“Don’t get your pride hurt. You’ll think it’s funny, too, once you can see what we can do—”
“Ezra!” Silas snapped.
The laughter stopped.
“Sorry, Silas.” Ezra dropped his arm. “You have to admit it was funny.”
“I don’t think Reaper is in the mood to be joking around.”
“Oh … because he almost bit the dust?” Ezra asked.
Silas looked like he wanted the dirt to swallow him whole at Ezra’s mentioning the attempt Reaper had made to take his life.
“They know?” Could life get more humiliating for him?
How did they know? Another question just came to him. How had Silas known?
Fynn rolled his eyes at him. “Course we knew. How did you think Silas found you?”
Reaper turned his head to look at Silas. “I thought you were just out looking for me and found me.”
“The wind told him where you were,” Fynn told him.
Remembering how he had rolled the window down to throw the cell phone out of the car so The Last Riders couldn’t track him, he thought back to the burst of wind that had come inside the car as he drove.
“I’ve lost my mind, haven’t I? I’m really in a psych ward, aren’t I?”
“No.” Silas warned him, “But the more you’re around us, I’m sure you’re going to feel that way.”
“If I’m not crazy, then how did you find me?”
“Fynn told you the truth. Because I was near you when you took off, I was able to follow you. The wind told me where you were.”
“Doesn’t look like he believes you,” Jody commented.
“I don’t.”
“Didn’t you show him?” Ezra asked.
“I did, but I don’t think he believes me.” Silas shrugged. “I thought we could break it to him slowly.”
“I bet he’ll believe this ….” Matthew moved closer to him.
Looking down, Reaper saw Matthew touch the sleeve of his jacket. Not seeing anything unusual, he then stared at Matthew questioningly. He was about to ask to borrow Silas’s cell phone to call the nearest mental health facility to make sure he wasn’t a patient, when he felt the moist material warm and slowly begin to dry.
“You have no idea what we’re capable of.”
The austere way that Matthew spoke to him made a believer out of him. The man staring deep into his eyes had flames coming from within their depths.
“Chill,” Isaac told his brother. “He already thinks he’s crazy.”
“He’s not crazy.” Ezra removed Matthew’s hand from Reaper’s sleeve, replacing it with his own. “He’s just tired of fighting against the darkness.”
Shocked at Ezra’s description of what he’d been going through, Reaper felt the shroud that constantly smothered him begin to lift.
“You can’t bury what’s not dead, Reaper. You know better than that. Gavin is still very much alive. It’s his pain you can’t escape from. There’s a much better way to deal with the pain than killing yourself and hurting so many people who love you.”
Already broken, Reaper gave a harsh laugh. “How?”
“Allow Gavin to come back into the light.” Ezra’s low monotone compelled Reaper to keep listening. “Give Reaper your strength to accept what happened to you instead of shutting his pain out. Allow Gavin back into the light. He’s so tired of being alone in the dark … Share the light with him.”
“I can’t … I have no light to share.”
Ezra moved his hand away. “Maybe not yet … but you will. You’ve yet to find enough light to share with Gavin. When you do, you’ll be whole again.” Ezra stepped away, his voice changing to one filled with humor. “Until then, don’t take anything from Ginny in a green cup. See you tomorrow. Come on, Fynn; we need to finish your homework.”
“Isaac and I need to get going. We have an early morning,” Matthew said. “When you wake tomorrow, come by the shop. I’ll really show you what me and Isaac can do.” Giving him a wink, they didn’t leave without imparting more warnings. “Hide your hairbrush.”
Isaac gave a sardonic snort. “Hide your fucking wallet.”
Glancing at Silas, the man just lifted his shoulders as if he didn’t know what his brothers were warning him about.
Jody and Jacob gave him encouraging pats on the back.
“Check under your pillow before you go to sleep,” Jody advised.
“Check your boots before you put them on in the morning,” Jacob mentioned over his shoulder as they moved away. “Oh, and Jody and I have a job in the afternoon. We could use some help, if you’re up to it?”
“If he’s able,” Reaper heard Jody’s aside to Jacob as they walked away.
“Don’t worry.” Moses’ lips curled in a smile. “She’ll get over her mad sooner or later. With Ginny, you just hope your big toe doesn’t rot off before she does. I left a bag of Suki’s dog food in the kitchen. You can pay me back when you get the cash. I won’t miss having to feed her. She eats like a horse.”