He was fucking struggling. Dealing with shit he’d never imagined he’d have to handle and doing a shitty-assed job at it.
All signs were pointing to Shell’s information being accurate. His brother had stolen a total of fifteen thousand dollars from the club and turned it around to purchase crystal meth which he was both using and selling. Icing on the cake was the fact that he was buying the meth from Lefty’s guys.
That discovery went down like fucking ground glass. Lefty must be laughing his ass off knowing Copper’s own brother was betraying the club and getting into bed with him.
And speaking of getting into bed, Copper had been doing that particular activity alone for the past five nights. He just couldn’t drum up the courage to talk to Shell. The longer he thought about it—and with all the sitting around whiskey-consuming that he’d done, he’d thought about it a fuckton—he realized Izzy was probably dead on.
Something about the entire situation reeked. And while he longed for Shell, ached to see her, touch her, speak with her, he was terrified of the truth. Because one of two options were accurate, and both choices made his skin crawl. Either his woman was a liar or his brother was a piece of shit who took advantage of a young girl.
So, after forty years, he’d come to the realization he was a fucking coward. It was a hard pill to swallow.
The back door to the clubhouse swung open, and someone ventured out. Copper didn’t bother to turn. Whichever of his brothers dared to come nag him over being a grouchy asshole would get to their point soon enough.
As he took another drink, the footsteps drew closer. Softer than the heavy clomp of motorcycle boots, it must have been one of the ol’ ladies. Sure enough, Toni appeared by his side holding a fold-up chair.
She opened it then plopped down rubbing her sweatshirt-covered arms. “Damn you, Copper. It’s freezing tonight.”
The sun was minutes from dipping below the trees, and the temperature reflected that fact. Shell would be starting her shift, cleaning the large office building on the opposite side of town.
“By all means,” he said. “Head on back inside.”
With a scowl for him, Toni yanked the bottle out of his hand and took a long swing of his expensive whiskey. When she grimaced and shuddered, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “You think that shit would taste better for how much it costs,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Not a whiskey girl, huh?”
“Nope.”
They fell into silence for a few moments just watching the sun lower. Toni was a sunset fan. It was her thing. She and Zach often disappeared around this time of day, checking out a new location to view the phenomena.
Copper’s stomach wouldn’t settle. Had nothing to do with the quiet between them; it was the fucking voices in his own head. Taunting him with what ifs, whys, and images of his brother fucking his woman.
Eventually, Toni sighed “Here’s what I know,” she said.
He turned to her. Toni knew something?
“I wanted to talk to you earlier, but Zach made me promise to give you some time. He said you haven’t been the friendliest of men lately.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Copper let out a rough laugh. “Bet my life that’s not what he said, though.”
She gave him the side-eye then said, “You’re right, he actually said you were up to your asshole in self-pity, and acting like a constipated hyena.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug as she snuggled herself. “So here it is. The day Rusty showed up at the diner to surprise you, remember?”
Of course he remembered. It’d only been a few weeks ago, and he’d been over the fucking moon. “Yeah.”
“The second Shell saw him, she darted into the bathroom and threw up. I got worried when she was in there for a long time so I went to check on her, and in a weak moment, she told me about Rusty. She was so freaked out, pleading with me to believe it wasn’t what I’d initially think. And you know what?”
She’d gotten physically ill at the sight of Rusty? That had Copper frowning. “What?”
“I believed her. Because I love her and know what kind of person she is.”
“Toni, it’s not that simple. I’m being asked to choose sides between my brother and my woman.”
“Yeah,” Toni said with a nod. “You are. And I think you know, somewhere deep in that thick skull of yours that there is not only a good choice but a right choice.”
What the fuck was with all the ol’ ladies talking to him like he was dog shit the past few days? Though he had to admit their loyalty to Shell was admirable.
“Rusty is an asshole,” Toni continued. “And you know it. You just don’t like it, so you’ve ignored it your entire life. I get it somewhat. You feel partly responsible for his shitty childhood. But guess what, Copper? Lot of us had shitty upbringings. We don’t all turn into backstabbing, thieving psychopaths. You’ve buried your head in the sand because of guilt or love or whatever. Now, you can’t ignore it anymore.”