Shadows Creed (Shadows Creed #1)

White Rabbits

Elijah stood in the doorway of his office and frowned at his brother who was seated at his desk.

“Peter?”

Eskino glanced up from the file he was editing on the desktop. “Hmmm?”

“What are you doing here?” the former rocker was bemused. The General gave a wan smile and turned the screen around.

“I’m buying your boys some time.”

Elijah leaned in to read the letter that took up most of the screen space. It detailed the state of Jonathan Seward’s mental health…

Eli blinked hard.

“Wow.” He shook his head. “Will your word be enough, though?”

Eskino chuckled. “Doctor James gladly gave of his services.”

Eli shook his head again. “But…I thought…”

The General looked at his brother. “I was in the band, Eli. It was hard on me too. They were my best friends, too.” There was an emotion in his voice that the old rocker had not heard in a very long time. He couldn’t put words to it, but he recognised it and it made his own heart ache.

“Man…” He walked across to take the seat opposite the bigger male. “We had some good times back then.”

Eskino smiled a sad, wistful smile. “Though I wasn’t very good…”

Elijah laughed, harshness to the sound. “You were dedicated. I’ll give you that.”

The General nodded, glancing at the computer screen. “That hasn’t changed.” He turned the screen back to himself. “Anyway, going to send this, then maybe you and I need to go see how the boys are doing?”

Elijah nodded. “I was going to call you about that.” He crossed his arms. “They’re here.”

Eskino looked at him. “Using your studio?” He frowned slightly. “I had no idea…”

His brother chuckled, as he found it amusing that the General would not have figured that out. “Security is tight here.”

Eskino smiled as he nodded to the computer. “Even your system here is impenetrable.” Elijah just laughed some more as he checked his watch.

“I’ll let you finish up, come meet me out the front in five.”

* * * * *

“Wow, you make me look fucking sane, Shads. How in the Hell did you manage to pull that off?”

The five young men were seated in Elijah’s studio, going through their final rehearsal before the official launch of Papa Gates’ main campaign. They sounded alright, considering only three of them had any official musical background. Matthew had found his inner vocalist, though, which was a good thing. But, their focus wasn’t on the music at that moment in time. They were all staring at the former commander who was leaning back against the wall, Johnny next to him.

It was Jimmy who had spoken up. But the others were all thinking along the same lines. The fact that their young friend was here with them was nothing short of amazing, considering what he had been charged with.

Matthew snorted. “Two words, Jimmy: Insanity clause.”

Jimmy cocked an eyebrow. “You saying Christ’s crazy?”

“I did try to hang myself,” the younger man pointed out, though he too was surprised at what Matthew had been able to do.

Zacky scoffed, shaking his head. “Hear you didn’t even get close.” Johnny flipped him off. The mechanic just rolled his eyes in response. “Well, it’s true.”