Page 115 of Property of Chaos

“I did,” I gripe. “With the doctor, look where that got me.”

“Prove to her that setting things right won’t make it worse for her.”

“How?”

Highway takes a step back, arms folded as he stares me down. “By asking your brothers for help instead of shutting us out.” Every scrap of his playful mood has vanished.

Instead, I stare at a guy who’s insulted that I’d chosen to keep this shit to myself. “I thought, with what Jinx has been saying, that you assholes would think I’m no better than my old man, putting her over the club.”

“Fuck what Jinx says.” Highway shakes his head. “He’s got his own issues getting on his balls at the moment. We’ve never doubted you, man. Just wondered why you doubt yourself.”

Motherfucker is trying to make me cry. “Settle down, yeah?”

“What’s the matter?” he teases, grinning again. “Truth hard to hear?”

“Something like that.” I wake up my phone again and open the thread to Crow. “How do you feel about an extra week on the road, brother?”

“If we get to do more of this,” he says, snagging a bunny around the waist as she walks past and making her squeal. “Then I’m fucking good with that.”

“Can’t promise anything.”

King laughs. “If you think this lame-ass shit is fun, then wait until you stop in with our Fort Worth brothers.”

“Yeah?” I thumb out a message to Crow as I speak.

“Spend one night there, and you’ll understand why Sawyer thinks his behavior is normal.” He slaps the bar, standing. “You going that way?”

“I’m going wherever she is.”

And this time, I’m not stopping until I’ve slayed every last demon and dragon at her door.

THIRTY-NINE

VANESSA

“Get settled in,and I’ll grab you in half an hour. We can go get lunch.” Evelyn watches me set my overstuffed backpack on the bed and poke my head in the bathroom door to check it out. “Remember, I’m only a few doors down the hall if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” I offer a small smile and fold my arms, eyeing the room's layout.

We met at the airport; her flight arrived an hour before mine. I was thankful for the semi-familiar face after the early morning start kicking my ass, but at the same time, it was a confrontational reminder of why I was here when she looked so much like her brother.

Evelyn returns to her bag that waits in the hall and lets the soft-close door click shut behind her.

The silence hits me first. Even though cars crawl the street below and crowds of people push past one another on the sidewalk, I can’t hear any of it.

I hate the city.

Hands wringing each other, I stand in the middle of the hotel room. It’s pretty, with an industrial vibe. Exposed metalbeams run across the ceiling, vanishing through the wall into the adjacent room. Exposed concrete has been polished to make a feature wall for the bed. Painted black steel frames the panel windows. I tug my backpack to the foot of the mattress and unzip the front pocket, searching out the meds I filled before leaving Temperance.

Handing over the script Abraham’s doctor wrote felt like an acceptance of him in some weird way.

An act of hypocrisy on my behalf.

Still, I feel slightly relieved knowing they’re there if things get too hard. I slide the small packet onto the bedside table, then decide it’s too much of an in-your-face reminder of my flaws to display it so prominently and shove it in the drawer beneath.

With the complementary bible.Ironic.

The flight wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I tried Marianna’s suggestion of having something to listen to and devoured half an audiobook by the time we landed. It quieted the constant stream of anxiety flowing through my mind enough that I dared get a caffeine fix on our way out of the airport.

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