He was here.
He’d come to Hammer’s aid.
Disbelief shook Hammer’s chest as Dex handed Lion the plastic pouch Hammer had been using to keep the photos hidden.
“This is it. This is proof that I’m telling the truth. Just look at them,” Hammer said in a quiet rasp as his throat closed up.
Tension passed over Lion’s face, and he pulled on his beard, but when Dex pushed the pouch at his chest, even the prez couldn’t escape reality anymore. Buzzer and Wasp listened in absolute silence, their eyes pinned to Lion’s back like laser pointers, and he must have felt it, because the pouch eventually opened. No matter how much he loved his brother, the truth was right there.
"That'shiscomforter,hisbed frame, andhisfucking hands!" Dex said, stepping aside to offer Hammer a brief nod. His face appeared red, and his eyes bloodshot as if he’d drank five Red Bulls.
Wasp stepped closer to look over Lion’s shoulder and the scowl under his mustache stated his opinion perfectly. Hammer still couldn’t comprehend the bitterness of this moment.
Lion hunched farther with every picture he saw, but when one made him sneer and toss them all onto the muddy ground, Hammer’s breath became easier, and he relaxed against to pillar holding him in place as the prez walked off to stand a few paces away with hands entwined on the back of his thick neck.
There was no satisfaction to this moment, only relief.
Buzzer squatted at Hammer’s feet and nudged the muddy, damp polaroid pictures with a stick. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered before gathering them up. He rose, meeting Hammer’s gaze. “The guys might need to see them too after all the talk that’s been going ‘round when Hammer was away.”
Wasp cocked his head at Dex. “And what the fuck is your part in all this exactly? Were you not his hostage?”
Dex rubbed his forehead. Even his hair was crusty with mud. “I got tied up in this accidentally, but I helped discover the photos, and once that happened, I was too invested to back out. We couldn’t come back yet, because of… stuff, so we laid low, but then Frank found us, but the photos were left at a different location, so… yeah.”
Hammer braced himself for a snarky comment from Shane, but it never came, so at least it seemed that the threat of outing him had been empty. For now.
Dex gasped for air, and his pink nape stared back at Hammer, tempting him for a kiss, even though he couldn’t reach it. And then Dex spun around and met his gaze, his eyes tired yet shining with the same warmth as during their outing yesterday.
It was as if that afternoon had happened in a different timeline. Yet he’d come to save the day, in this sorry state.
“You fine?” Hammer asked.
Dex laughed and rubbed his face. “I might have dislocated my shoulder falling out of a moving car, but it’s all good, Frank set it. Still hurts like a motherfucker.”
He circled Hammer to untie the noose, but Jag stepped closer with a growl and the spear pointed his way.
“He’s a prisoner!”
Lion shook his head as all the clouds congregated above his head, about to form a tornado. “You can untie him.”
Jag reluctantly backed away, and Dex was at it in an instant, releasing Hammer’s neck.
“There’s more,” Lion spoke in a dull voice, not bothering to cover his bald head despite the rain getting heavier again. “Ryker disappeared when you escaped.” He shifted to face his VP and sergeant-at-arms. “But the truth is, I know exactly where he is. I felt something was off when he told me he needed to skip town because Hammer was out to get him. In case there was more to this story than I knew at the time, I didn’t tell anyone, but I advised him to go to this little house in the mountains and lay low until the matter is solved.”
Wasp sighed and patted Lion’s arm, because they all knew what those photos meant. Lion would be losing a brother.
Hammer shook his head. “Look, I know it might not sound sincere, but I’m sorry. That was why I didn’t immediately call you about this. Wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that it was a one-time thing, but when I managed to get out of the cell and tried to find proof in Ryker’s house, Dex spotted the photos.”
Buzzer bit his lip. “We could oust him. Punish and send him on his way,” he suggested as Hammer’s blood boiled again, but Lion stopped him with a gesture.
“No. Not with this evidence on our hands. Not after he made false accusations against another brother. He’s done.”
Both the VP and the sergeant-at-arms scowled as if they were puppets brought to life with the same strings.
“It’ll still need a vote,” Wasp said, but Buzzer showed him the pouch.
“And how can that go once everyone catches a glimpse of this?”
Lion took a deep breath and raised his eyes into the sky before glancing at Shane. “What are you waiting for? Release Hammer.”