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“Where you been?” I shouted over the heavy rumble of the Harley I sat on as Cade turned his off.

“The vets. Been checking the dog.”

“Again? You’ve been there every night.”

“Yeah, well, someone has to. Ciara’s barely left the hospital. Indie’s there every waking moment. Who’s going to look after Kinobi?”

“The vet?” I rolled my eyes.

“She’ll think she’s been abandoned. She needs to see a familiar face….”

“Fuck’s sake, Cade! When did you care about the dog?”

“Demon made me promise I’d keep her alive. Until she’s discharged…”

“From doggy hospital?” I jibed, my voice sounding like I was speaking to a small child.

“Yes, from fucking doggy hospital. Till she’s discharged. Or died and then I’ve failed. And there’s no fucking way I want Demon holding a grudge against me.”

Now that was more like my brother: self-preservation. But even though his tone had hardened, and his words toughened, there was something softer in his eyes than I was used to seeing. Something not quite him.

“Get some of the brothers to take a shift. Shouldn’t just be you keeping Demon’s dog company.”

“Who’s gonna take a shift to visit a dog?” Cade grumbled. “Indie’s got everyone camping outside of Demon’s room on a rota. The only way I’ve got out of that shit is I said I was looking out for Kinobi.”

I rolled my eyes again. They were going to get stuck right at the back of my head at this rate.

“Howay, then. Get sorted. We need that CCTV and I’m long overdue getting my end away, brother. Don’t like a dry spell.”

“It’s only been a few days.” Cade stepped off the bike as I pushed the button in the box on the side of the wall, the roller shutter of the garage at the end of the little yard rattling closed.

We’d only be minutes while Cade got washed and changed, but a few minutes was too much to leave the bikes unattended. Bike thefts were already soaring, local MCCs suffering the most hits. It was specific bikes. Harleys mainly. Someone with a shopping list, only brave enough to take on the hobbyist bike clubs, or someone watching our responses.

Cade turned, looking at his bike, running a hand through his hair.

“Tick-tock, brother. My dick is waiting. What you staring at that for?”

“Felt rough on the ride back from the vets tonight. Might need to pull it apart and see what’s wrong with it.”

“Not tonight, Cade.”

“You could just go, you know?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He was pissing me off now.

“Just don’t feel like it.”

“Why fucking not? You’re normally the first one looking for a fuck. What’s changed?”

“Nothing. Nothing…” Cade’s voice trailed off.

I wanted to be annoyed at him, to give him a slap and tell him to pull himself together and take one for the team, but there was something in his eyes that stopped me. He’d been distant all week, ever since Demon and the dog had got shot.

“What’s up, Cade?” I cast aside the ridicule, because I could feel there was something else going on, something he wasn’t telling me.

“Nothing, man. I told you.”

“And I can see you’re full of shite. Is it this thing with the Bloody Hand?”

“Thing? You mean a fucking war?”

“Nee need to get arsey, mate. It’s worrying me too. I never thought we’d see it. I thought all this sort of shit was over between the bike clubs. I mean, I get the squabbles and the punch-ups. But murder…”

“Attempted,” Cade reminded me, but it didn’t dampen the heat of it.

“If Demon had died, it would be murder. And then the fuckers tried again. We’re in the thick of it now, brother. And it’s too late to fucking run the other way.”

Cade stepped towards me. Slow strides, a seriousness in his eyes I hadn’t seen for a long time.

“And if you could, would you walk away?” he asked.

I wanted to say no. That I never would. That I was pledged to the Kings, till death do us part. But there was a part of me that couldn’t do that. That just couldn’t straight out say no. Cade watched me, his eyes roaming my face, looking for those telltale signs. A blink that lasted too long, a flicker in the muscle of my neck. The same signs I looked for in him, like I was looking straight into a mirror. If he could see them, he didn’t say, but I noticed the slightest movement against the side of his cheek where I knew he was biting it.

*****

I kicked the leg of my sleeping double, watching as he jolted upright, his eyes trying desperately to focus on something. Anything.

“What the fuck you not join in for?” I half-growled at my brother, who wiped a hand across his face and then through his hair.

If that had been an attempt to smooth thick tufts of badly slept on hair, it hadn’t worked.

“I told you, I didn’t feel like it.” Cade swung his legs off the sofa, perching his elbows onto his knees and his head into his hands. “You done now, Caleb? I need to go home to sleep.”

“You could have done your bit. I had the two of those nurses by myself.”

“Soz, like. Must’ve been really difficult for you.” But Cade’s tone wasn’t sarcastic as much as it was condemning. I wanted to kick him in the leg again for being a boring bastard. “You get what we need?”

“Aye,” I waved my phone in the air. “And so did they. Mind, they were fucking wild. You really missed a treat.”

“Doubt it,” Cade answered grumpily.

And that’s when I knew there was something wrong with my brother. Really wrong. And I was going to fucking find out what it was.