Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

SHEP

Four was in the passenger seat next to me, and JJ was in the back with Maxwell. JJ had tried to bring the branch, but I'd had to break them up—it wouldn't fit in the SUV. Once we were away from Maxwell's house, I hit the call button on the touch screen in the SUV.

"Saintly Sweets," Mason's chipper voice answered.

"Hey, it's Shep. JJ's with me…as are a couple of other people."

"Oh, well…that's ominous." Mason laughed. "What's up?"

"I'm headed to the house with them. I need you to contact Gabe and maybe Angel, Noel, and Nick; make time for a video chat."

There was a pregnant pause before Mason spoke again, and this time, gone was the sunshine. "This can't be good."

"Well, it's not great."

Mason sighed. "Okay, I can't leave Lizzy in the lurch, so you'll have to wait until close."

It was three o'clock now, and I closed at five so that I could start prepping for the following day.

"That's fine. But can you make the calls, at least?"

"Sure thing."

Mason hung up, and I drove as fast as I could to the house. I didn't want to be in a confined space with Four any longer than I had to.

"And bringing them here was the decision you made?" Gabe gripped the top of the dining chair, his jaw clenched.

"What would you have done?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "You didn't have the day JJ and I had; this wasn't exactly on our bingo cards."

Mason rolled his eyes. "Let's not argue about things that can't be changed. Right now, we have this to deal with." He motioned toward Four and Maxwell, who were sitting at the table.

"Yeah, them." The three of us turned to where JJ was leaning against the doorjamb, munching on popcorn. "What? I'm hungry. All I had today was coffee."

"Anyway." Mason snorted. "What's the plan here?"

Silence. Well, not complete silence—there was JJ chomping behind me.

"Let's get Angel and the twins in on this before we make any permanent decisions." Gabe sighed. "We need to figure out where to put these two until then."

"Wait a second, put us?" Maxwell spoke for the first time since we'd left his house. "All I did was try to save my daughter. And okay, I spoke to a friend who was desperate. I was worried about him; I didn't do anything wrong."

"Okay." JJ stepped forward and placed the now-empty bowl on the table. Not even leaving me a kernel… That's love, folks. He approached Maxwell.

"Want to leave? Be on your own?"

Maxwell's gaze flickered to each of us. "I…I don't know what to do, but what if they go after my daughter when they can't find me?"

JJ nodded. "That's a fair concern." He faced us. "We need a plan."

"Wow." Gabe slow clapped. "Thank God you're here to shower us with your infinite wisdom."

JJ puffed out his chest, never one to let sarcasm affect him. "You're so welcome."

"Max." I interrupted whatever Gabe was about to say. "Once we speak with our brothers, we will get a better idea of how to handle this. In the meantime, we can get someone to watch over your daughter in the hospital." I raised a brow at Gabe.

"Okay, fine. But my vote is that whatever the fuck you all choose, I don't want any of us in danger."

"Agreed," I said.

Gabe nodded. "What hospital is she at?"

Once Gabe got all the information, he left. He'd be on our call at the hospital through an earpiece, but we didn't know if he'd be able to contribute much to the conversation, which was why he'd let us know his vote. He knew we'd honor it—it was how we made decisions. Each of us got a vote, and the majority won.

"I have to work on that wedding cake. Four can come with me in the kitchen and?—"

"Nope." JJ frowned. "We all go in the kitchen. Angel said he'd call at eight, so we have a few hours. We stay together."

Mason nodded and I was outvoted. "Fine, let's go."

"I never got the flour and eggs." JJ was pulling out bowls while Mason sat at the kitchen table with Maxwell and Four.

Mason pointed to the pantry. "Use what we have here; we can get more tomorrow."

Fortunately, the kitchen was always stocked since there were many times I baked there instead of the shop because I just wanted to be home at night.

"How can I help?" JJ rubbed his hands together as he stared at the three bowls he'd set out.

"Let's get mixing." I smiled, and side by side JJ and I made the cake.

There was an industrial-sized refrigerator downstairs I'd be able to hold it in for the night, and then I'd drive it over in the morning.

Mason sat at the table between the two men, Four stock-still and Maxwell sweating and periodically checking his watch.

By the time eight rolled around, the cake was cooling so I opened the laptop and positioned it on the counter facing the table. I was able to get the five of us in the shot.

Noel came on the screen followed by Angel and Nick. They were doing The Brady Bunch boxes thing.

"You all couldn't even be in the same room for this?" I asked.

"No," was all Angel offered.

"Okay, then." JJ chuckled. "Get Gabe on the line."

Once all of us were connected, JJ did a fabulous job of going through the events of the day, leaving nothing out. Angel knew a bit, as did Mason and Gabe, but this was the first the twins were hearing of it. I noticed how Maxwell regarded Four as JJ explained all we'd seen and how we'd gotten him to talk. Sympathy played in his gaze. I didn't think Max was a bad man, just someone who, like he'd said, had been desperate and wanting to help a friend.

"Did you make this consortium our problem?" Nick cocked his head, his tousled blond strands jerking to the side.

"We help people!" JJ argued. "Look at Four. Did you hear what I told you?"

"What's done is done." Gabe's voice was low because he was in a hospital. "Move on. What's the plan?"

"The vote is that we help Four and Maxwell by trying to take down this monster consortium with very little to no information and could possibly die, or we abandon the two men to fend for themselves and pretend this day never happened?" Noel's brown eyes twinkled with mischief.

"I mean, we should help them, and it might come to taking apart this organization, and it may not." Mason shrugged.

"Help them and destroy this consortium is one vote, and abandoning them is the other." Angel motioned to Mason. "Go first."

Mason stared at JJ, then sighed. "I vote yes, we help."

JJ clapped. "Me too."

I shrugged and lifted my chin in JJ's direction. "Where he goes I go, so yes."

JJ smiled and blew me a kiss.

"I'll say yes but I stand by my, only as long as we're safe. It gets bad, we bolt." Gabe repeated his vote so we wouldn't have to explain to Noel, Nick, and Angel what he'd said earlier.

"Doesn't matter what we say, then." Nick shrugged. "Four against three."

"How would you have voted?" Mason wondered, lips pursed. "I've never known you twins to shy away from anything."

Noel winked. "And you'll never know. We like to be mysterious."

Angel huffed. "We'll be there soon. Keep a low profile in the meantime. Maxwell, call out of work and tell them you're sick."

Maxwell nodded, still sweating with nerves.

Once the calls were disconnected, Mason released a breath. "What do we do for three days?"

JJ jumped up. "Board games, binge-watching shows, par-tay!"

This was going to be a long few days.