Page 37 of Only The Strong

“You know it’s only ten AM, right?” I gesture with the bottle to Finn.

He turns his head toward me, his eyes see right through my banter, they all do. They know I'm putting on a front, trying to pretend that I'm not completely destroyed inside. “You wanna be sober today?”You got me there, brother.

I slowly nod, agreeing with his reasoning. I hold the bottle up to his and we clink the giant handles of liquor together. “Fair enough.” We both take long pulls from our bottles and Finn clears his throat after his.

He pulls a gun from the inside pocket of his cut. “Jack and Leo were able to save this from the Raptor.” He hands me Red— Reese’s gun.

I sigh and bite the inside of my cheek. “Thanks.” I take the gun from him and toss it onto the ottoman.

“This doesn't go down as well as that shit Sebastian Segreto gave us.” He rubs his chest with his left hand. I notice a fresh “H” tattooed on his ring finger. Good for him, but fuck him right now. I choose to ignore the new tattoo for now and ask when I’m a little less testy about women.

“I haven't even tried it,” I admit, looking over to the bar cart by the sliding backdoor, where the bottle is sitting displayed.

Finn chuckles. “Let’s keep with the cheap shit today, brother. That stuff doesn't deserve to be used for drowning your sorrows.”

After some more pulls from our bottles with Saint using a glass because he’s too good to drink straight from the bottle. Our conversations range from bikes to cars, to what bars we need to go to tonight, then to food because we’re all getting hungry. The hurt is still definitely there but stings a little less with my buzz and my brothers’ company. Saint pulls out his phone and answers a call, our conversations continuing in the background. Finn laughing loudly at Leo’s dumbass ideas to earn his top rocker. The kid is barely twenty-one, which in truth is only four years younger than us, but he still seems like such a naive kid sometimes.

“Yeah, Ro, you’re on speaker.” That sentence gets all of our attention, and we quickly stop talking and turn toward the phone that Saint is placing in the middle of all of us on the black tufted ottoman.

“Are you sober enough? I just need a minute.” Ronan’s gruff voice comes through the phone speaker.

Finn leans forward, placing the bottle on the floor beside his feet and resting his elbows on his knees. “Yeah, Prez, we’re good. What’s going on?”

“Richards just called, said that the murder of Michelle Davis is being ruled as gang related. The FBI is looking into all of the organizations in the state. It shouldn’t affect us, but we need to lay low just the same,” Ronan says.

“Who’s Michelle Davis?” Leo’s dumbass cuts in and Finn and I laugh at him.

Saint rolls his eyes. “Senator Buxley Daivs’ wife, you idiot.” He rubs his eyes and then holds out his hands and squints at Leo. “Do you even watch the news?”

I interrupt the argument before Saint can lecture Leo on his knowledge of current events, or I guess the lack of. “So going back to Miles’ call the day of the accident. You guys didn't find anything at the address he sent me?” I got very vague details at the hospital but I wanted to know everything now that I wasn't on pain meds, well not as much, and everyone was here.

“So,” Saint answers for Ronan. “We went but it was an abandoned house. Been empty for years, kids go there to drink and get high. We called Miles and he said that the signal was probably bouncing around to make it look like it was coming from there.”

“What the fuck?” I drop my head onto the back of the couch. “We’re running in fucking circles.”

“He just has to slip up once and we got him, brother,” Leo says gently.

I shake my head. “Yeah but that requires him to keep doing shit,” I snap.

“You know he’s going to though, he's not just going to grow bored of her.” Ronan, ever the voice of reason. A lighter sparks on his end of the phone. “What were the results of the blood on her wall.”

“Uh.” I blink a few times, trying to clear my head. “Human, just like we thought.”

“Are you gonna tell The Princess?” Ronan asks, everyone else quiet as a mouse.

I bite my lip, thinking of the decision I've already made. “No. I found out the day of the accident and I was going to but then everything happened. I think it’s best not to freak her out with that now.”

Trying to lighten the mood Finn asks. “We having a party tonight, Prez?”

Ronan lets out a sound like he's exhaling smoke. “Yup. Already got the bartenders and strippers booked from Second.”

“Perfect.” Leo smirks from the armchair.

Saint and I shake our heads, but Finn bellows, loving Leo’s promiscuity. “Brother, you’re gonna catch something fucking with all of them strippers.” Ronan chuckles through the phone.

36

REESE

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