Mikey paces up and down the concrete basement while Liam stares at the heavy metal door, rocking back on his heels and rubbing his hand over the stubble on his jaw.
“What the fuck do we do now?” Liam eventually asks and I look to Shane, who is leaning against the wall beside the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Now we wait,” he replies with a shrug, as though it’s just some person who means nothing to us who we’ve just locked in that tiny room and not Jessie.
“One of us should be in there with her when she wakes up,” I snap at him. “She won’t have a clue where she is once those drugs wear off.”
“Well then, maybe she’ll have some time to think about the fact that she betrayed us,” Shane snarls at me.
“We don’t know why she left,” I remind him as I walk over to him.
“No! But she’s going to fucking tell us. One way or another, isn’t she?”
I step closer to him. “And just what the fuck does that mean, Shane?”
He edges towards me, pressing his face closer to mine. “It means that she is going to talk, Conor. And I will cross any line I have to in order to make that happen!”
“But, that’s Jessie in there!”
“Yeah? The same woman who promised us she would never leave, only to walk out of here holding some cunt’s hand after leaving us a shitty note!” He snarls. “That Jessie? She’s a fucking snake, and she fucked us all over, and we were all too fucking pussy drunk to see it,” he rages.
I shake my head in exasperation. I know there’s logic in what he’s saying, but I don’t want to accept it’s true. Turning, I look at Mikey and Liam. They’ve always believed in Jessie just as much as I have. They both stare at me without speaking.
“Liam?” I say when I can’t bear the silence any longer.
“I don’t know, bro,” he says with a shrug. “Shane has a point. You saw her walking out of here.”
I suck in a breath. Of all people, I figured he might back me up.
“Mikey?” I try.
“Hey, we’re not saying there isn’t a possibility she has a good explanation for what she did, but right now, it’s not looking likely, is it?”
“For fuck’s sake!” I hiss.
“Conor!” Shane snaps. “You saw that house. The room she was staying in. She was a fucking guest there, not a prisoner! Whatever her reasons, she left willingly. There is no escaping that fact.”
I look up into my older brother’s face. I have always trusted his judgement, and I accept there’s every chance he’s right about this. But I can’t let myself believe that she lied to me, to all of us. Because I don’t think I can take it. And I fear what I might do to her if she tells me that Shane speaks the truth. I’m scared of what Shane, or any of us, might do to her.
“I’ll wait down here. I’ll check on her, and when she wakes up…” Shane offers.
“You’ll what?” I ask with a frown.
“I’ll speak to her. I won’t hurt her. Promise. Not unless she attacks me first, anyway.”
“Then I’ll stay here. I’ll talk to her!” I protest.
Shane stares at me as though I have just asked him to give me his kidney. In fact, he’d probably be more receptive to giving me one of his vital organs. “Fuck no! Not a chance!”
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t be trusted around her.”
“What?” I scowl at him, but he carries on.
“None of you can. She makes you all think with your dicks. I’d give it ten minutes before one of you either fucks her, or lets her go!”
Liam and Mikey nod their agreement, but I slam my fist against the door beside his head. “So you’re saying you don’t trust me?” I snarl.
“Around Jessie? No,” he snarls back.
“We’ll, maybe I don’t trust you!”
“I’m the only one willing to do what needs to be done, and you know it, Conor.”
“And that’s what I’m worried about. You’re not thinking straight either, Shane. You’re convinced she’s betrayed us and you’re not even willing to consider an alternative.”
“Well, neither of you can go in there if you’re at each other’s throats,” Liam says calmly from behind us.
“Exactly. So, you three go up to the apartment, and I’ll wait down here,” Shane says to him over my shoulder. “And I’ll let you know what she says when she’s awake. I won’t lay a finger on her.”
“Okay,” Liam replies. “You okay with that, Con?” He asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. My youngest brother has a way of bringing calm to a situation that I’ve never quite been able to fathom. Perhaps it’s something in the tone of his voice, but something about him taps into something in us in a way that no-one else can.
“Whatever,” I snap, because Shane is right. I’m not sure I trust myself around Jessie either.
“Good,” Shane smiles at me reassuringly, and I trust that he won’t let anything happen to her. At least not yet.
