Darken (Siege #1) (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

“YOU’RE LATE.”

“Nice to see you too, Mom,” Gavin said as he entered his parents' house.

“Don’t be going all sassy on me. You know good and well that I told you six sharp.” Despite her snappish response, she pulled him in for a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she pulled back to give him another stern look.

“Mom, it’s a quarter after.”

“As I said, late.” She lifted her nose in the air. With any other woman he might have taken it seriously, but not only did Sarah Walker enjoy teasing her kids, she was also habitually late for everything.

“I’d feel bad about it if I hadn’t seen you getting out of the car as I drove up.”

She gave him a playful scowl then marched toward the kitchen. Gavin followed while trying to keep from chuckling. With his mom, teasing was usually a one-way street. She had no problem dishing it out but she didn’t take it from anyone.

“How is the job hunt going?” she asked with a pitiful attempt to be nonchalant.

“I have a job.”

“Bartending is not a career.” She held up a finger to stop him from interrupting. “Noah and Logan own Porter’s Pub, and Josh is working his way through college. It’s not the same thing as you giving up your position at the firm in Billings. Have you talked to Caleb or Merrick about getting on with TanTech?”

“Mom, stop. I’m working, and I enjoy bartending.”

Her mouth contorted as she struggled to hold back what was most likely some other protest about his lack of ambition.

“I just want to make sure you’re thinking about your options. I don’t want you to miss out on something because you can’t be bothered to look.” She folded a tea cloth into a tidy square then placed it in the drawer beside the oven.

He could have admitted that he was considering his options. He enjoyed working at the bar, but it lacked much in the way of intellectual stimulation there. He missed the challenge of developing high-level security programs and the stress of knowing the safety of millions of dollars’ worth of inventory and information depended on his ability to out-think criminals.

But a job with TanTech or any other security firm would require a clear head, and he couldn’t do that. Especially now that Sinclair wasn’t only back in the picture, but a threat to Cora and his family.

“You look tired,” she observed. “Have you been getting enough rest?”

“Yes.”
No
.

“Stick your tongue out,” Sarah ordered.

“Why?”

“Because lies turn your tongue purple.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m a little old to believe in stories like that.”

“Only a liar would refuse.”

Reaching into the fridge, he grabbed a beer. He cracked the can open and took a long, slow sip before setting it on the counter and looking at his mother.

The past two nights with only a few hours sleep were having their effect. The first night, the lack of sleep had been welcome, as he spent much of it inside Cora. The night after, though, had been hell. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the empty, expressionless face Cora wore as she walked out the door.

She put on a good show that morning, almost getting him to believe she was satisfied with it just being sex, but as she’d opened the door, he told her he’d call. She turned back to him and he saw it—the absolutely devastating acceptance that the person you wanted, who you loved with everything in your being, was forever beyond your grasp.

He hadn’t called, but she knew he wouldn’t. What she didn’t know was how many times in the past fifty-two hours he’d picked up the phone and started to.

“I don’t see the apple pie you promised, so are you going to tell me why I’m really here?” he asked, watching as she poured herself a glass of water.

“Do I really need to tell you?”

She didn’t. The collection of cars in the driveway and out front were enough.

“So, why the secrecy?”

“Because I know you,” she said, “And of all my boys, you like to avoid your problems the most.”

God, he hated when she was right.

In the fourteen years since Sarah and Mark Walker took the six of them in, they’d only had a handful of family meetings. He had no doubt the one planned for that day was going to be all about Cora, and there was no fucking way he’d have come if he’d known.

He wasn’t ready to talk about her. Hell, he could hardly
think
about her without his guts twisting into a knot. Yet, for the past two days, that’s all he could do. He’d be having a normal conversation with someone and then BAM—he’d be picturing Cora straddling him, her breasts bouncing in time with her hips.

He coughed and then took a sip of beer as he pushed the image back.

“Everyone’s waiting for you in the den,” Sarah said. “So get moving.”

His lips tightened as he held in a sharp retort. Pissing off his mom would only guarantee her not siding with him. He stomped his way through the kitchen and down the stairs to the den.

Other than the dining room, the den was the only place in the house large enough to seat all nine of them. Although, with Dean away at college, there were only eight so they could have squished into the living room.

His dad, Mark, sat in his recliner flipping through channels on the TV. Josh was spread out on the small sofa, his legs hanging over the end. On the large couch across from him were Sky and Caleb. Noah, ever the barman, was behind the wet bar mixing a drink while Logan tried to give him directions.

Sarah prodded Gavin forward by jabbing a finger into the middle of his back. As he walked into the den, he couldn’t help but cringe as everyone turned to stare at him.

On the surface, his family looked normal, though obviously not blood-related. Other than Gavin and Caleb, the six brothers looked nothing alike, and even less like Mark, Sarah, and Sky. Still, within the realm of normal looking for a blended family.

It was when they got together for a family meeting that they became a pack of wolves hunting their prey. He’d been one of those wolves before, but that day he was the prey.

“Gavin, I’m so sorry.” Sky pushed off the couch and rushed toward him, wrapping him in a tight squeeze. “I voted to tell you. I told them hiding this was just going to make things worse.”

“I know you did, squirt.” He returned her squeeze then grasped a strand of her hair, giving it a quick tug.

That’s the thing about Sky. She was all about honesty, almost to the point of being extremely frustrating. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d gotten in trouble because of her big, honest mouth ratting him out. That penance for oversharing the truth was a habit she picked up from Mark. While she was the spitting image of their mom, tall and athletic, with a mop of curly brown hair, personality wise she was the female version of their dad.

He was actually surprised she’d managed to hide this, although, Sky did her best secret sharing in private, and he didn’t spend a lot of alone time with his sister.

“Sky, let’s not dwell on that,” his mother said, pointedly. “Let’s all sit down and figure out what’s happening now.”

His sister went back to her spot next to Caleb, and Sarah lightly smacked Josh’s sock-covered feet.

“Give your brother room to sit,” she told him.

While Josh was more than willing to follow Sarah’s directions, swinging his legs over the front end of the couch so he was sitting properly, Gavin continued his mission of small defiance and joined Logan at the bar.

Sarah sighed and gritted her teeth as she took a seat between Sky and Caleb.

“Okay, let’s go over this from the beginning,” she said. “Caleb, you start.”

“Wait,” Sky interrupted. “What about Cora?”

“What about her?” Immediately, Gavin went on alert.

“Isn’t she going to be here?” Her eyes darted from Gavin to Sarah and then back.

“Why would she be here? This is a family meeting.” The muscle in his jaw twitched. “She’s not part of this family.”

Sky’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped like a fish. “How can you say that? We’ve known her for almost ten years. She was Lela’s best friend. She’s been protecting you for two years.”

Gavin’s fists clenched as his stomach churned with something akin to guilt. It was a sensation he didn’t like.

“When your mother and I decided to take you boys in,” his father said, “We made you family.”

“She has her own family.” The noose tightened a notch around Gavin’s neck as he took in the expressions on his family’s faces.

“Gavin,” Mark sighed, his disappointment clear. “We’ve always been willing to accept others into our family. Especially those hurt by Sinclair.”

Tense silence filled the room, and the weight of his family’s disappointment pressed down on him. They were right, but even though everything they said was true, it didn’t make Cora family. She wasn’t.

“This isn’t a conversation we need to have now,” Sarah said. “Let’s get the details and then we can decide what we need to do with Cora. Caleb?”

Caleb launched into the details of the investigation he and Merrick did after the first car accident. They’d found images of Sinclair outside the nightclub where Lela and Cora had been, then there’d been the damaged rental car, the altered statement Cora made to the police, and the official report determining the accident refused from driver error.

The most damning evidence of Sinclair’s involvement, though, was video surveillance of him going into Cora’s room at the hospital the day after the accident.

“What was he doing?” Gavin asked.

“We don’t know.” Noah twisted off the cap to a beer. “At first, we wondered if maybe he was taunting you, knowing we’d find it if we started looking. Then we found footage of him going back again. We thought maybe he was doing something to her.”

“You didn’t think that was important enough to tell me? I get why you didn’t tell me about him taunting me, but how the fuck do you not tell me about Sinclair using Cora as a test subject?”

“Watch your mouth,” Mark snapped, and Gavin pressed his lips together.

Logan twisted on this stool and rested his elbows behind him on the bar top. “By the time we found out, it’d been a few months. If he did anything, Cora would’ve shown side effects.”

“Can we get on with this?” Josh ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “I’ve got a dated at eight.”

“Josh, this is more important,” Sky said.

“Why? Because it’s Sinclair? Or because it’s Cora and you’ve got some crazy idea she’s in love with Gavin and you want him to marry her?”

At that moment, Gavin was pretty sure everyone was glad Cora wasn’t there.

“Sky’s right, Josh,” Noah said. “Sinclair targeting Lela and Cora means he’s not done with us. Any of us or our friends could be next.”

“We shouldn’t have let him get away with it before,” Gavin said.

“There’s no point in dwelling on what’s done and over,” Sarah interjected. “Gavin, tell us about what happened on Sunday.”

Going through the whole process of retelling the accident seemed redundant. Noah and Logan heard it straight from Cora, and from the way the others nodded and made little noises of agreement, it was obvious they’d already heard. But arguing would only delay the process.

“Where’s Cora now?” Sky asked when he finished.

He shrugged. “She only stayed the one night then she went home. She mentioned something about her mom coming down to visit.”

His sister just stared at him, and the knowing he saw in her eyes had him shifting uncomfortably on a stool. Then his spine straightened. It was sex between two consenting adults. He wasn’t ashamed of what happened, and he sure as hell didn’t need to justify himself to his little sister.

“So what’s the plan?” His eyes roamed around the room.

“Find Sinclair, beat the crap out of him, and maybe help him dig his grave.” Josh rubbed his hands together and slapped them on the top of his thighs as he started to stand up. “Now—”

“Sit down,” Sarah demanded with a glare.

“I have a few leads I’m following up on,” Caleb said. “Merrick’s pulling some surveillance footage from around the mall in Billings. We’ll start going through them this week. Even though it wasn’t Sinclair in the car, we may be able to trace the guy back to him.”

“Cora is off until Friday. When she’s back on shift, it’ll be easy to keep an eye on her at the bar,” Logan said.

“And until then?” Sky asked.

Although he didn’t look at his mother, he felt the weight of her expectant stare. He refused to be sucked in. Yes, Cora needed to be kept safe. But there was no way in hell he was going to be the one to do it. Not now. Getting close to her again would lead him down the same path he went Sunday night, and he didn’t think he could handle that again.

“I’ll drop by and see her tomorrow,” Josh said with a cocky smile.

Gavin came off his chair and was stepping toward Josh before he even realized he’d moved. When he did, he stopped short and sat back down, spinning his stool so his back was to everyone except Noah. He looked up at his oldest brother, his gaze glancing off the scar along Noah’s cheek.