Cole closes the small distance between them. “Why don’t you ask—”
“Cole!” I interrupt him and yank him back by his arm. “I’ll talk to him.”
“It’s none of his business,” he snaps at me.
Shane lets out a rough laugh. “Did you make him disappear, Cole? Is that why his phones are off, and he’s nowhere to be found?”
“He fucking shot her!” he yells.
Bennett walks over to Shane, grabs his shirt, and all but drags him out the double doors.
I go to stand before Cole. “You need to calm down, man,” I whisper harshly. I search the room, and thankfully, it’s not crowded this time of the night. But the few people who are in here with us are staring our way. “Cole?” I snap when he stares past me at the doors. Reaching up, I slap his face. Not hard enough to hurt but enough to get his attention. “Listen to me! If you make a scene and get kicked out of here, then that’s it. You’re done.” I place my hands on his upper arms. “The police are just looking for a reason to lock you up, so keep your shit together just a little longer.”
“What is going on?” Becky asks, confused about what just happened.
I ignore her.
Cole shoves me out of the way and storms out the sliding glass doors.
I throw my head back. “Fuck.”
“What is going on, Deke?” She stands.
“Stay here.” I growl and then spin around to run out after him. I walk out to see Cole shove Shane backward. “Cole, don’t—”
“No,” he interrupts me. “If he wants to be a part of this group, then he’s going to fucking tell me.”
“Group? What group?” Shane demands, throwing his arms out wide. “You guys have completely lost your fucking minds.”
Cole fists his busted knuckles. “No! Kellan lost his mind the moment he decided to want what was mine!”
He throws his head back, letting out a loud laugh. When his eyes meet Cole’s again, his laughter dies. “She was never yours. His plan all along was to make her his.”
Cole goes to jump him, but I wrap my arm around him and haul him back. “Cut it out!” I growl in his ear. “You’re causing a scene!” I whisper, “He could be lying just to get you wound up.” At this point, my friends have all taken sides. And Shane is obviously not on Cole’s. Who knows what he is gonna say or do to push Cole to make a move? It won’t take much. It never has when it comes to Cole.
He shakes me off, and I choose to let him go with every intention to jump him if he lunges for Shane again.
Bennett comes to stand beside Shane. “He remembered her,” Shane spits out. “He wanted her! He was only fucking Celeste for his own revenge on Bruce!”
“What did Bruce do to him?” I ask and wonder why in the hell Shane knows this information but not us? One look at Bennett and I know he too knows that secret.
I turn my attention back to Shane. He laughs, shaking his head. “It doesn’t fucking matter. None of it fucking matters anymore.” Then he turns and walks away, and Cole allows it.
Cole jumps out of the passenger car door, bringing me out of that memory, and I get out as well, though much slower. I pop the hatch to my Range Rover when the guys near us.
Shane looks at me and then at Cole, narrowing his eyes, and I hold in a sigh.
“Why did you bring him?” Cole asks, not even bothering to hide his hatred for Shane.
Bennett opens his mouth to speak, but Shane is the one who answers. “I got a message too.”
I scratch the back of my head. This can’t be happening. “From—”
“Evan Scott,” he interrupts me. “It was in a three-way chat with Bennett.”
“You didn’t mention he was in the chat.” I look at Bennett.
“Yeah, well, my mind wasn’t completely alert when I was woken up in the middle of the night.” He glares at Cole. “After I was hung up on, I looked at it again and saw where Shane was also involved in the message, and I called him. Told him the same thing I was ordered to do, which was ‘pack a bag and get his ass to the airport.’”
I grab their luggage and place them in the back and then slam it shut before we all crawl into the SUV. Silence fills the inside of the car, and I can’t take it, so I turn up the radio. “Can’t Go to Hell” by Sin Shake Sin plays.
“So, what …?” Shane begins to ask, but Cole reaches forward and turns it up louder to drown him out.
I take a quick look at Shane in the rearview mirror, and his eyes are glaring holes into the back of Cole’s head.
This should be fun.
We walk into Cole and Austin’s house. “You’re at the end of the hall.” Cole gestures to Bennett. “You’re on the couch,” he tells Shane, not bothering to look at him.
“Don’t you have four bedrooms?” he asks.
“I’m in the other one upstairs,” I answer him. It’s been months since I’ve spoken to Shane. The last time was the night he got into it with Cole at the hospital.
He frowns. “You’re living here?”
“Isn’t that what he just said?” Cole snaps.
Shane drops his duffle bag to the tile floor in the entryway. The motion makes Austin’s damn Halloween ghost go off.
Here we go.
“What is your problem?” he snaps at Cole.
Cole doesn’t waste a second and takes it as an invitation. He’s just waiting to beat the shit out of someone. “You are my problem!” He growls, getting in his face. They’re nose to nose. “I don’t trust you here! Around Austin.”
Shane snorts. “That’s rich. Out of the four of us in this room, you and Deke are the ones whose body count are the highest when it comes to our dead friends. And he’s fucking living here!”
“I trust him.” Cole growls.
“He’d kill Austin without a thought if you told him to.”
Cole goes to punch him, but I push his chest, knocking him out of the way. “Okay!” I say, stepping between them. “Can we at least limit the bloodshed to outside? I don’t want Austin killing me when she comes home to find blood everywhere,” I joke.
No one laughs.
“Come on, Shane.” Bennett slaps him on the back and pulls him out of the entryway, grabbing his bag up off the tile.
Cole goes to walk up the stairs, but I stop him. He looks at me over his shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt to have numbers on our side,” I tell him.
“It only helps if you know they’re with you and not against you.”
I feel a pain in my chest for him. “No one is gonna touch her, Cole. I promise.” He says nothing. “You know I would protect her, right?” Austin is like the little sister I never had. Shelby was always the big sister, and we’re close, but Austin is just different. She’s just like us. Not afraid to get her hands dirty. Where Shelby would run and hide, Austin would jump to be out in the front. And I think that’s what scares Cole the most. He can’t hold her back if she decides to dive in.
He finally nods, and with that, he turns and walks up the stairs.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEKE