Chapter Twelve
Brotherly Love
Royal
My back was ugly. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror at my mother’s house surveying the damage. The skin was raw in places, bruised in others.
“Asshole,” I repeated, not for the first time.
I slowly donned my shirt, and opened the bathroom door, intent to get a cool glass of water.
“Jesus,” I blurted out, jumping back a bit, when I discovered my mother waiting wide eyed.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell happened? I know this wasn’t just some traffic incident. You were so furious you didn’t even speak on the ride over here, Roy.” She shook her head, confusion and worry spreading across her brow.
I stepped between her and the door, planting a kiss to her crown as I slid past.
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah. I bet,” She sounded exasperated, and I almost felt bad, until she ran her fingertips from my right hip up the center of my spine.
“Godda– What the hell is wrong with you?” I whirled around to confront her.
She folded her arms and stared, “You’re fine, remember.”
I licked my lips, hating that I couldn’t ease her worry a little.
It had only been my brother, not some rival or enemy. The thought almost made me snort. Maybe this was what brotherly love looked like in this fucked-up world of ours.
It wasn’t serious, even if it was uncomfortable both with the wounds and the badges that I’d had to endure once they arrived on scene.
I searched her face while desperately trying to form an answer that would somehow be enough.
When it didn’t come, I tore my gaze away.
“You can look everywhere but my eyes. Something is wrong,” she quietly, but firmly insisted.
“King and I had a disagreement, that is all.”
“Kingston?” She brought her fingers to her mouth.
I huffed, regretting I’d said anything at all. I turned for the kitchen, abandoning the conversation in search of my phone. I looked on the table and the counter, before recalling I’d left it in the foyer. Despite my aimless wandering, she was still at my heels when I stopped near the front door.
“What in the world could you and Kingston possibly be feuding about that would end up with you sprawled out in the middle of an intersection?”
“I wasn’t in the four-way, I was just off to the side,” I pointed out, only for her eyes to narrow dangerously. I inhaled, and decided to give her a half-truth, “A girl. Alright. We’re both interested in the same girl, I guess.”
“You and Kingston… share an interest in the same female?” She blinked several times while digesting that.
“Yeah.” I sniffed, grabbed my keys and reached for her shoulder, signaling I was about to leave.
Rather than hug me, she called my bluff. “Who?”
“Huh?”
“Who is this– Sweetheart that you and your brother are trying to kill each other over?”
I had to fight not to smile. “Kennedy Kohl.”
I swear, all the muscles in her face seemed to fail at once. I pecked her on the cheek and she actually flinched.
“Gotta go. Love you, Ma.” I bailed before I even heard a response.
There was a meeting tonight and I wanted to see if my brother was going to show up to it, or if he was about to ruin his life.
I gnawed my lip, that knot in my stomach doubling as I thought of Kennedy alone with him. I didn’t want her to be hurt. As much as I hated knowing any of it, I was convinced the only way I could hope to keep her safe, was to know every last detail.
I had to stay one step ahead of them and I could only do that by convincing them that I was more willing than they were.
That was the only way.
I was cooked no matter what happened.
I accepted that fact and killed the engine before making my way toward the tavern door.
We gathered in a sizable room just off Forty’s office. The table was nearly full when I entered, and much to my surprise, my brother was already present.
Present, and bleeding, from the looks of his jeans.
I raised my brow in silent question, but he only scoffed and looked away.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I took my seat. My worry proved to be for nothing, however, the meeting went as usual. We voted on which charity run we would do in the fall and agreed to keep doing business with the guys from St. Louis.
It was over in thirty minutes, after which the music was turned back on, and the tavern began to fill with people.
“What the fuck is this?” I mumbled at my uncle, Preach, as we ventured toward the crowd.
“It’s Bullet Boy’s birthday. His ol’ lady wanted to throw a surprise party, or something.” Preach shrugged, a peaceful smile coming over him as he surveyed the room and eventually announced. “Good crowd.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, my attention anchoring on Roach and Forty in the corner. “What the hell?”
Preach gave a deep, appreciative laugh, “Can you blame him? Everything else in this room is beyond saturated. Kind of like swimming in a DNA lab.”
I shook my head and noticed the pool table had opened up again.
“You want a game?” I asked, swatting at his upper arm.
He glanced toward the table and nodded, “Nephew, if you got money to put on that table, I’m happy to take it from you. Just let me know any day you want a lesson, hear?”
I side-eyed the shit-talking fool, and snorted. Any other day, I’d have given him hell and spat the banter right back. Tonight was different.
“Where is she?” I mumbled as we made our way over.
“Hmm?”
“Kennedy.” I said it under my breath, not wanting the room to be in our business.
Preach stopped in his tracks, his face lightly scrunching, “Oh, not you too.”
“What do you mean? Me, too?” I laughed.
“Fuck me.” Preach sighed, “Come on, maybe if I take it easy on ya, you’ll have time to get some sense about ya, or something.”
“We can’t all have your endless wisdom. That type of shit only comes with being around since the model T was born. Like you’ve been.”
I tried to forget about the noise, and enjoy the night with the guys, but every few minutes, I was surveying the room for my brother…
And more importantly, her.