Page 58 of Loving Trent (Love in the Bootheel #5)

Thirty-Six

TRENT

“Trent! Listen to me, please. You need to go get Shawn and tell him,” Sonny says for the third time since I showed up at his house with Uncle Joey and Ryan following close behind me.

The drive from Uncle Joey’s house out into the country is nothing but a blur.

I’m not even sure if I’m the one who told Sonny what was going on.

But I am fully aware of everything going on as I say, “If you want to go after the people who not only stole from your son, but tried to kill him, you better grab your shit because I’m leaving with or without you.” Then, like rain slowly coming through the tree, Sonny’s words finally hit me.

“He doesn’t need to know about this.” I don’t want to yell at Sonny, but I do because he isn’t getting it.

I can’t stand the thought of telling Shawn that someone he trusted—Nathan—and someone he once shared his life with—Steven—meant to cause him harm.

Deadly harm. Watching the pain that will inevitably come from learning someone planned your death, fill Shawn’s green eyes will do nothing but add fuel to the fire consuming me.

“Yes, he does,” Sonny says, calmer than I think he should be.

My chest shakes as I take in a deep breath, the cold winter air doing nothing to stop the fire, nor does it help slow my racing heart.

“You’re right. I misspoke, of course, he deserves to know, but not right now.

I will tell him after I can promise him that they won’t hurt him anymore.

I have to be able to look into his eyes and show him that no one is coming after him. ”

Sonny steps closer to me, our visible breath mingling together. “I think it’s more than that. I think the reason you don’t want to tell him before you do this is because?—”

“Don’t.” I plead in sheer terror and desperation for him not to complete his sentence.

I know he sees the truth. I fucking knew he would the moment I said what I said.

But if he gives that thought life, it means I have to face it, and I can’t do that.

I can’t face the real possibility that this side of me…

the dark need to break, maim, and kill someone for daring to even think about hurting someone I love will be the one thing Shawn can’t overlook.

“It won’t happen.” Sonny lays a gloved hand on my shoulder, looks me dead in the eyes, and shatters my view of Shawn O’Dell Foster.

“My son has not only accompanied me on multiple missions to rescue abused women and men. But he actively participated in the plan to murder the man who hurt Sammy. His hands have gotten bloody only once, but that’s his story to tell you, not mine. ”

My thoughts fly back to the day we moved into the house, and the moment Shawn told me he was helping find Tom and Sandy.

He said it wouldn’t be the first time he got messed up in something illegal, but with everything going on, I haven’t given that statement a second thought.

Nor have we talked about it. I guess we should have, because now I need to know.

I have to know what my brave baby boy did to protect someone.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I will my dick not to get hard at the image of Shawn exacting revenge for someone, because that can’t be healthy, can it?

“Fine, let’s go.”

Shawn is currently at the gym, and even though just a few minutes ago I was arguing to leave town right this second, we head to the house to wait for him.

Let him have ten more minutes of normal before we blow up his life.

Sonny calls Nana as soon as we leave his house to have her pick up Harley from school and hold onto her until we get back.

He tells her as much as he is comfortable with, and I don’t say a word.

That’s his mother, and if he believes he should handle her with kid gloves, that’s on him.

On the other hand, I’m sure she will see right through his lies of omission.

Turns out I’m right. “Of course she did,” Sonny says, staring out the windshield straight at the five people standing beside a blacked-out truck.

Adam, Parker, Levi, Zak, and Sammy watch us intently.

With a quick look at each person, it’s clear that they are ready for whatever is happening.

I narrow my eyes on each male and can tell they are carrying.

Adam has straps from a shoulder holder for pistols.

Parker’s shirt is pulled up a little thanks to his arms being crossed, and we see his pistol on his belt holder.

Levi is bolder than the others. He wears a pistol strapped to his belt, on the outside of his shirt, all the time.

Zak is in the same boat as Parker, but he has his tucked into the waist of his pants, the gun resting against his stomach.

Sammy, on the other hand, has a shotgun beside her. They are more than ready to go to war.

“What the—” Adam pushes off his truck when we open our doors, but Sonny cuts him off.

“We wait until Shawn gets home.” He motions for them to follow us into the house.

Waiting for Shawn feels like we’re wasting time.

As soon as I hear his car pulling up in the driveway, I’m at the door waiting for him.

The worried look on his face as I pull the door open, grab his shirt, and haul him into my arms threatens to bowl me over, but I don’t let it. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Son, we have to talk,” Sonny says, and continues to tell him everything.

Uncle Joey and Ryan jump in when needed, but the rest of us stay quiet.

Sammy and Zak lose their shit at the exact same time Ryan tells them about the fire.

Shawn stays quiet and calm throughout it all.

At some point, Leon and Demon join the conversation via phone, but I don’t know who called them because I’m too busy trying to get a read on my man.

Once everything is out there, tension fills the room and clings to each of us. Shawn grabs my hand but looks at Sonny as he says, “Let’s go.”

Shawn is the first one to break the silence filling the cab of my truck. He squeezes my hand, and I take my eyes off the road for a second to look at him. “Why are our lives so chaotic?”

“What do you mean?” I focus back on the road, checking my rearview mirror to ensure that Parker keeps up with me as I go around another car.

“Normal couples don’t have this much drama going on.” When Shawn sighs, I feel a weight settle in my chest.

I try really fucking hard not to question if it’s too much for him, but I do anyway.

Because let’s face it, it is a lot of drama.

Compared to the rest of our family’s stories, ours has triple the drama involved.

I’m chasing down psychopaths who hurt me.

Shawn has people literally trying to kill him.

He’s right, it’s not normal, or I don’t think it is.

When I don’t answer him, Shawn picks our joined hands off his thigh and brushes his lips across my knuckles before biting down.

I hiss and glare at him, but when a deep belly laugh comes from the back seat, I turn my glare toward the fucker who insisted he was riding with us.

Zakary Haines. “Got something to say?” I growl before turning my attention back to where it should be.

“Nope.” Zak pops the p in his normal, can’t take anything seriously way.

“Trent, it’s not too?—”

My fingers tighten, needing him to stop. It’s one thing to think thoughts like mine, but to hear him say them out loud feels as if it will summon a curse. “I know it’s not. I trust and believe you when you told me you loved me and weren’t going anywhere. It’s just sometimes?—”

“Sometimes it’s hard to see what our partners see in us,” Zak speaks up from the back seat, and for once, I don’t want to strangle him.

“I still do it with Sammy all the time. I think we all do. For the record, I don’t think you two have too much drama.

It seems like that because it’s happening simultaneously, and both of your issues are a lot more serious. ”

“Zak’s right, Son,” Sonny says from behind me.

“These swords hanging over your head feel like a lot right now, but they aren’t, not when you have a whole tribe of people standing behind you.

We will end both of these chapters in your life, and then it will be smooth sailing before another storm rolls in.

But you know what, when that storm rolls in, we will be there to weather it with you. ”

I’m not sure who Sonny is directing his words to, but they sink inside my chest, and I hold onto them tightly.

I will remember them on the days when I think that everyone is going to leave because even though I don’t want to have these thoughts anymore, I know they will still be there, waiting in the dark.

“But it does say something about our family that we’re all okay with possibly ending two people’s lives tonight,” Sammy casually says.

I look in the mirror, and our eyes connect as I say, “Yeah, it says that anyone who tries to harm one of us will pay the ultimate price, and I refuse to feel sorry about it.”

“Fuck you’re hot when you get this way,” Shawn says, leaning over the console to press his lips against my neck.

“Ew,” Sammy squeals.

Zak gags and yells, “Can you bleach your ears? I need someone to look it up. I have to forget Shawn said that.”

Sonny just chuckles and says, “Shut up, Zak. It’s not like we weren’t all there when you told Sammy that seeing her eight months pregnant made you want to bend her over the table.”

“What have I signed myself up for?” I whisper in horror. Loving the small moment of laughs and lightness, I ask the question that is going to bring our mood down, but I’m dying to know the answer to. “Shawn… Sonny said that you’ve gotten your hands bloody once. Care to share with the class?”

The tension doesn’t rise as I expected it to, making me believe that maybe I’m the only one who hasn’t heard this story.

“It’s simple. It was the job Dad took right after everything that happened with Sammy.

Up until that point, I helped Dad out money-wise when he was in a bind.

Dad and the other members of Saviors MC work regular jobs to support what they do.

Still, sometimes more cases come in, or since most of the guys are day laborers, the income slows down.

“But this job, Dad needed someone to help get a man and his young son out of town quickly. Let’s call the man Calvin.

Calvin’s boyfriend was very abusive and used Calvin’s job against him to keep him quiet.

Let’s just say that Calvin works a job where making online videos on the side would ruin him.

Well, when Calvin threatened to go to the authorities over the abuse…

Weston threatened to ruin him by leaking the videos. ”

“Let the record show that Weston was also part of the authorities,” Zak says disdain for the man, clear in his tone.

“Anyways, I was living in Illinois still, so Dad called me because I was closer to the house he put Calvin up in. Dad was on his way but wouldn’t get there for another hour, and Weston had been spotted by Calvin in the little town.

Everything was going okay until we met up with Dad an hour later.

Our meet-up location was an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

On one side was a thick, dense small forest, and on the other side was a pond.

“We got there before Dad, and I swear I watched the only way I thought there was to get to the house, but Weston was smarter than we all thought. When we all walked out of the house so Dad could take Calvin and his son away, a shot rang out from somewhere, but it was quickly followed by two more, so we never could get a clear idea of where the shooters were. That’s when Calvin’s son saw someone standing by the pond and took off toward the forest. Weston hadn’t only abused Calvin but also hurt the little six-year-old boy.

Calvin went after his son, and I followed him.

Dad went after the man by the pond.” Shawn stops, and it’s so quiet that everyone hears him swallow.

Sitting on the edge of my seat, I’m a ball of worry that retelling this story is too much for him.

“Shawn, you can?—”

Shawn gives my hand a quick squeeze and says, “I’m good, I promise.

Anyway, to make the story short. By the time I caught up to Calvin and his son, I found them both trembling in the dirt on their knees as Weston stood over them holding a pistol.

He was convinced that Calvin had been cheating on him with me and was clearly losing his mind.

The moment he raised his gun, pointed it at the little boy, I acted without much thought. ”

“My boy's a damn good shot. The bullet went straight into Weston’s heart. He never had a chance,” Sonny speaks up with pride. “I took care of the other guy, who was working with Weston, and then I called Leon to help me cover up the killing of two police officers.”

“Damn, Baby Boy?—”

“Nope!” Zak’s hand shoots out and covers my mouth. “Whatever filthy thing you're about to say about whatever is happening in your pants, none of us, and I mean none of us, want to hear it.”

“I do.” Shawn chuckles as Zak’s hand disappears.