Page 87 of Brother In Arms

Chapter 29

Rush

“You ready?” I looked Bailey over, the new clothes she’d bought fit her well and looked nice. I’d had to go do some shopping myself; replace my helmet, motorcycle boots and shitkickers. I could afford it with what she was paying me, even if it now felt weird taking money off her.

“As I’ll ever be,” she said and I smiled. I’d bought her a little something too, and I had to say, her motorcycle boots looked good with her country look. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her, loving how her body responded, relaxing and melting into me.

“This is going to suck,” she said and I nodded.

“But then we can come back here, where it sucks but we like it.” She slapped me on my cut and pulled away, turning so that I got a fantastic view of her ass as she sashayed it out the door. I locked up my room behind us and walked out into the Kentucky summer sunshine, I missed the drier heat of the Arizona dessert but the green out here couldn’t be compared. I’d take the green of lush growing things over the brown of the desert any day of the week.

I caught up to my woman and wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet and spinning her. She squealed, a happy sound full of laughter and I loved that. I set her on her feet and she took my hand and we walked through the club out front to my bike. I tied a spare black bandanna over my hair and put my helmet on. Bailey put hers’ on and smiled at me while I started up the bike. Sunglasses went on my face, and she got on behind me with her own mirrored lenses firmly in place. She’d gone with a pair that was an old throwback style that the cops used to wear back in the day. God, what the hell had they called them? Aviators! That’s right. They looked good on her. Fit her face and her style.

I pulled us down the drive and she hugged tightly to my back, cuddling up to me. I didn’t like that I was headed to the farm without a gun, but the cops were supposed to be there; along with Bailey’s mother, the insurance guy, Caleb, and her asshole brother. It wasn’t going to be pretty, that was for sure.

The ride was a good one, weather perfect, sun not too hot, wind warm as it washed over us. We pulled into the long gravel driveway of Bailey’s farm and I had to watch it. It was always tricky riding on uneven, shifting surfaces and this was no exception. I pulled us up in among the semi-circle of vehicles facing Bailey’s burned out house and felt pretty grim.

I didn’t want to go to jail today, but depending on what came out of junior’s mouth, I might be. This… this was bad.

The house was soot streaked and blackened from about halfway down. The top half? Spindly and black where any of the structure remained, like a burned out match stick. To think… we’d been asleep in there. Fuck, man.

I tapped Bailey’s knee to get off and she did, her movements stiff and mechanic as she surveyed the scene in front of us, too. She took off her helmet and wordlessly handed it to me as I leaned the bike onto its kickstand. I took it and hung it from one of the handlebars before I started working mine off.

“What is he doing here?” her brother demanded, looking at my cut with disdain. I tensed. I should fuckin’ let fly into his pretty boy mouth just for that disrespect alone.

“Rush is my boyfriend, not that you have anything to say about it, you creep.”

Her brother looked at her like she’d gone insane, Caleb echoing the look, but Bailey’s mom just went over to her daughter and hugged Bailey’s arm. Both of them sort of entranced by the house.

The insurance guy was already up closer, snapping photos and writing things on his clipboard. Caleb opened his mouth next,

“I would advise not telling the insurance company anything about the Giangiulio Group or your brother’s involvement with them. You do, and the claim will be dismissed as he is partial owner of this farm.”

“He won’t be when Bailey’s lawyers get through with him, just as you will no longer be trustee.” Bailey’s mom’s tone was absolute as she turned her head to glare at Caleb.

“Bailey, I had no idea that…”

“Shut it, Philip. You had every idea, you just didn’t care. All you care about is money, your name, and your reputation.” Bailey wasn’t having any of it either. I was proud of her.

“Mom,” he tried to appeal to Trudy, which was a bad idea. She turned her head slowly and the look she gave him was sub-zero ice queen at its finest.

“You are your father’s son, Philip. I certainly didn’t raise you to be this way.”

Philip sneered then, “You didn’t raise me at all. You had the nanny for that, remember?”

“Be that as it may, as far as I am concerned, Bailey is an only child at this point.”

“I wouldn’t say anything else, if I were you Philip.” Caleb’s voice was brittle with barely suppressed anger.

“Neither one of you should say shit anyway,” I said, casually leaning against my bike. “You do, and I’m liable to take you both apart. Take a good hard look at that house, boys. Bailey and I were both inside, asleep when that started. They made sure to hit all the entrances and exits to the place. If we hadn’t parked that truck,” I turned up the drive and thrust my chin at it, “in the side barn? We’d be a couple of crispy fuckin’ critters. At some point, y’all might have to answer for that.” They blinked at me, and just finally started looking nervous as the implications sank in.

“You might want to rephrase that a little, baby,” Bailey said and I raised an eyebrow. She smiled and it wasn’t nice, “At some point they will be answering for that.”

I nodded and Philip looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel somewhere. “Are you threatening me?” he demanded.

“Why that would be illegal!” I cried.

“Consider it a promise wrapped with all the love I have left for you,” Bailey shot back and her mother patted her hand. A classic gesture of ‘that’s enough for now.’ She was right. She hadn’t even turned around but the crunching gravel could only be one person.

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