Chapter 24

Maybe it’s not anger management that I need. Maybe you need to keep your stupid away from me.

-Food for thought

Sam

Four hours later

“You find him?” I asked my brother.

Sebastian looked up from his phone and smiled. “Got him. Let’s go pay the fucker a visit.”

I walked up to my wife where she was sitting in the plastic seats of the waiting room.

She had Sawyer’s hand in hers as they both stared at the white doors where the doctor had come out earlier to let us know that there’d been more wrong than they’d initially realized, and they needed more time than they’d originally thought to examine him thoroughly and give us an accurate assessment of his condition.

That’d been over two hours ago, and I was getting anxious.

Anxious to find the man responsible for nearly killing my father.

And, I had to admit, to tell my father that I was sorry for being such an asshole.

I knew he didn’t deserve it…now.

I’d had a long talk with my mother after my daughter’s baptism, and I now knew what I didn’t know then.

That, in my father’s way, he loved me.

All the years that I thought my father was a bad person, he was actually taking care of me. Protecting me.

Doing the same thing that I would’ve done had I been in his position.

And that was a bitter pill to swallow.

I knew that I was running out of time to fix this, and it’d take a lot of effort on my part to heal that gap between us.

But the first thing I’d do would be to take care of the fucker that did this to him. That threatened his family, putting me and my family into harm’s way.

“I think we should just go,” Sebastian said at my side where I’d come to a stop just at the entrance of the waiting room. “There’s no telling how long this will take, and if we don’t hurry there’ll be nothing left of him after Black Jack does his thing.”

Fuck.

That I knew well.

I’d heard chatter about this ‘Black Jack’ person.

Knew he was a little less than savory in his dealings with people that wronged him.

I hadn’t heard a single story about him that indicated the man was capable of any kind of mercy in his retribution.

“Alright, I’ll meet you out front in ten,” I said, crooking my finger at my wife.

My life.

She got up after patting Sawyer’s hand and started walking towards me.

Even after all this time, she still took my breath away.

“Hey,” she whispered, walking straight into my arms.

I folded my arms around her. “We’re going to go. Text me if you hear any news.”

She looked into my eyes with those hazel eyes of hers and smiled. “Don’t get arrested.”

I grinned down at her. “Oh, I won’t get arrested. Trust me, darlin’.”

She laughed and pressed her lips against mine. “Go. Come back safe to me.”

I pressed my lips against her forehead and nodded. “Will do, oh wife of mine.”

She smacked my ass as I turned to leave, and I tossed her a wink over my shoulder, passing my brother speaking to his own wife as I went.

He broke off just as I reached the elevator, joining me as we rode the elevator in silence.

We didn’t speak at all the entire way to the hotel room that Black Jack had said Shovel was occupying, either.

Both of us lost in our own contemplation of our lives.

And, in tandem, we breeched the room with guns drawn.

Shovel jackknifed off the bed, reaching for his gun but not making it.

I caught his hand with a bullet through the palm, causing him to freeze.

Sebastian was on him in the next second, and like true, good brothers, we took turns beating the absolute shit out of him.

Sadly, we weren’t the only ones who wanted in on the action, and we stepped aside to allow some of The Dixie Wardens to get in on the action.

Three unconscious bodies hit the floor beside us, and I turned to find the three of the four guards that attacked Sawyer over the years, laying there where Cleo had unceremoniously thrown them.

“Caught them trying to round the back of the hotel,” he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How’d you get them over here?” I asked.

Cleo smiled. “Drug them by their feet one by one. Black Jack met me at the corner and helped.”

I turned to find ‘Black Jack’ staring into the room with passionless eyes.

He was watching as Torren and Sterling took their turn.

“Can’t believe he thought he couldn’t be found. Fucking Silas trying to do everything himself. I told him weeks ago if he needed me, all he had to do was ask,” Black Jack muttered.

“What’s your real name?” I asked, looking over at the man next to me.

The man didn’t even hesitate.

Smiling, he said, “Lynn.”

“You work with my father, don’t you?” I asked, not really surprised.

He nodded. “For a long, long time now.”

“Are you really a bookie?” Sebastian asked.

He shrugged. “When I need to be.”

“What are you going to do with him?” I asked, indicating to the man we’d just beaten the shit out of with our bare hands.

Black Jack, a.k.a. Lynn, just smiled. “Oh, I’m not nearly done with him yet. You see, boy, you’ve warmed him up. Given him a simple black eye compared to the beating he’s about to receive from me. He’s gone and done something real stupid, hurting the one man that has kept him safe all these years. If it wasn’t for Silas’ and that big heart of his, he’d have been dead a long time ago. I think it was all a because of a promise he made to a twelve-year-old boy that he would never hurt the man again.”

Jesus. My father and his big heart.

Fuck, but do I have some serious groveling to do.

I’d been that twelve-year-old boy.

And it’d been because Shovel had thrown me down and hurt me that he’d beaten the ever-loving shit out of him.

And when I’d caught him doing it, I’d asked him to stop and promise never hurt him again.

Ahh, the naiveté of a twelve year old’s mind.

“Well, consider that request rescinded. Do what you need to do.”

With that, Sebastian and I left the hotel room and drove back to the hospital, yet again in silence.

And we sat, along with our loved ones, and waited.