Marcus

Chapter Six

Marcus ~

"This your guy?" Lainey asked, turning her screen to show Marcus a mug shot of a very overweight, drunk man.

Jesus, that's either Cutter or the man who ate Cutter.

"He looks like dog shit, but yeah, that's him - domestic violence, why am I not surprised?" Marcus confirmed.

Tracking Cutter down was light work for Nate and Lainey. They were able to track down his ex-wife who informed them that he was very much alive and every bit as much of a piece of shit as Marcus had remembered. She gave the team Cutter's new address, but added that he was rarely home and spent most of his time at a particular bar. She didn't hide the fact that Cutter had become an abusive alcoholic, which didn't surprise Marcus in the least.

"There's a special place in hell for men who put their hands on women." Marcus grumbled as they hung up the call with Cutter's ex.

"Damn straight." Pierce agreed, snarling his lip in disgust

Pierce and Caleb had joined the party and Marcus filled them in on all the details that Lainey had uncovered. He was also texting Declan on the side, keeping him informed as Declan finished up physical therapy with Lexi.

"You think Cutter's in on it, or that he'll be just as surprised as you were to see your own death certificate?" Caleb asked.

"Hell I don't know, man. Part of me thinks he's aware of all of it and had a hand in the bombing, but then again why would he have put himself in harm's way?" Marcus said feeling his blood start to boil as he remembered the sight of Caroline pulling Cutter's unconscious body to safety away from the car, minutes before it exploded.

"Jesus, what the fuck is going on?" Pierce asked, running his hand through his blonde hair, trying to make sense of it all.

Before Marcus could comment, Declan appeared in the doorway on his way to Hunter's office.

"I got called into a meeting with Hunter and Ax for the rest of the afternoon, but keep me posted even if I don't respond." Declan said, quickly glancing at his watch.

"Family meeting at my place tonight?" Nate offered.

"Family meeting sounds good. I'll let Lex know." Declan confirmed before disappearing around the corner.

The group dispersed, going to their separate offices to get some work done before they reconvened at Nate's house later on that evening. Family meeting usually involved lots of beer, cards, and laughter and was exactly what Marcus needed at the moment. His head was spinning with the information that had been thrown at him over the past few days and he needed his teammates to help him sort through it all and formulate a plan. Normally strategizing was something Marcus was particularly skilled in, but this hit too close to home. He was too emotional to think clearly and needed his brothers to help steer him in the right direction so he didn't do anything stupid.

Rage and hate were powerful emotions that could tear a man's head apart and cloud his judgement. Marcus was no stranger to such emotions and could feel them boiling close to the surface the more he thought about Cutter. He wanted nothing more than to track Cutter down and beat the living shit out of him, but he needed to be smart and tactical in his approach. He wanted information from Cutter and needed to think through the best way to get it from him.

*****

Later on that evening all of Bravo team took seats around the large wooden table on Nate's back deck. There was a large cooler of beer and more pizza than most human beings could eat in one sitting.