Page 47 of The Bad Brother

M Y PAGER GOES OFF, THE LOUD, frantic beep of it pulling me out of sleep in an instant.

Eyes flying open on an immediate hit of adrenalin, I look over to Jensen’s side of the bed.

He’s gone.

So is his phone.

Puzzled and maybe a little hurt, I look at my nightstand.

No water glass full of wildflowers.

No note.

You don’t have time for this, Sloane.

Get your head in the game.

Right.

Snatching my pager off the nightstand, I get my second hit of adrenaline for the day.

BLUE TEAM

That’s me.

Throwing the covers back, I jump out of bed and hit the ground running.

No time for a shower, I throw on a pair of leggings and a T-shirt—something easy to take off in a hurry—and shove my feet into a pair of sneakers, clutching a pair of socks in my hand as I fly down the stairs.

Gathering my bag and my car keys, I stop long enough to make sure I have my cell phone before I head for the door.

Sure that Jensen is downstairs and that I can shout a quick goodbye on my way out, I throw my front door open to find Cade leaning against the wall, next to Jensen’s front door.

When he hears me his head pops up, showing me a very different version of the perpetually smirking Cade I’ve come to know.

This Cade is grim.

Tired.

And he has a baseball bat.

Seeing this version of him stops me in my tracks.

Because this is a version I’ve never met.

This is the Cade that went to prison for murder.

“What are you doing here?” My gaze instantly flies to Jensen’s front door. It’s closed tight. “Where’s Jensen?”

“With my brother, taking care of something,” Cade answers me evasively. “Where are you going?”

“To the hospital,” I tell him, holding up the pager in my hand as proof before I move through the door and turn to close it behind me. “Tell Jen?—"

When I turn back around, Cade is practically standing on top of me.

“Are you sure it’s the hospital?” he asks, gaze narrowed in suspicion. “Could it be Ethan? ”

Ethan?

Why would it be Ethan?

“What?” Confused I shake my head while I skirt past him on my way down the hall. “Why would it be?—”

A strong hand closes around my arm and jerks me to a stop before whirling me around. “ Could it be Ethan ?”

“No,” I shout back, yanking my arm out of his grip.

“He doesn’t have access to this number. I have to go .

” Turning away from him, I make my way down the stairs.

When I step into the bar, it’s empty. Quiet.

Not even a church lady to toss me a piously knowing look over her shoulder on my way out the door.

I don’t even realize Cade is following until I’ve got my hand on the deadbolt to unlock the door.

“Wait.”

The order is barked in my ear, right before his hand appears over my shoulder, slapping it against the door to keep it closed while the other leans its bat against the wall beside it.

“Listen to me—” Hand free, Cade flips the security panel open to key in the system’s deactivation code.

“Get your keys out. You got remote start?” Punching the keys like they owe him money, Cade turns off the alarm before resetting it.

Flipping the panel closed again, he looks down at me while I nod. “Good—start your car.”

Fumbling my keys out of my bag, I aim the fob at the door and press the button that starts my car. “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on or are you just going to keep?—”

“We’ll talk about it on the way to the hospital, Doc,” he says, making it clear he has every intention of going with me. “We’re headed straight to your car. Nowhere else. ”

Looking up at him, I feel the first tickles of real fear, bubbling against the back of my throat. Something happened. Something bad. “Where’s Jensen?”

“Jen’s fine—I swear.” Cade’s expression softens slightly. “He’s with Colt like I said, but you gotta listen to me now. Straight to your car—don’t stop. No matter what happens, you get in and you drive away.”

Fear starts to slide into panic. “I thought you were going with me.”

“I am.” Reaching down for his bat, Cade gives me a reassuring smile while he shoulders his bat. “Open the door. Straight to your car. Get in and drive away—got it?”

Keys clenched in my fist, I nod. “Got it.”

“Let’s get goin’, Doc.” Dropping his hand away from the door, Cade takes a step back. “I’m right behind you.”

Taking a deep breath, sure I’m about to open the door onto a parking lot full of zombies, I yank it open to find the parking lot empty except for my car and the shiny black BMW parked next to it, crowding the driver’s side door.

Ethan’s car.

“What’s he doing here?” I ask, my tone more irritated than frightened while I watch him climb out of the driver’s seat.

“Change of plans,” Cade says while he pulls the door closed with a hard slam. “I’m driving.”

“What?” Looking at Ethan again, I wonder how he found out where I’ve been living. “Why? It’s just my?—”

“I know who it is,” Cade growls at me, wrapping his hand around my wrist before pulling me across the porch and down the steps. “I’m driving.”

Confused, I let Cade pull me across the parking lot, to my idling car while Ethan leans against the hood of his BMW and watches.

“Pretty sure that’s a parole violation you got there, Killer,” Ethan calls out to Cade but his gaze is on me. Tracking every step I take.

“This?” Cade answers him, pointing the bat in his direction without stopping while he scans the parking lot.

“This isn’t a parole violation.” Leading me to the passenger side door, away from Ethan, he takes the keys out of my hand and uses the fob to unlock the door.

“This is a brand-new felony, just waiting to meet the side of your fuckin’ head. ”

“My last name is Pryce.” Ethan laughs like Cade just made a joke. “I think you’ll find there’s a difference between killing me and killing some white trash whore nobody gives a shit about. You kill me, you get the needle, for sure.”

“If I get to kill you first—sign me the fuck up.” Gently feeding me into my seat, he closes the door behind me with a murmured lock the door.

I do what Cade says, locking the door while he skirts the front of the car on his way to the drivers’ side.

They’re talking—Ethan undoubtedly taunting Cade—too low for me to hear what’s being said with the door shut.

As soon as Cade makes it to the driver’s side door, I lean over and unlock it.

Popping it open, Cade slams it into the side of Ethan’s too close car, gouging the metal and scraping paint.

“Sorry.” Standing in the wedge of the door, Cade shoots a the fuck I am kind of look in Ethan’s direction.

“I’d offer to take it to Red’s and have it fixed, but…

” Levering the bat off his shoulder, Cade points it at the bar.

“You mind these cameras now.” Feeding it through the door he quickly follows after it.

Sl amming it closed behind him, Cade shifts the car into gear.

Turning in my seat, I look for Ethan through the rear window as we drive away. He’s standing in the spot where my car was, watching us.

Facing forward again, I look at Cade. “You know Ethan.” It’s not a question. The fact that not only do they know each other, they violently hate each other is obvious.

“I know Ethan.” Cade confirms while pulling onto the road.

When it becomes clear he’s not going to say anything else, I sigh. “Care to tell me how?”

“How do you know him?” His tone tells me Cade’s not looking for clarification. He’s looking for confirmation of what he already knows.

Suddenly ashamed of the life choices I’ve made, I shake my head. “He’s my ex.”

When I say it, Cade mutters something under his breath, glare aimed at the road in front of us. “Your ex- fiancé ,” he elaborates, making it clear I’ve been the topic of more than a few conversations.

“Yes.” Refusing to feel bad about it, I nod my head. “Your turn. How do you know Ethan?”

The set of his jaw tells me he wants to tell me no before he shakes his head on a sigh.

“There’s only one high school between Clearwater and Barrett.

One elementary school too—school board calls it socialization.

I call it a way to condition us poor folk into recognizing our betters from an early age. ”

It takes me a second to process what he’s telling me. “You went to school with Ethan? ”

“Clearwater might have a Louis Vuitton but it’s still a small town.

We all went to school with each other, Doc.

” Cade finally looks at me. Finally gives me a smirk I recognize.

“You mentioned meeting your mother for lunch yesterday. That means she lives here.” Flicking a look in the rear view, he shakes his head.

“Who I don’t remember going to school with is you. ”

“We moved here from Dallas when she married Mark?—”

“Mark?” Cade shoots me a pointed look. “Mark Barclay ?”

“Yeah.” Momentarily confused again, I nod. “He’s my stepfather. Do you know him?”

“Everyone knows him,” Cade informs me, his tone tight. “He’s your father?”

“My stepf ather,” I say, making the distinction.

“I barely know him. He shipped me off to boarding school as soon as I was able to tie my shoes,” I tell him, turning around in my seat again.

The road behind us is clear. “He had no interest in raising another man’s child and my mother was too interested in the money to put up much of a fight. ”

Something ugly and hard crawls across his face.

So ugly and hard it scares me a little. Makes me remember what Ethan just said to him— I think you’ll find there’s a difference between killing me and killing some white trash whore nobody gives a shit about.

Before I can ask him what Ethan meant by it, Cade speaks.

“What about your dad?” he asks, his tone hard enough to match his expression. “Why didn’t he take you?”

I look away from him to watch while we cross the bridge, the hospital immediately coming into view. It’s bee n

less than twenty minutes since I received my BLUE TEAM page but it suddenly feels longer. “Because he’s dead,” I tell him, my tone steady. “He and my mom were never married. He died of a drug overdose when I was six. To be honest, I barely knew him either.”

I can feel Cade, alternating looks between me and the road like he’s waiting for me to start crying. He doesn’t have to worry. I stopped crying over my father a long time ago.