by Cora Brent
There wasn’t much in the way of parking outside of Scratch, Cord and Deck’s tattoo parlor, so I parked up the street, right behind Creed’s pickup. He must not have cleaned the thing in months; a layer of Sonoran dust covered the back window. So of course I felt obliged to lean over and trace the words ‘Wash Me’ with my finger. Then, for good measure, I added the crude outline of a penis because somewhere in my heart still lurked the spirit of a thirteen-year-old brat.
As I whistled my way down the sidewalk I passed a tasty little coed who threw a pair of interested brown eyes my way. I nodded curtly and looked at the ground. She didn’t stand a chance. No one had since the moment I kissed a beautiful, stubborn girl in a Las Vegas hotel room nearly four years ago.
When I reached the door of Scratch the light of impending evening was soft enough that I could see right through the glass with no glare. And right there was Creed’s cranky backside just waiting to be clobbered. Since we were born Creedence has been the biggest and the strongest of the three of us, but I could always hold my own. We didn’t knock each other around like we did when we were kids but every once in a while I still liked to yank his chain when the chance came up. So I flung the door open just hard enough to bash him on his muscled ass.
He swiveled around to scowl at me in a way that only Creedence Gentry could scowl. Damn, I loved that guy.
Something was wrong though. Cord was standing ten feet away with a grim look on his face. Cord didn’t rattle easily.
“So what’d I miss?” I asked slowly.
Creed glanced at Cord.
“Nothing yet,” he said, motioning to the door. “Let’s move.”
“Where might we be moving to?”
Cord slapped a hand on my shoulder. “Creed and I are taking a trip down to grand old Emblem. There’s a couple of errant Gentrys who need some bail money.”
All my senses went on high alert. Emblem wasn’t a place I visited regularly. Or ever. “What Gentrys?”
“Elijah’s boys,” answered Creed with a touch of impatience. He never enjoyed explaining anything. “Deck apparently looks after them and they need some cash to get out of trouble.”
I tried to picture the children of my father’s quiet cousin. “What are they now, like ten years old?”
“Seventeen,” answered Cord.
“Shit.” I shook my head. “Time sure as hell flies.”
“Yes.” Creed looked pointedly at his watch. “It’s flying right now.”
“What are their names again?”
“Mo and Curly. Can we go?”
“Sure. By the way I’m coming with you.”
Cord smiled. “We figured you would.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
CORD
I hadn’t eaten since this morning. Since it was always the plan to head out to dinner with the boys, Creed was agreeable to pulling into the drive thru of the nearest hamburger joint.
“Get me a double with cheese,” I said, trying to hand him a twenty.
He waved me off. “I got it. What’ll you have, Junior?” he asked Chase.
That was a lifelong joke between the three of us. Chase had been bunched up in our mother’s upper ribcage and was the last one to be surgically removed from the womb.
Chase chose not to get riled up. “I will have a salad,” he said mildly from the backseat, where he was thumbing through a National Geographic magazine he’d lifted from the lobby of Scratch.
We’d reached the colorful menu billboard attached to the outside speaker but instead of opening the window to order, Creed swiveled around and scowled. “What?”
“A salad,” Chase repeated. “With balsamic vinaigrette dressing. No cheese.”
“It’s Fab Burger, you asshole. There’s no balsamic salads on offer here.”
Chase looked up from his magazine. “Can we go somewhere else?”
“No.”
“But I’ve gone vegan.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I am shunning the consumption of animal byproducts.”
“Huh? Why?”
“A myriad of reasons.”
Creed was getting mad. “What fucking reasons?”
“I would elaborate but they would sail right over your fat head.”
“Dammit Chase, you have not gone vegan, whatever the hell that is.”
“Why are you so unsupportive of my dietary choices, Creedence?”
“Just get him a triple with bacon,” I interrupted. After twenty-six years Creed ought to be able to deal with Chase’s antics. “He’ll eat it.”
“I’ll eat it,” Chase agreed, shrugging.
Creed grunted and placed the order while Chase chuckled quietly.
When we pulled up to the window the girl leaned her head out and appraised us, her eyes widening. I was used to it, particularly when the three of us were together. We weren’t identical but we looked enough alike and took up enough muscular space to make quite an impression.
The girl was actively blushing as she dropped Creed’s change.
“Ohmygosh!” she exclaimed like it was one syllable. “I’m so sorry.”
“No big deal,” said Creed, not bothering to open up the door and pick up the scattered quarters. He grabbed the bags of food and tossed them right into my lap. The smell of fried greasiness made my stomach wake up and start grumbling. Saylor had been on a home cooking kick for a while, wanting the girls to have something better in their diet than fast food or cereal. Saylor wasn’t an instinctive cook so results had been mixed. I always grudgingly chewed whatever kind of organic stew she set in front of me but there was no taste on earth that could compare to the first hungry bite of a greasy hamburger.
Creed drove with one hand and shoved food into his mouth with the other. From the time he was a kid he could eat faster than humans were supposed to eat but I guess all that strength needed a lot of fuel. I tossed a bag back to Chase and he dug in cheerfully, like I knew he would.
As we reached the freeway heading east it really started to sink in that we were going back to Emblem.
Emblem.
The landscape of our childhood.
The place my nightmares lived.
Chase must have read my mind because he loudly crumpled up a bag. “We’re not going any further than Main Street.”
It wasn’t a question. We would visit the police station where Gaps presumably waited with all the paperwork. From there he would release those boys who were passing the hours in a neighboring jail. There was no reason whatsoever to venture south of the center of town, deeper into the desert, where the remnants of Gentrys gone bad still lived in their sordid shithouses. That was where we grew up. That was where our parents remained.
“Only Main Street,” Creed confirmed with a sidelong glance at me.
I sipped my soda and stared out the window at the pastel colors of the evening. My brothers had been through the same hell I had and it cemented a bond that was even thicker than biology. They knew some things about me that even my wife didn’t know and were likely attuned to the fact that a cold sweat had broken out on the back of my neck, a purely animal instinct connected to the word Emblem.
I hated him. My father. Our father.
I hadn’t spoken his name in years but the knowledge that he lived haunted me in small ways every day. My feelings for my mother were more complex. In a way I hated her too, for her weakness, for loving her drugs and her vicious tormenter more than she ever loved us.
I didn’t understand it as a child.
I still didn’t understand as an adult.
And now, as a parent myself, I felt a special kind of rage for the people who could give a child life and never cherish him.
The hand on my shoulder startled me. It was Chase. He gave me a reassuring pat and then sank back into his seat. I took a deep breath, temporarily banished thoughts of Benton and Maggie Gentry and turned to face my brother.
“Hey, how’s Steph? Feel like I’ve barely seen her in months.”
&nb
sp; Chase shifted and I thought I detected a fleeting look of worry. But then it was replaced with a cocky grin.
“She’s good. Might be a little worn out today after all our erotic acrobatics last night but no worries. She’s used to my punishing stamina.”
Creed rolled his eyes and snorted. “Keep your stamina back there where it belongs.”
“Don’t be jealous, Creedence.”
“Fuck you.”
“No thanks. You’re not pretty enough.”
I laughed out loud, feeling good all of a sudden, despite the fact that we were driving straight to Emblem. In some ways we would always be boys. I laughed so hard I started coughing.
“Look at that,” Chase accused. “You broke Cord. Saylor’s gonna kill you. It’ll just be one more reason why I’m her favorite brother-in-law.”
“Bullshit. Saylor never said that.”
“She did. Truly told me.”
“My wife wouldn’t tell you a damn thing.”
“Truly adores me.”
“Why don’t you put a ring on your own business, Junior, and stay out of mine?”
It was the kind of mocking barb we’d been hurling at each other since we could talk. Chase was never one to back down from verbal combat but he quieted right down. Creed must have hit a nerve without really meaning to.
I was done coughing so I turned around to see Chase kind of slumped in the backseat. He shook it off when he saw me staring though.
I raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”
“Of course,” he answered automatically. Whatever was eating him must have something to do with Stephanie. The two of them had always been somewhat volatile in a way but I suppose every relationship was different. It seemed like they’d settled into a happy life and I expected they would stay together. They loved each other fiercely and at this point I couldn’t imagine Chase with any other woman but Stephanie. I knew he couldn’t imagine it either. I hoped that would be enough.
Creed could be sensitive when he wanted to be. He realized that the mood had soured and so he switched topics. He asked Chase questions about the teaching job he’d be starting in a few months. Chase perked up and started talking about how he couldn’t wait to be in front of a classroom. I was so proud of him. And those kids he’d be teaching were damn lucky to have him.
As the miles passed, the scenery was largely the same. One sprawling stucco suburban tract after another, punctuated by strip malls. We ran into some traffic due to all the folks headed out to their far-flung subdivisions after working all day. I didn’t mind. It was nice being with my brothers and we’d still make it there in plenty of time.
As Creed exited the freeway in favor of the two lane road that led to Emblem the mountains were just beginning to melt into the darkness. The neat little communities became fewer and farther apart, surrounded by the endless inky expanse of the desert.
When we closed in on Emblem the first thing I saw was the harsh light radiating from the sprawling prison. A good chunk of the locals were employed by the prison in some way, including Saylor’s father. John McCann and I weren’t enemies but we weren’t friendly either. Saylor invited her father up to Tempe far more often than he agreed to visit and sometimes I wondered if that had something to do with me. Saylor’s father and my father had an unsavory history that I didn’t know much about, other than they’d known each other as kids. Her mother had all but disowned her when she found out Saylor was marrying a filthy Gentry.
Impulsively I withdrew my phone, figuring I ought to text Say and let her know exactly where I was. Then I thought better of it. She’d wait up and worry if she knew I was down in Emblem. There was no harm in letting her think I was happily carousing around Tempe with the boys.
I didn’t even realize I was squeezing the soda cup until it crumpled in my hands and spilled ice into my lap. If Creed had something to say about it he chose not to. He merely opened the window so I could toss the ice out onto the pavement.
“Is that Gaps?” Chase pointed.
“That’s Gaps,” I confirmed, squinting out the window at a lone figure leaning against a police cruiser at the boxy Emblem police station.
Gaps saw us coming and raised a hand in greeting. The sunlight was rapidly disappearing but I could recognize the weak chin and sagging gut that were the hallmarks of all the men in his family. Funny thing, heredity. You’re handed all these pieces of yourself and believe they’re unique to you, but everything about you belonged to someone else first.
Gaps leaned inside the window when Creed rolled it down. “Hey, boys.”
“Should we go inside?” Creed asked, motioning to the station right after he cut the engine.
Gaps frowned slightly. “Nah, let’s keep this away from all the eyes.”
I waved around the bundle of cash. “Shouldn’t we get off Main Street then?”
Instead of answering, Gaps opened up the door to the back cab and climbed in. He produced an envelope and held it up. “So who will do the honors?”
Chase took the envelope and opened the contents cautiously. Creed flipped on the overhead light since it was really too dark to read properly. I swiveled around and watched Chase while he scanned the documents. After a moment he nodded.
“So you’re releasing them to our custody?”
“Cappie – you remember Cappie, my brother-in-law – he’s the judge and he’s releasing them to the custody of a blood relative for a nominal bail.”
“You call eight grand nominal?”
“In terms of bail, hell yes. Those jackasses could have killed someone with their little joyride. They were racing the Cortez boys when a cat froze in their path and rather than flatten the mangy thing they swerved into a canal.” Gaps chuckled and I was hit with the smell of sauerkraut. “Of course, it was rather entertaining to watch The Gnome get his horns all twisted up.”
The Gnome was a rather insulting nickname that’s long been applied to a local businessman who’d also been the town mayor for years. In a weird twist of fate, he also happened to be Saylor’s stepfather.
I could see Chase’s skepticism. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at us before turning back to Gaps. “Does this mean we’re responsible for babysitting them until their court date?”
“Nah.” Gaps waved a hand. “Just a formality. Tracy Gentry can be a little hot-headed but she’ll open up the door if her sons come knocking.”
I tried to picture my dead cousin’s wife. All I remembered about her was frosted hair and really long red fingernails.
Gaps sighed in the backseat. “Look, Cappie’s doing this as a favor.”
“Why would he do that?” Chase countered. “From what I remember there’s no love lost between Emblem law enforcement and the Gentry family.”
Gaps snorted and wagged a finger. “Don’t underestimate the reach of Deck Gentry. You boys call him, by the way?”
“No. Deck’s on vacation.”
Something about that statement struck Gaps as enormously funny. He guffawed and clutched his bobbling belly like some ugly Santa Claus from a dystopian universe.
Creed shot me a look. He was ready to leave the Gaps-featured part of the evening behind.
Luckily Gaps suddenly shifted to professionalism. He held out a pen, watched while Chase signed and accepted the wad of cash. It all seemed rather unofficial and unseemly to me but what the hell did I know.
A moment later he rolled his body out of the truck and motioned for us to follow him to the Agave County Detention Facility. Emblem happened to be the seat of the poorest county in the state, but that turned out to be pretty convenient sometimes because the majority of those who were arrested and processed happened to be Emblem residents.
“Do they know we’re coming?” Creed asked as we followed Gaps around to the back.
“I told them you were on your way,” Gaps said. “Con looked relieved but Stone just crossed his arms and shrugged. Hey, when was the last time you saw them? I know you guys don’t make it down here too often.”
“It’s been a while,” I admitted slowly, feeling suddenly strange over the concept of coming face to face with cousins I hadn’t given a thought to in years.
Gaps squinted, punched in a code and waited for the click.
“Well,” he said, beckoning that we ought to follow him as he flashed a crooked grin. “You ready to meet some Gentrys?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
CREED
They were exactly what I expected.
Young but filled with all kinds of cocky arrogance, strutting around with a bravado that probably never really touched their hearts. Something kind of struck me when I first set eyes on Conway and Stone Gentry after the better part of a decade. I glanced over at Cord and Chase to see if it was hitting them the same way. Cord raised his eyebrows. Chase smirked.
The brothers kidded around and slapped Gaps on the back as they were released from the bleak cell they’d been sitting in since early this morning. I could tell they were so relieved they wanted to kiss the fucking floor but they’d be damned if they’d show it.
They were just like us.
Well, just like what we’d once been.
Stone was slightly taller and there was something vaguely sharp about the way his light blue eyes appraised us. I would have guessed him to be the tougher of the two, the one who probably had the idea to steal an expensive vehicle and race it down the main drag where they were almost certain to get caught.
The other one, Conway, had a loose, careless look about him; ripped jeans, laughter in his expression. He pushed the shaggy dark blonde hair out of his eyes and offered us a wide smile.
“Shit, it’s the famous triplets,” he said, closing in to shake hands while Stone hung back and coolly watched. “How the hell are ya?”
“Famous? Hey guys, did you know we were famous?” Cord asked in a shocked voice but I could tell he was amused.
Conway nodded eagerly and poked his brother in the side. Stone frowned at him and tipped his head with what was probably supposed to be a silent warning. Conway just shrugged.
