God could no longer see the faces of the men, only red and orange hazes. He heard taunting voices in his mind spurring him on, calling him a “pussy,” and old, hairy hands reaching out to grab him. His gripped tightened on the punk’s neck and he cocked his right arm back ready to do some serious damage.“Let him go.”God shook his head at the familiar deep voice.“I said, let him go now!”He felt two strong hands land on his shoulders and heat seeped its way into him from behind.“Put him down, God. Right now before you kill him. Listen to my voice.” Day was up on his tiptoes speaking into his ear. His breath was hot on his neck and it gave him a tingling in his spine. “Cashel, stop,” Day whispered.God put his right arm down and released the man from his grip. He didn’t wait to see the man’s body drop. He spun around and looked into his friend’s eyes, and was relieved when he didn’t see judgment, sorrow, or pity…all he saw was relief and then concern. Day grabbed him and held on to him tightly. His embrace was strong and confident…exactly what God needed to feel right then.“Come on, we gotta get out of here.” Day gripped the back of his arm and moved them quickly out of the alley and into a waiting taxi.“Wait…my truck.”“It’s taken care of.” Day kept him from getting out of the vehicle.“What do you mean?”“I mean you owe me two hundred dollars because that’s what I just paid the bartender to follow us back to my place in your truck.”God spun around and saw his huge truck’s headlights behind them.“You have a stranger driving my truck…my fucking guns are in there, Leo.”“You should’ve thought about that earlier, Cash,” Day growled right back.“If you’re going to lecture me, Leo…fucking save it.” God slid down farther and let his aching head rest on the back of the seat as the cab accelerated onto the highway.“You know me better than that, Cash. I’m not going to lecture you. I’m going to kick your ass,” Day said matter-of-factly and turned to look out the window. Neither one said anything else the rest of the ride.
It couldn’t have been that bad that he had to hurt you, Leo.”“Oh no, it was bad. It was the fucking first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan bad, Jax.” Day paced as he listened to his brother go on about God accepting responsibility for his own actions.“Jax, don’t get me wrong, I’m highly pissed off with my partner. I’m pissed off to the highest of pisstivity. But I still have to know that he’s okay. That crazy brother of his really landed some hard blows on him and God didn’t fight back at all.”“Because it’s his baby brother. That I do get,” Jax said softly. “But I can’t check on him, Leo, because believe me, there is nothing here to clue me in on where he may have went.” Jax paused before speaking again. “I must say I’m curious how he got all that heavy furniture out of here if he was in as bad a shape as you say.”“Well, that wouldn’t be too hard to do. A lot of people owe God favors—both of us actually. If God called someone for help, they’d drop everything and come to help.” Day took a deep breath. “The same as I would if he had called me.” Day’s voice was strained from the hurt in his chest and he had no doubt that Jax was picking up on it.“That asshole,” Jax snapped.“Whoa, big brother. Don’t go cursing away your do-gooder image. You know you’re not a vulgar-language type of person…leave that for us heathens.” Day laughed humorlessly.Day heard his brother laugh an irritated chuckle at him for trying to lighten the situation.“Fine. But, after he apologizes numerous times, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind,” Jax said.Day did smile that time. He had no doubt his brother would do just that.