crossing my arms over my chest. “Cross was just as fucked up as I was.” I rat my best friend out like the child I am.
“Hey, don’t bring me into this.” Cross places his hands up in the air, surrendering immediately.
“Emilee didn’t find Cross passed out on the floor. She found you,” Titan growls.
I smile up at him. “Does she have feelings for me, T?” His nostrils flare. “Better make sure to keep her in check, or before you know it, she’ll be asking me to join in while you fuck her.” I wink at my brother. “Bones shouldn’t get all the fun.”
Titan lunges for me. His hands hit my chest so hard my chair falls back. We crash to the floor, and I roll to my right as Cross yanks Titan off me.
I sit on the floor staring up at an infuriated Titan. His chest rises and falls fast, and a growl comes from deep in his chest. His hands fist, and when I think he’s about to hit me, he turns and storms out without another word, yanking the door open so hard it hits the interior wall with a thud before it slams itself shut.
I reach up to see if my nose is bleeding. I’m surprised when I see no blood. I think it was his elbow that connected with it.
“Give us a minute,” my brother tells Cross.
He exits, and I pick myself up off the floor. I tilt my head back, still waiting for the blood to come oozing out. Bones comes around the desk and leans his ass against it, crossing his arms over his chest. His black button-down strains against his muscular, inked arms. “Why do you do that?” he asks.
I don’t answer.
He sighs. “Why do you take a serious situation and ruin it by opening your mouth?”
I snort. “How did you think that conversation was going to go?”
He bows his head and runs his hand through his dark hair. “You have a drug problem.”
My palms begin to sweat. He’s never said it out loud before. We both ignore it. “Well, I’m sorry but not all of us can turn everything off.”
“Is that what you think I do?” he asks, frowning.
“It doesn’t matter what you do.” I shake my head, not caring. “You deal with you, and I’ll deal with me.” I go to exit, but his next words stop me.
“You’re all I have left, Grave.”
I swallow and close my eyes. He and I were always close. Him and the Kings are only one year older than me, but he’s always been my big brother. When our father wouldn’t teach me to play baseball because he wanted Dillan to be the star, Dillan taught me. When it came time for me to drive, Dillan taught me how to in his car. He gave me my first beer. First cigarette. He was the one who showed me how to be a man.
“I want you to get help,” he adds, filling the silence.
I straighten my shoulders, not bothering to turn to face him. “And I want you to stay out of my business.”
“Kyle?” He sighs, and I swallow the lump that forms in my throat. “Mom’s been gone for eight years.”
My entire body goes rigid. He never mentions her. “Your point?” I snap.
“Now Dad is gone.”
I spin around on him with my face scrunched in anger. “So you didn’t feel shit when Mom passed, but now that that son of a bitch is dead, you’re gonna feel something?”
“That’s not what this is,” he growls, his blue eyes narrowing on me.
“Then what the fuck is it? ’Cause that’s how it sounds.”
He looks away from me, and I see the tic in his jawline right where his neck tattoo comes to a stop. He took me to get my first tattoo when I turned eighteen. It was actually on my birthday. He already had his first one. I remember the next day when I saw Dad, and he was pissed at me. Said I was trying to be like Dillan and he didn’t raise sheep. I shouldn’t do something just because my brother did. I told him to go to hell and immediately went and got another one.
“You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop,” he finally says, avoiding my previous question about our parents.
I snort. “Yeah, because you’re so cautious with your life.”
“It’s different,” he growls.
“How is it any fucking different?”
“I’m not feeding myself full of drugs,” he snaps, pushing off the desk.