Brick Brick (Knights Corruption MC - Next Generation, #4) - S. Nelson Page 0,116

my cousin shouted behind me.

I waved my hand in the air but never turned around.

My heart hurt a little less at this stage of my drunkenness. But it would take a few more bottles to erase the image of Zoe looking at me like she had the last time I saw her.

“I knew I’d find you here.” It was late morning and I’d already had two shots of whiskey and was working on my third. The past few days, I’d switched to hard alcohol to do the job faster, and while it still took me quite a bit to get drunk, I managed to forget about Zoe and the fact she hated me that much quicker. As I brought the glass to my lips, Ryder stole it from me. “You’ve had enough, Brick.”

“I’ll say when I’ve had enough,” I snapped, reaching for my drink, but he slid it down the bar. Trigger emptied it into the sink, nodding at the man next to me. “Hey.” I pointed toward the ol’ man. “You better pour me another one.” I was too sober for this shit.

“I can’t believe I’m even gonna say this, but I think you need to go by the house today and see Zoe.” For Ryder to interfere and suggest such a thing should’ve sent up red flags something was off, but I didn’t have enough mental energy to care. I was drained, in every way possible.

“Why? She’s only gonna refuse to see me. What’s the point?”

“The point is, you’ve been moping around here for weeks and I’m tired of lookin’ at you like this. I was pissed at you for going after my daughter in the first place. So angry in fact, I told Braylen that if you didn’t back off, I’d have no qualms about shooting you.” I balked and he shrugged. “Not to kill, just maim you a little.” The bastard had the audacity to grin at me. “But I’m man enough to admit that I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. It was still wrong for you to go behind my back, but I know you really care about her, and you’re beating yourself up for what happened. Hell, I beat myself up for not protecting my own daughter from those fuckers, and I probably always will, but you can do something about it.” He smacked my back. “Go see her.”

“She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.”

“I hate myself, then.”

“And you can hate yourself all you want, but for now, go see her. Today. Trust me, you’re gonna regret it if you don’t.”

There was something about the way he said that last part that bothered me. “Is there something I should know?”

Ryder’s head moved from side to side, then did a little circular motion, slapping me on the back once more before turning his attention to Trigger. “No more for him.”

I didn’t bother arguing because if I was gonna see Zoe soon, I should at least have my wits about me for the encounter.

51

“Do you need anything while I’m out?” Braylen yelled from downstairs, her voice drifting up the stairwell, catching me as I walked from the bathroom into my room.

“No, thanks.” I mustered the strength to add my appreciation for her offer even though all I wanted to do was grunt my response. It was all I wanted to do these days. Just exist, but that wasn’t fair to my family. They’d bent over backward to be there for me, to help me, but they’d never know how I truly felt because I refused to tell them.

Most days, I didn’t even know how I felt about what happened. Mainly, I was devastated, but more than that, I was numb.

“Okay. We’ll be back in an hour.” Braylen never left me alone for long, and even though I reminded her she didn’t need to hover, I couldn’t stop her. I sensed she felt guilty for everything that went down, from her insisting she go to the doctor’s office that day, to not being able to defend me against them. But it was my choice not to wait for Brick or my dad to meet us at the house and go with us. It was my choice to offer myself up to them instead of her.

What wasn’t my choice was what they did to me.

Cinching the belt of my robe tighter, I removed the towel from my head and combed out my wet strands, pushing my bangs to the side. I didn’t want to do it because