As soon as Kade had pulled away, Josh had jogged up the stairs to change. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, he pulled the tarp off the twenty-year-old Harley he’d won in a poker game.
He revved it, and the bike gave a loud growl. The familiar rumble soothed him and the vibrations of the bike between his thighs offered him something mindless to focus on while he drove to Zeb’s house. Josh needed that. The less he thought about what had happened, the better. Every time he did, the itch crawled over his skin and memories he refused to acknowledge returned.
Josh drove up the road to Zeb’s run-down home and breathed a sigh. Zeb’s rusted pickup sat in the driveway. Josh hadn’t misjudged the loser he’d known all his life. Too bad his instincts had been wrong about Zeb’s sister.
Josh parked his bike behind the piece-of-crap vehicle and hurried to the front door. Not bothering to knock, he turned the handle and walked into the musty, darkened living room.
Zeb slept on one of the recliners, his mouth open, drool dribbling from the corner. He’d changed into a pair of sweats and a shirt advertising the local strip club. An empty bottle of homebrewed wine sat on the floor next to him.
Josh slammed the door. Zeb jumped from the chair. He rammed his knee on the coffee table and squealed. Josh chuckled.
“Hey, buddy, be careful there. No need to get startled. It’s just your old pal.” Or old enemy. Tit for tat where Zeb was concerned. He never exactly valued his friends, not that Josh had ever considered Zeb one. In a small town, they were often one and the same, though.
Zeb blinked. He plopped back on the chair and gripped the armrests. “J-Josh?”
“In the flesh.”
“Wh-what? H-how?”
Josh frowned. “You okay? Have you been drinking again?” He pointedly glanced at the rounded bottle. “No wonder you look a little bleary-eyed. That stuff your pap makes will eat the lining off your stomach. Did you drink the whole thing?”
Zeb scrubbed at his beard with the back of his trembling hand. “I…I thought I’d killed you. I was waitin’ for the cops to show.”
Josh forced a chuckle that sounded bitter and a little crazed even to his own ears. Part of him had thought the same thing, but that was impossible. “Do I look dead?”
“No.” Zeb leaned forward. He frowned so hard deep creases formed on his pale, freckled face. “The knife. It was covered in blood up to the hilt.” He shook his head. “I had to have cut you up pretty bad.”
“Nah. You sliced a good flap of skin, though.” Josh gingerly touched his belly. It no longer hurt. “They had to use those butterfly strips.” The lies kept piling up.
Zeb glanced from Josh’s stomach to the kitchen. “I did more than that. I know I did.”
Josh strode across the room, ignoring how his boots stuck to the hardwood floor, and entered the kitchen. Bloody fingerprints coated the edges of the counter. In the sink, the knife he’d felt rip him open lay on the bottom. His gut rolled. Blood caked the blade and hilt. He forced himself to turn the water on and rinse away the evidence of the attack.
“Whatcha ya’ doing?” Zeb asked.
“Saving you. It’s bad enough Bree’s got the gun you decided to play with.”
Zeb cursed. “I’m screwed.”
“I told you, I’m making sure you don’t go to jail.” And hoping to convince him to keep his nose out of Josh’s business.
“Why?”
Zeb’s suspicious tone tensed Josh’s muscles. “Because things got carried away. It isn’t worth getting the cops involved.”
Silence stretched. Finally, Zeb cleared his throat. “What do you want?”
Josh finished wiping down the counters. He slipped the knife into his boot and faced Zeb. He considered just walking out but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to deal with another potential problem. “Get yourself back in rehab and talk to Abby.”
Zeb frowned. “What about?”
Josh resisted the urge to smack his forehead. “About Abby’s insistence that we’re an item. It’s not true.”
Zeb shook his head. “No way. I ain’t callin’ my baby sister a liar.”
“You don’t need to. Set her up with someone else. Convince her she can do better than me.”
“That all?”
Josh nodded. “That’s all.”
A long moment passed where Zeb stared at the floor. Finally, he grunted. “Fine. I’ll talk to her.”
“Great.” Josh walked to the door. He wanted to get out of here. The smells lingering in the house churned his gut.
“I know you’re lyin’.”
Josh stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He looked over his shoulder and leveled a glare at Zeb. “You don’t know anything.”
“You think I’m slow. I ain’t, ya’ know.”
Zeb was slow, but he wasn’t dumb. Josh ground his teeth. “So what am I lying about?”
“Tonight. You don’t really care if I get arrested or not.”
“You’re right about that, but I do care about your folks. Your mama shouldn’t have to watch you go to prison again. It’ll break her heart.” Course, Zeb still might, but it was out of Josh’s hands. All Josh cared about at the moment was the knife in his boot. He didn’t need the cops running any DNA tests on it.
“I don’t buy it, but I’m going to find out the truth about why you want to keep the fight quiet. I promise you that.”
“You don’t want the cops involved any more than I do. Let it alone, and we’ll both be happy.”
A considering look replaced the confused one on Zeb’s face. “Are you into something illegal?” Zeb grinned as if he’d just figured out the solution to world peace. “Sellin’ drugs out of the backroom of the bar again?”
Josh was halfway across the kitchen before he stopped himself. He clenched his fists and fought the urge to pummel Zeb’s zit-pocked face. “I didn’t even own the bar then. My dad did, and he didn’t know what was going on.”
Zeb held up his hands, but the cocky smile never left his lips. “Hey, I ain’t blamin’ your old man. Stuff happens, and people make mistakes. Besides, it’s been what? Six years?”
“Five.” Five years, eleven months, and thirteen days to be exact. Actually, it was about time for his baby sister to come home for her yearly visit. Maybe he’d succeed in convincing her to stay this time.
“Plenty of time to forgive and forget.”
Josh closed the distance between them until he towered over the shorter man. Zeb craned his head to meet Josh’s gaze. Josh had to give him points for holding his own, but since Zeb’s back was pressed into the wall, he didn’t have a choice.
“Never. You understand?” Josh waited until Zeb nodded. “You better pray your buddy Vince never gets out of jail. Those bars are the only thing keeping him alive.”
Josh should’ve killed Vince when he’d had his hands on him. He pushed hard against the memory, shoving it back in the box, and turned his anger on the jerk in front of him who’d stood by and watched while people died.
Josh grabbed Zeb by the shoulders and tossed him into the living room. Josh ignored the curses and walked out before he committed murder. With his luck, he’d end up in the same cell as the man who’d destroyed his sister’s life.
Mira, in her jaguar form, pressed her chest to the soft soil behind the human’s house. Josh stormed out the door. He looked fiercer than she’d ever seen him. While the predatory vibe he gave off appealed to her, she wanted to know what had occurred inside the home to put the murderous glower on Josh’s handsome face.
As soon as Devin had dropped her off at her place, she’d jumped in her car and driven to Josh’s home only to find it empty. She suspected Josh had come out here so she’d followed. Apparently, she’d arrived too late to find out why he’d gotten into a fight.
Josh’s bike roared to life. He tore out of the driveway and faded into the distance. She waited until she could no longer hear the engine before advancing in a slinking crouch to the back porch.
Coming out here alone posed a risk. All the shifters in Kade’s pride and Xander’s pack had been warned not to roam around in their animal forms on other people’s properties. The humans in the area enjoyed hunting. She accepted the danger if it meant ensuring Josh remained safe.
The heavy curtains on the widows prevented her from seeing inside. It didn’t block the human’s voice or his stale, musty scent from feeding her the information she required. The tart edge to his personal scent suggested he’d recently used illegal drugs, but she couldn’t distinguish between the various types the way Kade or Rafe could.
She filed the information away to consider later and stepped as gently as she could through the soggy, overgrown flower beds. An expletive involving Josh rang out. She froze with her front paw on the deck.
“He’s hidin’ something. He has to be.” Zeb, the human who’d hurt Josh, grunted. “I don’t know what. You think he’s really going to tell me?”
She crawled across the uneven deck. That high window with only a valence over it probably sat above the sink. She wanted to get a good look at the male so her cats could judge him. According to Devin, Zeb had been at the bar. She hadn’t seen him. Then again, if she had, she wouldn’t be able to identify him. There were many humans she didn’t know who frequented Josh’s bar. She would need to recognize Zeb, however, if she expected to be able to protect Josh.
A foot from her destination the board under her paw gave way.
The human’s curses carried over his heavy footsteps as he no doubt ran toward the back door. She pulled her leg out of the hole, ignoring the mud between her toes, and fled for the safety of the tree line. The sound of a rifle being cocked echoed through the night. In her jaguar’s body, she leapt for the nearest tree and quickly climbed into the limbs.
“Where’d it go?” Heavy clunks of the human’s boots resonated over the deck. “I saw it. Stupid wolves. Time to get the damn traps out. You’re going to die, little wolf, you hear that?”
Something wooden crashed then the thumps faded. A door slammed.
Mira waited a few more minutes to ensure the human stayed indoors. The lights inside went out, and she slunk away before the predator became prey.