Colson (The Henchmen MC 20)

"What the hell is going on?" Cash's voice demanded, winded, Laz at his heels, having rushed off to get him.

"The little prince here was holding a gun on Colson who was trying to shield the kid from a beating."

"That kid has Dad's money clip," Fallon objected, practically shaking with rage.

Cash's gaze moved around the room, taking everything in.

"Okay," he said, holding a hand up. "You're sure it's Reign's clip?"

"Yes," Fallon agreed.

"Alright," Cash said, nodding toward me, jerking his head to tell me to move to the side. "What's your name, kid?"

"Jacob," Eva supplied, drawing Cash's attention.

"Jacob. And you're his mom."

"Yes, Eva," she said, nodding frantically.

"No one is going to beat your son, Eva," Cash said, tone surprisingly calm.

"No?" she asked, looking over the men in the room.

"No," he assured her.

"Well, then can I?" she asked, making a shocked snort escape Huck. "I swear to God, I've never raised a hand to that kid, but I am this close," she said, pinching her fingers together, "to making him march out there and pick a switch off the tree for me to whoop him with."

"Let's call that the back-up plan," Cash said, making his way over toward where I was standing beside Jacob, lowering himself down on the coffee table. "I'm Cash," he greeted. "That money clip you had belongs to my brother, Reign. He's the president of this MC and he's been missing. And we have been trying to find him before something bad happens. Look," he went on when Jacob's gaze stayed downcast, making it impossible to read. "I don't want to think you're a bad kid. Your mom seems like a nice woman. And I don't think you'd want her to get in trouble here because of something you did, right?"

It was bluster. No one here put their hands on women. But if the kid didn't want to save himself, Cash was taking a chance on him wanting to save his mom.

"I'm going to ask you this once. You get one shot at this before shit starts to get real, okay? Where did you get that money clip?"

"I found it," Jacob mumbled, his lower lip trembling.

"When?"

"Last night," he said.

"You were here last night," Eva said. "On the couch. Did you find it before then?" she asked.

"No," Jacob admitted.

"He couldn't have left," Fallon insisted.

"Shut up," Cash demanded quietly. "Did you leave last night, Jacob?" To that, he got a nod. "How? How did you get out?" he asked.

Then Jacob's head rose, his gaze seeking, looking around the space, landing on someone.

Tyler.

Who was walking in the front door.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked, brows furrowing at the strange scene before him.

"Tyler helped you sneak out?" Cash asked.

"You motherfucker," Tyler snapped, betrayed glare shooting in Jacob's direction.

"You're so fucking dead," he added, turning to go back out the door.

"Hey—" Huck started to yell.

But out of fucking nowhere, Brooks appeared, grabbing Tyler in a hold from behind, his leg kicking out, knocking into the back of his knee, forcing Tyler onto his knees.

"Got 'em," Brooks said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

"Good. Hold onto him for a minute. We'll fucking get to him," Cash said, and it was the first time I'd heard anything close to rage in his voice, but it was a dark, cold kind of rage. The tone was gone, though, as he glanced back toward Jacob. "Alright. So. Tyler helped you out. Why? Where did you go? Who did you see?"

Again, there was the quivering lower lip. "Tell them," Eva said, voice tense. "Tell them you went to see Uncle Miguel. Tell them."

"Mom."

"I'm sorry, bud. If it comes to saving you or saving your piece of shit uncle, I'm going to choose you every time. His uncle is part of Third Street," Eva declared. "Where did Miguel take you last night? Did you see their leader? Tell them," she begged, voice getting thick, eyes filling up.

"See that, kid?" Cash asked. "You're making your mom cry," he said, and there was no mistaking the guilt in Jacob's eyes. "She's choosing you over your uncle. Will you choose her over him?" he asked, but got nothing. "Colson," he said then, nodding toward Eva.

I knew his play.

Make Jacob think I was going to hurt Eva.

Even though we all knew that was not going to happen.

So I ambled closer. "It's okay," I mouthed to her, eyes begging her to understand what was happening.

She gave me the barest of nods as my arm lifted, reached out toward her.

"No!" Jacob cried, jumping up. "Don't touch her. I'll tell you. I... we went to a garage. There's this storage garage. Tan. All by itself off the highway. He's there, okay? They have him chained up there. Don't touch her," he demanded.

"Smart choice, Jacob," Cash declared, clamping a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Okay. Eva, hon, you guys are going to need to stay here," Cash told her, getting a somewhat frantic nod from Eva. "It's safer here. In case Third Street figures out Jacob is in on this, okay?"