got to work and found Rachel’s note taped to her locker. We broke into it and there’s also a bag of clothes in there along with a big brown paper bag full of money and a revolver.”
“She hid a change of clothes, money and agunin Skylar’s salon?”
“Looks that way.”
“You found agunin Rachel’s things and a note telling Skylar that she was in trouble and you didn’t fucking call me?” He felt his voice rise until he was screaming but he couldn’t seem to get himself under control.
Colt glared at him, “Check your fuckin’ phone before you yell at me, Remy. We did call you. I called you. Sky called you. We called you twenty goddamned times!”
He jerked his phone out of his jacket pocket and cursed some more. It was dead. He’d forgotten it was dead because he’d also forgotten to plug it in last night. He’d forgotten everything once Rachel walked into his life and the phone was only the last in a long line of things.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, I’m going to get you and Sky a matching set of super chargers for those damn things.” Colt scrubbed a hand over his face and his voice was calm again when he spoke, “Of course we called you, Remy. It’s Rachel. Sky said if she was really in trouble and she needed help, that Rachel would come to you.”
He blew out an unsteady breath, “She did.”
“So tell me what the hell is going on.”
Remy dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling, “I wish I knew.”
Since Colt was silent for a moment, he closed his eyes and counted slowly to ten. He focused on his breathing. In and then out. It was one of the more useful things he’d learned in the Army, how to control his emotions and calm down when all he really wanted to do was tear someone apart limb by limb. By the time he opened his eyes, the worst of the rage had passed and he was able to at least focus.
He glanced at his brother and sighed heavily. Colt looked tense and ready for a fight. He had his arms crossed over his chest defensively and his legs braced apart. His chin was up, his lips were thin and his eyes were dark. He knew the look well, thought that if you lined them up right now in front of a mirror they’d look like carbon negatives of one another. Same size and build, with only their coloring to differentiate them. He was dark everywhere Colt was light and a sick part of him wondered if it was more than skin deep. Wondered if he’d inherited Decker’s black soul, the one Cash and Colt seemed to have escaped.
“No.” He said simply and watched Colt’s eyebrows pinch.
“Excuse me?”
“Whatever is going on, it doesn’t have anything to do with you. You’re going to stay out of it. I got you out. You’re clean. You’re safe. I intend to keep it that way.”
Colt smirked, “So you do have some idea what’s going on.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because your first instinct was to tell me that I was out. That means it’s related to the family. I might be a pretty blond but I’m not an airhead, asshole. You think that whatever is going on with Rachel has something to do with the Bomars, right?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
Remy sank down onto the small black sofa that served as the waiting area for Fine Lines. The tattoo parlor that his brother owned had gotten a renovation barely a month ago thanks to the assholes that beat him up and destroyed the space. Looking at it now it was impossible to see just how damaged it had been but Remy knew because he’d seen it firsthand.
He’d been the one to find his brother lying in a pool of his own blood, barely breathing. He’d thought Colt was dead for at least a minute and it had been the worst minute of his life. Out of all the damage he carried, all the demons, the idea of letting his brothers down, letting them get hurt, was the worst nightmare. He’d thought he was too late but he hadn’t been that day and he’d sworn that he would do whatever it took to make sure nothing like that ever happened to his brothers again.
“You can’t get involved.”
“Damn it Remy, I’m already involved.” Colt sat down beside him with a huff, “You really think Skylar’s not over there right now asking Rachel the same questions? You really think she’s going to let this go? Skylar loves that girl like a sister and she’s protective as hell. You should’ve seen the way she went after Cash before Jemma forgave him. She’s loyal and tenacious and she won’t back down from this fight just because you tell her to. Neither am I. You’re my family. Rachel is Sky’s. We’re both all in here.”
Remy leaned forward, resting his head in his hands and staring at the floor. If he had to blink once or twice to keep back the moisture that had formed at his brother’s words, then that was between him and his shoes. Family. That’s what they were. All of them. He’d always thought he was simply stuck with the hand he’d been dealt. He was a Bomar and his family was a bunch of criminals and bastards.
But the truth was, blood wasn’t what made family. Love was. Cash was making his own family with Jemma and their baby. Colt had Skylar. The twins had made their own family and Colt said he was a part of it. Rachel was a part of it. So of course, together, they were a part of it.
