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

The last time they'd seen each other, Wade had been strung out on heroin, sickly looking, and his entire six foot, three inch body couldn't have weighed more than a hundred and thirty pounds. His long, thick, wavy blonde hair had looked as though it hadn't been washed in weeks, and he'd been wearing a sleeveless shirt; doing nothing to try and hide the tracks running up his arms, even though several of the needle marks had been red and irritated.
    Today, Wade was a completely different man.
    He'd gained a significant amount of weight, probably a little over a hundred pounds. He was now slightly on the heavy side, but not fat. Blackie thought that, ‘stocky’ or ‘husky’ would've been a good way to describe his cousin's body type. His hair, which was shorter than it used to be, fell to just above his shoulders. It was clean and sort of shaggy and unkempt, like Judd's. Even the wild, untamed look that had always been present in his hollow, gray eyes was gone.
    Except for the faded blue jeans, white T-shirt, flannel long-sleeved shirt, and worn brown cowboy boots that Wade was wearing—an outfit Blackie swore the man had been born in—Wade was definitely a changed man on the outside.
    But Blackie didn't give a damn what he looked like. He was more interested in how much he'd changed on the inside.
    Wade grabbed onto Blackie's hand and shook it firmly before letting go. “Prison will do that to you, you know?"
    Yeah, he knew. Unfortunately, until the last time he was released, Blackie had always come out of prison meaner and more violent than when he went in.
    He nodded to Wade. “It's good to see you, man."
    Wade nodded in return. “You, too."
    Their small talk was cut short when Rebel and Judd joined them.
    After a quick round of handshakes, Rebel wasted no time in getting down to business. “Thanks for coming,” he told Wade. “We could really use your help."
    Blackie winced. Hearing Rebel's plea didn't sit well with him. He hated having to ask anyone for anything, even family. But he knew that in this situation, asking for help was necessary. That's just the way it was.
    He didn't have to like it.
    He only had to learn to deal with it.
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    Chapter 10
    Locked in the office with the three McCassey brothers, Wade sat quietly as he listened to Rebel add more details to the story he'd relayed on the phone earlier that morning.
    If Wade hadn't experienced life as a heroin addict for himself, known exactly what it was like to need a fix, and exactly what someone would do in order to get one, he wouldn't have believed a word Rebel had said.
    But he knew that every bit of the story was true.
    And although it sounded like Georgia had gone through an unbelievable amount of suffering, he also knew that her experience had probably been much worse than what she'd told her brothers.
    "Can you help her?” Rebel asked.
    Wade shook his head. “I don't know, Reb. It sounds like Georgia needs a lot more help than I can give her, both emotionally and physically. And if she's suicidal—"
    Judd suddenly jumped out of his chair and got in Wade's face. “No one said she was suicidal!” he yelled defensively.
    "Rebel said—"
    Judd spared a quick glance at Rebel and turned back to Wade. “I don't give a damn what Rebel said! You have to help her! Didn't you take some kind of oath or something to help those in need?"
    It was obvious to Wade that even though Blackie, Judd, and Rebel had known their half-sister less than a week, they already loved her, which was why he didn't slug Judd for acting like such an asshole.
    Trying hard to keep his cool, Wade put his hands on Judd's chest and pushed him away. “Only doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, you idiot, not drug counselors. I only volunteered for the job in the first place because it was part of the community service hours that went along with my parole. The last thing I wanted to do after having to detox cold turkey in jail, was put myself in a