The Long Road Home [The Final McCassey Brothers Book] (24 page)

Rebel actually laughed, putting Judd on alert. Blackie had struck out at people for much less than that when he was angry. “Oh no? How many times have you been in and out of prison?” Rebel asked him. “How many chances did the law give you before you decided to go straight and quit causing trouble? Several, Blackie, you've had several chances. And you wouldn't even give Georgia one."

If the look on Blackie's face was any indication of what his next move was going to be, Judd decided that Rebel would be wise to take a step back. “Just whose side are you on, Rebel?"

"There aren't any sides, here, Blackie, just facts. Facts we'll never know because not only did you just beat on your own sister out of anger—something you've never even done to Judd or me—you also threw her out of your house and told her not to come back!"

Without warning, Blackie reached for the glass pitcher on the kitchen table and hurled it across the room, where it shattered into a million pieces the instant it hit the wall.

If Judd knew anything about his older brother, it was that right about now, Blackie was probably just realizing what he'd done. And that in a few minutes, once it all sank in, he was going to be even angrier than before. Only this time, he was going to be angry with himself ... which was more dangerous than anything.

When the screen door leading into the backyard suddenly creaked, all three McCassey brothers turned around at the same time. Judd had been hoping it was Georgia, and was more than a little surprised to see his son.

"Jay!” Judd said as the boy stepped tentatively into the room, “what are you doing here?"

The boy carefully and quietly took in the scene before looking from his father, to each of his uncles, and back to his father again. “I came by a couple hours ago to see if Georgia wanted to come over and eat pizza with us."

A couple hours ago? “You and Georgia were outside for a couple hours?"

"Yeah, Dad, we were!” he yelled, angrily. “And she didn't do anything wrong, either!” Turning to Blackie, he continued to yell. “How could you say those things to her, Uncle Blackie? How could you hit her? She's just a girl. Damn, I'm nine years old and I weigh more than she does. You're a coward! You're a coward for losing control and beating up your sister! If I had a sister like Georgia, I'd never do anything to hurt her, never!"

Immediately thinking the worst when Blackie made a move toward Jay, Judd stepped in between the two of them. “You lay a hand on him, Blackie, and brother or not, I swear to God, I'll kill you."

Blackie flashed Judd a dirty look, but didn't touch Jay. In fact, when Judd took a better look at Blackie, he realized the expression on his brother's face had softened. Maybe Blackie hadn't intended to go after Jay at all.

"Jay—” Judd started, but his son abruptly cut him off.

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say either, Dad! How could you?” he asked bitterly, “how could you not help Georgia? I saw her look at you. I heard her plead for your help. She loves you, Dad! She loves you the best out of everyone, and you know that! We all know that! She needed you, and you let her down!"

Judd couldn't believe he'd just been chewed out by his own kid. And the worst part was that Jay had been right. Judd hadn't wanted to confront Georgia until they'd talked to Wade, but Blackie was so hell-bent on finding out what was going on, that he'd gone along against his better judgment.

"What were you and Georgia doing here for two hours, Jay?” Judd asked, hoping it was something simple like watching TV.

Obviously extremely angry, Jay drew his arm back and threw Georgia's softball glove in his dad's face. “You don't deserve to know!” Then he turned and left the kitchen the same way he'd come in, allowing the door to slam shut behind him.

Judd caught the sweaty, well-worn, broken-in leather glove just before it smacked him in the face. After a close inspection, he saw that although the name scribbled on the back of the glove was McCassey, there was also a small flower drawn next to the ‘M’ in blue ink. Jay loved nature and being outdoors, but Judd knew his son would never have drawn a flower on anything.

Curiosity got the best of him. Judd walked to the screen door and looked outside, catching sight of Jay running toward the woods—carrying his own baseball glove.

"This is Georgia's glove,” Judd said to no one in particular. Then he turned around and faced Blackie, who was standing silently next to Rebel. “And it's sweaty. She and Jay were just playing catch."

Blackie suddenly let out a guttural growl, giving Judd and Rebel just enough warning to get out of the way as he lifted the entire kitchen table and threw it across the room. Then, without a single word to either of his brothers, he ripped open the screen door, nearly tearing it off its hinges, and walked outside.

Less than a minute later, the entire house shook as Blackie fired up his Harley and drove out of the yard.

Judd looked at Rebel, who hadn't said anything for a good five minutes. “This is bad, isn't it?"

Rebel looked around the kitchen, taking in the nearly destroyed screen door, upside down table, broken glass, and worst of all, Georgia's blood on the kitchen wall. “Very."

"We need to find Georgia before it gets dark, Reb. She was only wearing a sleeveless shirt, and she's got to be freezing."

Rebel nodded to let Judd know he agreed, then bent down and picked up a chair. “Let's get this shit cleaned up first,” he suggested as he picked up another one. “That'll give Georgia a few more minutes to cool off, save Angel the trouble of tackling the mess herself when she gets home. Something tells me it's going to be a while before we see Blackie again."

Rebel was right. Judd went to the closet for a broom and dustpan with the intention of cleaning up the broken glass.

The two men worked in complete silence for the ten minutes it took them to put the kitchen back together. Judd had no idea what was running through Rebel's mind, but he was having trouble coming up with answers to the questions that were running through his.

Why had Blackie been so fired up about what was going on with Georgia that he had to confront her without having all the facts? Normally, that wasn't how his brother handled things.

And why, after accusing her of lying and going behind their backs, hadn't he let her explain herself?

But neither one of those things were bothering him half as much as the fact that Blackie had lost control and gone after Georgia. He'd actually hit her and drawn blood. That wasn't like their brother. He'd never laid a hand on a woman, no matter how much she'd pissed him off. Yet he'd gone after Georgia with a vengeance.

Judd had admired the way Georgia had fought back against Blackie, but it'd been obvious that she was terrified.

When they'd first left the garage, Judd had been more than a little apprehensive about confronting Georgia and accusing her of using heroin without proof. Then, after catching the tail end of her conversation with Bert, Judd had felt bad for doubting Blackie. It had certainly appeared that she was, indeed, using drugs again. But in the end, Judd knew that Blackie had been wrong. And, he had a feeling, so did Blackie.

"I feel like such a bastard,” he said to Rebel as the two of them lifted the table and set it back on its feet. “Georgia's not using again, is she?"

"I doubt it,” Rebel told him. “I never thought she was in the first place. If we'd waited and talked to Wade, he probably would've told us the same thing."

"I wasn't going to let Blackie come over here and confront Georgia by himself, Reb. Look at what happened between the two of them with us here! Lord knows how far Blackie would've gone if you and I hadn't put a stop to his rage."

"That's why I came along, too, Judd. Something's eating at him, but I'll be damned if I know what it is."

"Yeah, well, what's eating at me is the fact that my sister begged for my help and I just stood there not doing a damn thing. I failed her, Reb."

"We both did, Judd."

"You think Blackie's out looking for her?"

Rebel shook his head. “No, I think he's probably halfway to Virginia in search of that dealer, Bert. He needs someone to unleash his anger on, and that guy is the obvious target."

Judd hadn't thought of that, but it made perfect sense. He reached for the phone, but was stopped by Rebel's voice. “Who are you calling?"

"Jessie and Church. Maybe Church can find Dragon, and together they can find Blackie before he kills Bert ... or someone else."

"Good idea."

Rebel finished cleaning the kitchen while Judd explained the details of what happened to Church, who promised to go out in search of Blackie. “I know Virginia's a big state,” Judd told Church, “but maybe you could just keep your eyes open."

"Blackie never rode more than three or four hours without getting thirsty,” Church explained to Judd. “Once he hits a bar and someone spots ‘The Devil', news that he's riding through Virginia will travel like wildfire. He won't be hard to find."

Judd should've known that. As ‘The Devil’ who used to ride with the Renegades, his brother was infamous up and down the east coast. “Thanks, man, I owe you one."

"Forget it, Judd, we're family. Let us know when you find Georgia."

"Will do.” When Judd heard a click on the other end of the line, he hung up the receiver. Rebel wanted to know what he'd said.

"Church said he'd find Blackie and personally escort him back here so he stays out of trouble."

"Good."

"Yeah, that should make Angel happy. But right now, Blackie's the least of my concern. I want to find Georgia. She's barely dressed and it's supposed to get back down into the twenties tonight."

"Where do you think we should start?"

Judd shrugged. “How about the obvious? Maybe she went to my house."

"No,” Rebel disagreed. “One of the girls would've called if she'd shown up there. Maybe she went to Wade's."

"Good thought, let's go check there."

Even though it stung his pride a little, Judd hoped that his sister
had
run to Wade ... because he just didn't want to think about the alternative.

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From her seat on the rock deep in the woods behind Blackie and Angel's house, Georgia shivered against the slight breeze that had picked up.

She should've been smarter than to run off in a sweaty, sleeveless shirt without grabbing her sweatshirt, and Georgia wondered exactly how long it would take for hypothermia to set in. The sun hadn't even set yet, but she could feel the temperature falling, and she was already shivering.

Still, the cold was only one of her problems.

The biggest one was that she couldn't seem to stop crying.

Using the bottom of her shirt to wipe at her tears, only gingerly touching the sore, swollen, left side of her face where Blackie had slapped her, Georgia tried desperately to get herself under control.

Why? Why did her brothers think she was using heroin again? What had she done to give them the idea that she was sneaking around behind their backs doing drugs after she'd promised not to?

What hurt the most was that she'd fought her demons and the urge to get high everyday for nearly four months. She'd lived up to her end of the bargain and kept her word, but they'd betrayed her by not keeping theirs.

She didn't even care that Blackie had hit her. When it came down to it, she
had
gone after him first. So, in truth, she'd deserved his retaliation. She guessed she was probably lucky he didn't kill her. But it did hurt that Judd, the brother that Georgia had thought understood her the most, hadn't stepped up to defend her. He hadn't even offered her a chance to explain. Instead, he'd just gone along with Blackie, assuming the worst.

Maybe he'd just been too afraid to speak up against Blackie. Their oldest brother had been enraged; so angry that Georgia doubted even Angel, if she'd been there, would've been able to get him calmed down.

But after thinking about it, Georgia shook her head. That couldn't be it. Judd was braver and tougher than most people realized. He had to be in order to kill their father.

The bottom line was that now, nobody wanted her.

The place she thought she'd found in a family that had, at first, accepted her with no questions asked, was gone. It was obvious that her brothers didn't want anything to do with her, which meant their wives wouldn't, either.

Georgia was on her own again. This time, for good.

It was nearly dark by the time she'd cried all the tears her body would allow. Then her sadness and feelings of betrayal took a backseat to sudden, intense hopelessness and panic.

What was she was supposed to do now?

Where was she supposed to go?

With nothing but the clothes on her back, Georgia wasn't going to be able to get very far. Especially since she didn't have any money.

She could call Bert. He would probably wire her some cash, no questions asked. But she decided that was out of the question. Bert had indirectly done enough damage for one day; it was better that she stayed away from him.

I could go to Wade.

But Georgia pushed that thought from her mind almost immediately. Even as much as she missed seeing him every day, missed his offbeat sense of humor and—for some reason—the intense way he looked at her each time she smiled, going to him wouldn't do her any good. He'd probably just try and talk some sense into her; try and talk her into going back to Blackie's to work things out.

"Forget that,” she said out loud. “It'll be a cold day in hell before I beg forgiveness for something I didn't even do."

Still shivering, Georgia laughed at the irony. It
was
a cold day, and at this moment, she was definitely in hell.

Joining the McCassey family had been her last chance at a normal life. Then, in a matter of fifteen minutes, she'd lost everything ... all because she'd been trying to do something nice for someone she loved.

Georgia stood, wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to keep warm, and started walking. She knew where to go to get warm, a place where she could erase all her problems and lose the feelings of hurt and betrayal that had left her in tears ... or at least numb them.