AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dewey wrapped his hand with duct tape to hold the paper towel in place. “Talking to him? I figured he’d just... punish him.”
“No. He’s questioning him about who helped him. Corey didn’t believe he thought it all up on his own.” Jace hesitated, then figured it couldn’t hurt to try to get Dewey to take them with him. “Corey hits,” he whispered. “I mean, we survive. But he’s never been this mad before, and I don’t know what to do. He said that Aaron deserves to be in jail, that we shouldn’t have tried to kidnap the kid to get him out.”
Dewey frowned. “I didn’t think he’d be mad about that. I thought he’d want Aaron freed, too.”
“I thought the same thing, but Corey’s mad. Really mad.” Jace hesitated. “Rick wants to run. I don’t know where he’d go. Where we’d go. Can we... can we stay with you?”
Dewey’s mouth opened, then closed. “I’ll see what I can do. Look, you need to go get your hand fixed up. Infection’s a real thing, especially out here on the bayou. You go on now.”
“Do you think it needs stitches? Maybe I can just put a Band-Aid on it.”
“It’s deep, Jace. Go find Corey. If it needs stitches, he can do it. You get an infection out here, you could lose a hand.”
Jace didn’t want to ask Corey to do anything. He wanted to run from Corey. But he also didn’t want to lose his hand.
Swallowing his dread, Jace headed toward Corey’s quarters, to the door he’d come out of. He had his fist raised, ready to knock, but stopped at the sound of a thin, muted scream coming from inside.
Oh my God. Rick. That scream had to have come from Rick.
Jace stared at the door, his mind spinning. He needed to get Corey to stop. But if he tried, Corey might start hitting him, too. But he had to do something. He glanced down at his bleeding hand and hoped Corey wouldn’t hit him for interrupting.
He knocked hard. “Corey!” he shouted. “I’m hurt. I need help. Corey?” Ten seconds passed with no response, so he knocked again, his heart beating louder than the sound of his fist on the door. “Corey?”
“What the fuck, kid?”
Jace wheeled around to see Bobby coming around the house from the front door. “I need to see Corey. Please.”
Bobby eyed him, both angry and suspicious. “He’s busy, kid.”
Jace stuck out his hand, the towel now a bloody, sodden mess. “I cut myself. Dewey said to find Corey. That he could fix me up.”
Bobby rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell him, but you’re in for a hurt worse than that scratch on your hand.”
Jace followed him to the front and waited as Bobby disappeared inside. A minute passed. Then two. Jace had slumped against the bunker wall when the front door opened again.
“Well?” Corey’s voice cut through his fear. His brother stood in front of him, fists on his hips. “Let me see it.”
Jace held out his hand, bracing himself for Corey’s rough hands, and was shocked when his brother’s touch was gentle.
“That looks like it hurts,” Corey said quietly.
“It does.”
“Let’s go inside. I’ll fix you up.” Corey shocked him again when he put an arm around Jace’s shoulders. “You’ve had an eventful two days, little bro.”
Jace felt tears sting his eyes at Corey’s unexpected kindness, but he refused to let them fall. “I guess so.”
Jace sat at Corey’s kitchen table while his brother gathered first-aid supplies. Corey had worked in a New Orleans hospital before he’d started his construction company. He’d been a security guard in the ER but said he’d picked stuff up.
“It’s not so bad,” Corey said. “It’s already stopped bleeding. You don’t need stitches, but I am going to clean it out. It’s gonna sting.”
Jace saw little white lights dancing in front of his eyes by the time Corey had cleaned and bandaged his hand. He hadn’t watched his brother work, but he was still light-headed.
“All done,” Corey said softly. “Jace, did Rick tell you that I said to abduct that child?”
Taken off guard, Jace whipped his gaze up to Corey’s. “How—”
He closed his eyes. Shit. Corey had tricked him.
