by Brook Wilder
Preston’s brother was still staring at her blearily. She nodded to one of the mismatched chairs that were pulled up to the small scratched table and he sat without another word. He seemed to be sizing her up, which was fine with her at the moment. Much better than pointing a gun at them and trying to murder her.
Well, technically he was trying to murder Preston, you would have just been an innocent bystander.
Olivia snorted to herself. Yeah. Like that made it so much better.
Knox looked like he’d spent the morning downing most of that bottle of whiskey and, not knowing what else to do, she walked over to the sink and pour him a glass of water from the tap before handing it to him.
He nodded to her in thanks and took a sip before splashing some of it on his face. It was odd, looking at him. He was Preston’s identical twin, yet Olivia had no problem spotting the differences between them.
Besides the obvious red that rimmed Knox’s blue eyes and the couple days of stubble that shadowed his jaw, there was a hardness there, a hopeless cynicism that Preston didn’t have.
Preston exuded a calm competence. Knox was all barely contained wildness. Preston had called his brother reckless, and Olivia could see it. Knox was the type of man to act first and ask questions second. Preston would deliberate, pick the most logical course, and follow it through, no matter what came at him or blocked his path.
Subtle differences, but Olivia knew she would never mistake the two, not again. Even in the video she should have been able to see that it hadn’t been Preston in that diner at all.
“D-do you have any coffee?”
The question came out rougher than she’d hoped, and Olivia cleared her throat quietly. But Knox didn’t seem to notice that, or her uneasiness, as he nodded to a half-full pot that sat on the kitchen counter.
Well, to be honest it was more kitchen and living room and bedroom all crammed into one, but she gratefully took a mostly clean mug from its hook and poured herself a cup. After a second, she poured one for Preston too.
Olivia froze as she stared down at the lukewarm dark liquid as a realization struck her. She didn’t even know how Preston liked his coffee. Black? With cream and sugar? Maybe he didn’t like coffee at all. Maybe he was more of a tea guy.
Do you really think that’s important right now? You’re stalling!
Olivia flinched at the sharp thought and chagrin filled her. She knew she was stalling. But she didn’t even know what to do, or where to begin.
She had gotten shimmied out of her home the night before by Preston telling her that a violent, notorious biker gang wanted them dead. Then she’d been notified that they were going to see Preston’s brother, the murderer. And, when they’d gotten there, she’d had a gun pulled on her. So, yeah, maybe she was a little frazzled. But, under the circumstances, Olivia was pretty damn sure that was completely justified!
The door slammed open and Olivia jumped, sloshing cold coffee over her hands. She gasped, looking behind her as Preston walked inside, and Knox’s oddly familiar face twisted into a growl.
“You no-good, back-stabbing, son of a… Give me my gun back!” Knox shouted, as he lunged across the table, spilling his water.
“Stop being such an asshole, Knox. Get over yourself already. You know I didn’t…”
“Give me my gun right now! I’m going to show him what happens to snitches in this family.”
Olivia turned and gave Knox her sternest look, and then she shot one at Preston for good measure.
“That’s enough. Both of you.”
Olivia huffed out the words sharp enough to have both men turning to her with a shocked glare.
“I mean it. Now, sit down Preston, Knox. Both of you sit down right now, or I will get that gun!”
Olivia was just as shocked as they both looked as Knox resumed his seat and Preston hesitantly took one at the opposite end of the table from his brother. Neither men looked at each other and Olivia had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
Men! Always thinking with the hair on their chests, or something a little further south.
She shook her head at the thought, then forced herself to draw a deep breath.
“Alright now,” she finally said, still feeling more than a little shaky. But at least her voice sounded firm. She would need that to deal with these two, obviously. “Now, I am going to tell you what really happened, so you can both stop acting like complete idiots.”
Olivia didn’t take a seat, preferring instead to pace back and forth as she spoke.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Olivia said, sliding into a more professional tone. “I began working for Fulbright Law firm several months ago and…”
“I don’t think you need to go back that far, Red,” Preston said, interrupting.
Olivia shot him a glare.
“I’m the one telling the story, remember?”
Olivia waited until Preston gave a reluctant nod before going on.
“Right, so I was working for Fulbright Law for a few months before Jonathan told me that we had a lead on a big case. We drove to the prison and that’s when I met your brother, Preston Osbourne, for the first time.”
Olivia paused for a moment, the recollection of that first meeting still vivid in her memory.
“Preston had, of course, been charged and arrested for murder. There was video proof, even though no DNA or fingerprints had been found at the scene of the crime. The crime he didn’t commit, by the way.”
She slid her sharp gaze towards Knox and he just shrugged. Apparently, guilt wasn’t going to work on him.
“I took on Preston’s case,” Olivia said, once it became apparent that neither of the brothers was going to speak up, “and started doing some investigation on my own. Meanwhile, Preston had been let out on bail. During the course of my own investigation, I found out something… interesting.”
“She means she was nosing around where she didn’t belong,” Preston snorted under his breath.
Olivia ignored him.
“I found out that the man in the video had an eagle tattoo,” Olivia stated calmly, as if she was presenting evidence to a jury. “And I also found out that Preston had no such tattoo. Preston requested that I leave off on my investigation.”
“No. I told you to drop the case, if I remember right. In fact, didn’t I fire you?”
“Hush,” Olivia told Preston, before resuming her pacing and her story. “I did not listen to Preston and continued on with the case, believing that was the best course of action for my client.”
“Once again. Not your client. Definitely fired you.”
“That’s when I made the discovery that Preston had a brother. A twin brother. An identical twin brother.” Olivia waved one hand in the air. “That’s when I made the connection. I knew then that it wasn’t Preston at all in that video, it was his brother.”
“Shit, there was a video?” Knox whispered, finally starting to look a little more sober. “I thought all those camera’s in that rundown diner were fakes, props, you know.”
“Well, they weren’t,” Olivia said sharply. “And, of course, since there was no record of Knox Osbourne being anywhere near Hightower Texas for the past twelve months, the sheriff’s department assumed it was Preston. But I knew the truth. I couldn’t let my client…”
“Again, I’m not your client.”
“I couldn’t let my client go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He could go away for life,” Olivia said, nodding in finality as she said the last word. “Deputy Todd had arrested Preston again on some trumped-up traffic charge. They were worried he was going to flee. And I did the only thing I could. I turned in the evidence. I didn’t realize at the time how… severe the consequences would be.”
“Yeah, no shit.” Knox said softly, staring at her with his wide blue eyes, so much like Preston’s except for the violent red ring around them and their being so bloodshot.
“I tried to tell you, Olivia,” Preston started but she rounded on him, point
ing one finger under his nose.
“No, you did not try and tell me! If you had, I would have known better than to just waltz into the police department. I would have contrived a way for Deputy Todd to find the evidence without knowing you or I or anyone else was involved.”
“You… you could have done that?” Preston asked, looking poleaxed, as if that was the first time he’d even thought of the idea.
“Of course, I could have!” Olivia snorted in derision. “It would have been as easy as letting something small slip to Kaitlin at the salon, who would tell Jenny at the flower shop, who eats lunch at the diner every day, so would have talked to Ginger… And then Deputy Todd would have made a big break in the case and we wouldn’t even be in this situation!”
Olivia was panting heavily by the time she had finished, and now both brothers looked like they’d been slapped across the face.
“I didn’t know,” Preston finally said softly.
Olivia shrugged.
“It’s too late to worry about it now.” She huffed, and then relented a little. “Besides, at least it’s been exciting, hasn’t it?”
“Any more exciting and I’m going to have a heart attack,” Preston said with a soft snort, but there was a warmth in his gaze that heated her through.
They were interrupted when Knox spoke up for the first time a moment later.
“So… you really didn’t snitch on me?” he asked, and Preston shook his head vehemently.
“Of course not. You’re my brother.”
“But Charlie said… Capone, he…”
“Look, Arthur has been looking for a way to get rid of me for over a year and he finally got his shot. I doubt he even bothered to find out of the rumors were true. He was probably just glad of a reason to come after me. But he made a mistake when he went after Olivia.”
“Olivia?” Knox asked.
Olivia gave a start, realizing she’d never told him her name. She put up one hand a few inches.
“That would be me.”
“Oh,” Knox said, nodding. “Hey Olivia.”
“Hey,” she answered, not really knowing what else to say.
It seemed like the animosity was gone from between the brothers, at least for the moment.
“Pres, I’m sorry you got caught up in that shit. I never meant for that to happen. You have to believe me. After I found out about…”
Preston suddenly held up one hand, his whole body going stiff.
“Wait a minute,” he growled. “What is that?”
And then Olivia heard it too. A dull roar in the distance still but growing closer and closer. The roar of engines. Motorcycle engines. A lot of them.
Before Olivia could make sense of the sounds, Preston was already on his feet. He grabbed Knox by the shoulder and told him to run, shoving him in the direction of the tree-line, the only cover for miles around.
“Go, Knox! You have to go now. I don’t know how they found you… maybe they followed me. Fuck!”
Preston shoved at his brother again, rage and frustration warring on his face.
“Go! Now! Please, just go. Get out of here. I’ll deal with this.”
“But Preston, I…”
“Go, Knox!”
Preston shoved him one last time and finally Knox stumbled back, disappearing into the thinning tree-line just as several bikers, all wearing the Devil’s Martyrs patch on their leather jackets, surrounded them. Arthur Capone Johnston was leading them, and his glare was murderous and locked dead center on Preston.
“It’s over, Osbourne. I found you. Tracked you down like the dog you are, and now you’re going to get exactly what you deserve.”
Capone flicked two fingers towards Preston and Olivia.
“Get them.”
Chapter 6
Preston watched a handful of the bikers get off their motorcycles and start stalking towards them on Capone’s orders. He glared at Capone himself.
He’d never truly hated anyone before, but in that moment he despised the other man. Arthur ‘Capone’ Johnston wasn’t especially tall, and his middle was rounded from beer and laziness. He had plenty of men to order around to do his bidding. He rarely lifted a finger to do anything himself, unless it was causing someone else pain. That he relished with a joy that was sickening to witness.
Capone was in his fifties, but his face looked like that of an older man, and his nose was so bent from being broken over and over that it veered sharply to one side. His skin was scarred and ruddy. But it was his eyes that drew Preston’s attention. They were filled with glee, and one other emotion that made Preston’s stomach clench. Victory.
As the bikers made their way ever closer, Preston could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline that filled his body before any fight. But the paralyzing fear was something knew, and he knew that was all for Olivia.
He glanced behind him and caught sight of her hesitating in the doorway of the trailer. Knox was long gone, which was for the better at the moment, knowing his hot-headed brother. Knox was more than likely to get them all shot before anyone could get out any sort of explanation.
Preston’s gaze slid to the biker’s surrounding them. The ones he could see looked to be a part of Capone’s inner circle. His gang of thugs that were more loyal to him than to the Devil’s Martyrs. All it would take was one wrong word, one wrong move, and he would end up dead and more than likely take Olivia down with him.
Preston shot one more look over his shoulder towards her. Olivia looked terrified. Her normally flushed face was pale and her sparkling green eyes were dull with fear. He hated seeing that look on her face. He hated even more that it was totally justified. They were in a bad position. A really bad position. And he was the one that had put them square in the middle of it.
And he was struggling to find a way out of it for them. So far, he hadn’t been able to come up with anything good, except for rushing the bikers to give Olivia a chance to escape. A slim chance. He knew it was far more likely to end with them getting shot instead.
Preston took a cautious step forward, and then another, raising his hands as he tried to angle his body away from Olivia, to draw their attention towards him instead of her. Maybe he could still talk his way out of this battle. It was worth a shot. It was the only shot he had.
“What the hell are you doing here, Capone?” Preston shouted the question with far more bravado than he felt.
The president and leader of the Devil’s Martyrs just snorted out a humorless laugh.
“I could ask you the same question. But I won’t, because the answer doesn’t matter. Nothing you say will make a damn bit of difference, Osbourne,” Capone sneered, each word dripping deep-seated hatred. “Besides, you know why I’m here, don’t you? You’re a snitch. And you know what happens to anyone who snitches on a gang member.”
“Look, you’ve got everything wrong,” Preston said, raising his hands once more as he prayed desperately that he would be able to charm his way out of this situation.
He directed his words at his fellow crew members. He knew Capone wouldn’t listen to reason. The man was insane, first of all, and he would jump at any chance to take Preston out.
“I swear on my name as a member of the Devil’s Martyrs that I never snitched. Not on Knox, not on any one. I’ve never sold out any member of the crew.”
“Liar!” Capone screamed so suddenly that several of the bikers jerked in reaction. Spittle flew from Arthur’s mouth and his face was even more red as rage fired from his hard gaze, “You’re a liar, Osbourne! There’s no talking your way out of this one!”
His countenance shifted suddenly, within a blink of an eye going from beyond angry to sly, a snide smile curving his lips.
“Also, you’re no longer a member of the Devil’s Martyrs, so your little show of honesty doesn’t mean shit.”
Shock rolled through him. He didn’t know why. He should have expected Capone to pull something like that, but to hear the words tore something apart inside him. Even though Preston
had thought about it, even dreamed about the day he would leave the Devil’s Martyrs behind, he’d always assumed it would be on his own terms. Not like this.
“I’m tired of talking. I told you to get them,” Capone roared at the rough faced men who were creeping in around them step by terrible step.
Preston turned around, his eyes desperately seeking out Olivia’s.
“Run! Olivia, get out of here! Get away from them.”
The words had just fallen from his mouth when three of the bikers broke off and charged him, but they weren’t the only ones moving. Preston was pretty sure he was still in shock and seeing things, because, instead of running away like he’d told her, Olivia had turned and dashed between him and the three oncoming thugs.
