Page 75 of Taken By Storm

“You good?” he yelled back to Theo.

“Yeah. Me and Arch are going inside the brewery to place a call to his dad.”

Archie’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Please don’t do that, Theo. He’ll kill me! Seriously.”

Levi knew Gerry Carter quite well, as the two of them had been teammates on Gracemont High School’s football team, when Levi was a freshman and Gerry a senior. As such, he knew Gerry, a local carpenter, would put the boy to work on whatever construction project he was currently on, giving the kid the shit jobs to ensure Archie never did anything like this again. Regardless of the boy’s freaking out, Levi was quite confident Archie would survive the night after Theo’s call.

That was when Levi realized his brother got the better end of this adventure, especially when Keith tried to shake off his grip again.

“What good is running going to do? I caught you red-handed. It’s not like you can lie your way out of this,” Levi pointed out calmly, silently debating with himself on exactly how to handle this situation.

Unlike Archie, who was facing definite punishment, Levi wasn’t sure the same would hold true for Keith. He recalled Kasi’s comment that her mother had been a strict parent, the one to mete out all discipline. When he paired that with the fact that most of Keith’s infractions since Mrs. Mills’ passing had been related to Kasi—who definitely hadn’t shared the details with her father—it was easy to see the boy hadn’t faced any consequences for his actions of late.

So Levi was left with two choices: tell Kasi what her brother had done and force her to handle it, or deal with this situation on his own.

He knew instantly which option he was taking.

He held out his hand. “Key.”

Keith frowned, confused.

“Give me the key to your bike.”

Keith scoffed. “Fuck off!”

Levi moved fast, his grip on Keith’s arm impenetrable as he shoved the boy against the rear wall of the building. “Key,” he repeated through gritted teeth. “You’re not getting off this mountain until the two of us have a talk. Man to man.”

Whatever adrenaline or anger Keith had been holding on to faded, and he reached into the front pocket of his jeans, pulling out the key.

Levi slipped it into his own pocket. “If I let go of you, are you going to be a stupid jackass and try to run? Bear in mind, I know where you live.”

Keith sighed. “I won’t run.”

Levi loosened his grip then let go, braced and ready to nab the kid again if he was lying.

Keith slumped against the back of the brewery. “We were only taking a case. Or…”

Archie had clearly been the greedy one, going back for the second case.

Levi glanced over, shaking his head. “And how did you plan to get a case of beer off the mountain on motorcycles?”

Keith lifted his chin toward his bike. “Strapped duffels to the back of them.”

Now that he was closer, Levi noticed the canvas bags hanging on the motorcycles.

“You forget you’re underage?” Levi asked.

Keith rolled his eyes like the smart-ass he was. “You telling me you never drank when you were my age?”

Levi and his brother Sam had snuck more than their fair share of beers from their dad and granddad’s stash when they were in their teens. Enough that both men had probably noticed. But since he and Sam always consumed that beer at home, never operating a vehicle afterward, they’d never been formally busted.

Instead, his dad had pulled them aside and told them he’d cut up their driver’s licenses himself if he ever caught wind of them driving under the influence. Told them there was nothing wrong with drinking a beer from time to time as long as they were smart about it and didn’t drink to excess.

Given their close proximity, Levi could smell the tang of beer on Keith’s breath, which told him that he and Archie had already helped themselves to some of the beer or—more disturbing—they’d drunk beer before deciding to drive up the mountain on their motorcycles to steal from Levi’s family.

“I never broke into a business and stole beer,” Levi said, rather than answering Keith’s question. “You ride your bikes around the locked gate?”

Keith’s silence told him they did.

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