“Colt ain’t goin’ nowhere until he gives us some f**kin’ answers.”
Tell started to push into Colt’s face again, but Ben stepped between them. “Back off, Tell.”
“No. Move outta the way.”
“I said. Back. Off.”
That tone caught Tell’s attention. Some of the rage in his eyes momentarily cleared.
Ben pointed to Colt and Tell. “Now someone start talking.”
“Yeah, Colt, you heard what Ben said. Start talking,” Dalton sneered.
Colt’s arms were folded across his chest. “This would be easier for all of us if you’d just move aside and let me get what I came for.”
“Where is he?”
“Where is who?” Ben asked with total confusion.
“Our dad,” Brandt said. “He’s been gone five days.”
“Five days? Why’s this the first I’ve heard of it?” He looked at Kane.
“Hey, it was the first I’ve heard of it too. How come no one told us he was gone?”
“Don’t pretend you give a shit about Casper. None of you even bothered to come by and see him after Mom left,” Tell said.
Ben disputed that statement. “Quinn came by about six months ago and Casper threatened to shoot him. So I’ll hazard a guess you don’t know everyone that stopped by to check on him.”
But Brandt, Dalton and Tell were focused on Colt. Fists clenched. Eyes hard.
“Go ahead and take a swing at me,” Colt said. “Won’t change nothin’.”
“Nobody is takin’ a swing at no one,” Kane said. “And quit f**kin’ taunting them, Colt. It ain’t helpin’.”
“Will somebody please tell me what the f**k is goin’ on?” Ben demanded.
Colt said, “I stopped by to get something Casper asked for. These guys won’t let me in the house to get it.”
“Because he won’t tell us where Dad is.”
Kane drawled, “Ain’t this fun? Been at this point since I called you.”
Ben addressed Colt. “So is Casper staying with you or something?”
“Or something would cover it.”
He sensed Colt wanted to talk, but their cousins had pushed him in the corner and he wouldn’t be the first to back out. “Come on, Colt, give ’em more than that. Obviously they’re worried.”
“Coulda fooled me,” he muttered.
“You are such a smug ass**le,” Tell hissed.
Ben glared at his cousin. “Not helping. And I wouldn’t talk to you either if you said shit like that to me, so shut it, Tell.”
No one said anything for a solid minute.
Colt dropped the defensive posture. “Fine. Casper is in alcohol treatment.”
Stunned silence.
“Are you f**kin’ serious?” Brandt said.
“Yes.”
“When? How?”
“He called me.” Colt rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually he called Indy because she’s one of the only family members Casper hasn’t crossed. But I ended up answering her phone and talking to him.”
“When was this?” Tell demanded.
“A couple weeks ago. He was drunk as hell. I told him no one could help him until he walked away from the booze. I didn’t figure he would. If you knew how many phone calls I’ve gotten, from folks wantin’ my help…” He sighed. “So to be honest, I didn’t put much store in it. Until he showed up at my house.”
“When?” Dalton barked.
“Five days ago.”
“Where’d you take him?”
“To get dried out.”
Tell wouldn’t let it go. “Where?”
Colt remained mute.
When it appeared all three of Casper’s sons intended to beat the answers out of Colt, Ben stepped in. “This macho bullshit posturing is pointless.” He addressed Brandt, Tell and Dalton. “Jesus, guys, stop and think. Colt can’t tell you because of AA confidentiality rules.”
“Without bein’ a dick, if Casper would’ve wanted you guys to know where he was, he would’ve told you,” Kane added.
“Wouldn’t be the first f**kin’ time Dad’s kept us in the dark,” Dalton retorted.
“You just…helped him? No questions asked?” Brandt asked Colt. “After all the bad shit he’s done to the family?”
Colt simply said, “Yes.”
“Don’t matter where he is, ’cause you can bet he won’t make it through treatment. He’ll be back home, same mean SOB as before, same drunken ass**le as before,” Tell said.
Colt shoved Ben aside and pushed Tell with enough force he almost fell on his ass. “That’s how you react after your father acknowledges he has a problem? By expecting he’ll fail? Fuck you. This is why he didn’t—wouldn’t—come to his sons. It’s why he came to me, because I travel this path every f**kin’ day. I know exactly where he is, in more ways than one. It’s also why I’m goin’ in the goddammed house, getting his bible and getting the hell outta here. But you can bet your ass I won’t burden him with tales of your overwhelming concern.” Colt shouldered his way through Brandt and Dalton and stormed up the porch.
Kane followed him.
Ben really didn’t know what to say. This family shit tore him up. He and his brothers never had the volatile relationship with each other and their father that Uncle Casper had with his boys, and to some extent that Uncle Carson had with his. Because Ben hated conflict and tried to cut through it as quickly as possible, he’d gotten the reputation in the family as the peacemaker. He felt far from that today.
Colt wasn’t inside long. He bounded down the porch, holding a burgundy book.
“So who knows about Dad bein’ in rehab?” Brandt asked Colt.
“My dad, Uncle Cal and Uncle Charlie. Casper asked me to tell them.”
“But not us,” Dalton said.
“It ain’t like our dads said anything to us either,” Kane pointed out.
“And now that I think about it, you sneaky bastards have no right to get up in my face about keeping secrets,” Colt said. “Did you really think we wouldn’t find out that the three of you planned to buy Rielle’s place? Without discussing it with the rest of us?”
Brandt frowned. “What the hell are you babbling about, Colt?”
It took Colt all of four seconds to see the guilt on Tell and Dalton’s faces. “You didn’t include Brandt in on this scheme?”