When Brendan had jumped on Chad, Judson and Hoyt had jumped on Brendan. Shep had of course gotten involved, throwing his own fists around and breaking Hoyt’s nose. But while Shep was dealing with Hoyt, Judson and Chad were on Brendan. Judson was the biggest of the three men, just a little bit bigger than Brendan, and he’d held Brendan back so Chad could get in a few good hits, all of which he’d directed at Brendan’s ribs.
They’d been going at each other for all of about three minutes before a county sheriff truck pulled into the lot, and it hadn’t been Jax behind the wheel. All five of their asses had gotten hauled into the county jail. They’d been booked and were waiting to go up in front of a judge at eight o’clock that morning, which wasn’t for another hour.
Brendan looked out past the bars at the blank wall in front of him. Really, it could have been much worse. Chad, Hoyt, and Judson had been put into a separate cell. Good thing too, because if Brendan had been locked in a room with them for ten hours he would have gotten into another fight.
Neither Brendan nor Shep had called anyone in their family. They’d called a lawyer though. Preston Matthews was one of Grace’s best friends, and his father was a lawyer. In another couple of months they’d be able to call Preston himself as he was in his last semester of law school. But Benjamin Matthews was just as much of a family friend and he’d come down at six that morning to start working things out.
“You still feeling sorry for yourself?” Shep asked.
Brendan turned back to him.
Shep’s eyes were open and he looked just as tired and worn out as Brendan felt. Sleeping in a jail cell was not the most relaxing of experiences.
“Well, it doesn’t really get all that much worse than this,” Brendan said, indicating the room with his hands.
“You probably just jinxed us,” Shep said, shaking his head. “A meteor is going to come crashing through any second.”
“I’m sorry,” Brendan said seriously. “You’re here because of me.”
“Come on. You think I would’ve let you get your ass kicked? I always got your back.” Shep grinned, and then winced because of his lip.
“Thanks, man.”
“You know Jax is going to kill us,” Shep said.
“Oh God, I’m just praying we get out of here before he sees us.”
“Me too. And what are you going to do when we get out? You’ve had almost ten hours to pull your head out of your ass. You still going to stop fighting for her?” Shep asked seriously.
“The thing is, I’ll never stop fighting for her,” Brendan said.
“So last night was just a pity party?’
“Maybe a small one.”
“If this is the result to a small pity party, I don’t want to be around when it’s a big one.”
“I don’t either.”
At that moment Baxter McCoy came up to their cell. Baxter was actually a pretty good friend. He played on the Stingrays with them during the county baseball season.
“I can’t believe you two got arrested,” Baxter said, shaking his head. “But, man, looking at Chad’s ugly face all banged up brings me so much joy I can’t even tell you.”
“What’s going on?” Shep asked.
“Your lawyer wants to talk to you two. He might have worked something out.”
* * *
Thunder shook the house, waking Paige up from a deep sleep. The light coming in the windows was weak and she couldn’t tell what time it was. She sat up in bed and looked over at the clock. It was seven thirty in the morning.
Brendan hadn’t come home.
Paige scrambled out of bed and grabbed her phone on the nightstand. No missed calls. A whole new kind of panic went through her.
Why hadn’t he come home?
She tried calling him again but it didn’t even ring; it just went directly to voicemail.
Why wasn’t he answering his phone?
Paige’s hands started to shake as she scrolled through her phone looking for another number.
“Paige?”
Grace said.
“Hey, sweetie. I’ve been worried about you.”
“Grace,” Paige said, barely holding back a sob. “I came home last night. I came back to Brendan, and he wasn’t here. He didn’t come home last night, and I—I don’t know what to do,” Paige said before she just broke down.
“Okay, Paige, it’s okay. I’m at my apartment. I’ll be there in five minutes and we’ll go from there, okay. Try calling Shep. I’ll call Jax.”
“Al-alright,” Paige said before she hung up.
She called Shep’s cell phone and it went directly to voicemail. She left a message and then called his house, but after a couple of rings the answering machine picked up. She left another message.
She changed into a pair of shorts, put on a bra, and grabbed a clean T-shirt from Brendan’s drawer before she went into the living room to wait for Grace. Paige let Sydney out and dried her off when she came back in. A couple of minutes later the doorbell rang. Paige went to the door and let in a slightly damp Grace.
“Shep?” Grace asked.
“He didn’t answer the phone.”
“Jax doesn’t know anything. He was working last night and just got off. He was meeting Bennett for breakfast to go over house plans, and Bennett hasn’t heard from them either. They’re going to drive around and look for them.”
“Okay.” Paige nodded as tears streamed down her face.
“Paige, I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Why didn’t he come home?” she asked desperately. “I called him, told him I wanted to fix things, that I was sorry. And he didn’t come home,” she said before she just started bawling again.
“Sweetie,” Grace said, bringing Paige into her arms, “if Brendan didn’t come home last night, I’m sure there is a perfectly good reason. We’ll find him and figure everything out. Come on, grab your stuff. Let’s go down to the shop. I called but no one answered. Maybe he just fell asleep on the couch. He’s slept there a couple of times in the past two weeks.”
“He has?” Paige asked.
“It’s been a little hard for him to be here without you.”
“God, I messed up so bad,” she said miserably.
“Paige, we’re going to get this sorted out. Now go put your shoes on and let’s go.”
Paige did as Grace told her and five minutes later they were heading out the door. Lula Mae’s SUV was parked next to Paige’s Jeep.
“Where’s your Bug?” Paige asked as they got inside.
“I brought the food to the Abercorn funeral last night, and my Bug wasn’t big enough,” Grace said as she put it in reverse and backed out.
The sky was almost black, and the rain wasn’t heavy, just a steady drizzle. It was the thunder and lightning that was putting on the real show.
“Thank you for coming,” Paige said softly when they got on the road. “I don’t deserve it. Not after how I treated Brendan.”
“Paige,” Grace said, shaking her head, “we all make mistakes. Your father just died. You’re allowed to get a little crazy. I did. When my mom died, I was a mess. And so was Brendan. He’ll understand.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” Paige asked.
“He will,” Grace said firmly. “It’s been two weeks. It would take a lot more than that for him to give up.”
“I hope so,” Paige said, looking down into her lap.
Dear God, she hoped so.
All of a sudden the car jerked and Paige looked up just in time to see Grace swerve to avoid a massive limb that had fallen in the middle of the road. The tires started skidding on the slick pavement and they were sliding off the road. They slammed through a wooden guardrail and down to the river. They hit the water and something stopped the car with a jerk. The airbags deployed, throwing Paige back against the seat. Everything came to a standstill for just a second. There was just that one moment of shock before the panic set it.
“Grace,” Paige said, looking over at the driver’s seat.
Grace was cradling her left arm, clearly in a lot of pain. “I’m okay. It’s just my arm,” she said and gasped.
Paige looked down at her feet, and it was then that she noticed the car was filling up with water. She looked to see if they could get out on her side, but all she could see was a tangle of branches. They were probably the only thing holding the car, and they looked like they weren’t holding them very well. One glance out of the windshield and Paige knew just how in trouble they were. The rain from the past few days had the current of Whiskey River running fast. Paige looked over at Grace’s side and knew that Grace wasn’t going to be able to push that door open. The water was slamming against her side of the car.
There was no way they were going to get out of this alone. Paige grabbed her purse that was next to her on the seat and searched for her cell phone. Her hand closed over it and she pulled it out.
No reception.
“This can’t be happening,” she said desperately.
The car shifted a little farther into the river and they both gasped.
“Try not to move,” Paige said.
“What are we going to do?” Grace whispered, terrified as she looked out at the water in front of them.
“I have no idea,” Paige said as she looked out at the water too. If the tree snapped, they were going to be pulled downriver and swallowed up. They wouldn’t be able to get out in time.
Paige wrapped her arms around her stomach, where a little baby was already growing.
“I’m pregnant,” she said to Grace.
Grace looked over at Paige, her eyes wide.
“I just needed to tell someone,” Paige choked out. “In case we don’t…” She trailed off.
“We’re going to get out of this,” Grace said seriously. She winced as she let go of her left arm, but she reached over and grabbed Paige’s hand, holding it tightly. “You and Brendan are going to work things out and you’re going to have that baby.”
Paige nodded, tears streaming down her face. She reached up and wiped at them and when she dropped her hand she saw Jax through Grace’s window, waist deep in the water and struggling through the current to get to them.
* * *
Benjamin Matthews was an excellent lawyer. He worked everything out with Chad, Judson, and Hoyt’s lawyer. It was true that Brendan had thrown the first punch against Chad, starting the fight, so technically Chad would be able to press charges against Brendan. But Judson and Hoyt had tried to go after Brendan at the same time, and then Judson had held Brendan back so that Chad could get in some hits.
Yeah, that hadn’t looked so good, and Brendan would be able to press some charges of his own. But the lawyers had worked it out with each other and Judge Mendelson. All five men were being released with little more than a slap on the wrist and a warning to stay far away from each other. Judge Mendelson said that he might be lenient this time, but that wouldn’t be the case if they got into a fight again.
Baxter was getting off his shift so he said he’d give the guys a ride back to Floppy Flounders to get Shep’s Mustang.
“You tell Jax?” Shep asked as they got into Baxter’s truck.
“Nah, I figured it would be better for him to get that news when he was in sight of you.”
“Great,” Brendan said, but he couldn’t help but smile. Jax was going to flip his shit.
Brendan leaned back and rested his head against the seat. He wanted to take a shower and go to sleep, but only one of those was going to be a reality. He wasn’t going to sit idly by anymore and wait for Paige to figure things out. He was going to do what Shep had said, camp out wherever she was until she talked to him. He’d call her now, but his cell phone was dead.
Baxter’s truck slowed and Brendan opened his eyes. There was a red truck pulled off to the side of the road with its flashers going. There were tire marks in the grass and part of the wooden guardrail had been smashed through.
“That’s Jax’s truck,” Shep said from the front seat.
“I know,” Baxter said, pulling up behind it.
All three men got out of the truck and hurried over as Bennett came running up the bank, soaking wet.
“It’s Paige and Grace,” he said as he ran to the truck.
Brendan bolted down the embankment. His grandmother’s SUV was in the river, the hood entirely submerged. It was up against a tree that was growing sideways out of the ground and into the river. The tree wasn’t thick at all. The current of the river was powerful and it was pushing against the car with an aggressive force. That tree wasn’t going to last much longer, and the second it snapped that car was going to disappear.
It was a fear unlike any other that came over Brendan. His wife and his baby sister could both die before his eyes.
Jax was by the driver’s-side window talking into it. Brendan waded into the river, and it was a struggle to not get swept away by it.
“Are they okay?” he asked coming up next to Jax.
Jax turned but before he could answer, Paige shouted, “Brendan!” Her face was sheer terror, and Grace looked like she was in agony.
“We’re going to get you guys out. Okay?” he said, trying to reassure himself as much as them, because he had to get them out. Had to.
“Bennett went to get something to break the window and to see if there’s any rope in the back of the truck.”