Free The Long Road Home [The Final McCassey Brothers Book] by Lauren N. Sharman Page A

Rebel?"
    Blackie had been impatiently pacing the concrete floor of the garage since the instant Rebel had gotten off the phone with Wade.
    His feelings were torn between wanting to help his sister overcome her addiction, and wanting to keep her safe. Unfortunately, he'd done all he could, and no longer knew what else he could do to help her. Now, all that was left was keeping her safe, something he didn't feel would be possible with Wade hanging around her.
    Although Blackie had never done drugs and Wade wasn't a member of an outlaw biker gang, their pasts were a little too similar for Blackie's liking.
    He was the first one to admit that he came by his nickname ‘The Devil’ honestly. Back in his heyday, he wasn't fit to be around decent people. Hell, since he was being honest with himself, he had to admit that he still had days where he craved the excitement his old life had always succeeded in providing.
    But not once had Blackie ever acted on those cravings.
    The pull of his wife and family—knowing how much they needed him—had kept him grounded ... kept him in line.
    Of course, he still screwed up now and then. Sometimes he drank too much, and was always fighting with his brothers and cousins, even though most of the time it was all in the name of fun. And, even though he was on parole, he still carried and fired guns up at Ten Acres, his family's private property.
    But Blackie was always extra careful when he couldn't behave himself, and did his best never to step so far outside the law that he was risking going back to prison.
    If Wade wasn't as rehabilitated as Rebel thought, the three of them could be signing Georgia's death warrant by allowing him near her. However, if they didn't find someone to help their sister soon, there was no doubt in Blackie's mind that her addiction would kill her.
    He'd known that the entire time he was arguing with Rebel about calling Wade, and he knew it now, too. As usual, Rebel had been right. Wade was probably the only one who could help Georgia. They had to take a chance on him, because Blackie just couldn't bring himself to think about the alternative.
    "Take it easy, Blackie!” Rebel yelled at him from the soda machine outside. “I told him to be here at seven; he's still got fifteen minutes."
    Before Blackie had a chance to yell a reply, Rebel came back inside and threw a can of soda at him as he walked past. “Drink that and settle down."
    Inspecting the can, Blackie noticed that the drink wasn't his usual. “Hey, Reb, this ain't got no caffeine in it!"
    "You're worked up enough already,” Rebel warned in a cold, lethal voice that Blackie had only heard him use a few times before. “Shut up and drink it. And when Wade gets here, you let me do the talking. Open that big, smartass mouth of yours once, big brother—just once—and we could lose the only shot we have to help Georgia without letting the whole damn world know about her problems. She's embarrassed enough by the fact that the three of us know what happened to her, and what she's going through. I don't want to humiliate her further by having to toss her in rehab, where she'll be forced to have to open up to strangers."
    The two men held each other's gaze until Rebel turned away, walked into the office, and slammed the door—which as of the day before had a brand new glass window for the second time in two months.
    Blackie watched his youngest brother for a good minute, fighting the urge to yell back, knowing any comment that came out of his mouth would've led to the two of them rolling around the concrete floor throwing half-hearted punches at each other.
    "I see the two of you haven't changed much."
    Upon hearing the unfamiliar voice behind him, Blackie turned around, hardly recognizing the man it belonged to.
    "Oh yeah?” Blackie asked as he extended his hand to the cousin he hadn't seen in a good ten years. “Well, you've changed a lot."
    Blackie was amazed at the difference in Wade Pickett's appearance.