Chapter 13 Gray #2
I nodded as I looked over the low wooded area we were parked beside. “He was film three, I’m sure of it. The second guy, him I don’t know.”
“Onyx is going to want to know everything.”
“Then we tell him everything,” I said easily.
“And Ash?” Jett spoke softly beside me.
I wet my lips and realized I was fucking cold, standing in the cold night air with only jeans and a hoodie on. “Not yet.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother nod. “I agree.”
I barked out a cynical laugh. “How the fuck do I have that conversation?” Rubbing my hands through my hair, I hissed as I cracked the cuts on my hand open again.
“We need to take it one day at a time.” Jett straightened and eyed his car. “You can’t keep holding it in. Tonight has to show you how dangerous it is, how reckless you are. It is not our future to be in a jail cell, Gray.”
“She wouldn’t talk, and I needed answers.”
“And now we have something, and she talked, but now, now I need you to let it out and work on moving forward.”
He moved toward his car, the lights illuminating him in the dark. I couldn’t see his face anymore, but he would see me, and I knew he would see the skepticism because I wasn’t hiding it.
“I need more than a heart-to-heart on the side of the road and a kumbaya session.”
“Mom can hook you up with a therapist.”
The dryness of my brother’s tone made me chuckle, and then I was properly laughing. I heard his low laughter join mine before he got back into his car and waited for me to get into mine.
With the heat on high, I drove the rest of the way back to the dorm.
In silence, we both climbed the stairs. He didn’t go to Ava, and I was surprised but grateful he was going to be close tonight.
Pushing my door to my bedroom open, I reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him from going into his.
Onyx sat on my couch, dark eyes fixed on me, and he remained quiet as I pulled my twin into my room and closed the door behind us.
“Hey,” I greeted him. “She okay?”
Our brother was six years older than us and had a wildness in him that our father swore he got from our grandfather.
“I didn’t ask.” His eyes flicked to Jett, and I knew he would be waiting for Jett to jump to her defense. “I did see a tear, but there was only one. It could have been the light. With her? It was probably the light.”
Clenching my jaw, I crossed to my desk chair and sat. “Don’t be a dick, she’s had a hard time.”
“I have no doubt. I also don’t care.” Onyx watched Jett sit on the edge of my bed and shifted so he could see us both without having to turn his head. “Why would you do this without coming to me?”
“We had it handled,” I cut Jett off as I met my brother’s hard stare.
“If I hadn’t tracked your phone, you would be nothing but a burnt-out husk. Tell me at what point were you handling tonight?”
“Situation got away from me.”
“The situation?” Onyx crossed his legs casually as if we were discussing the weather. “Humor me, Devils, a piss poor example at that.” He glared at me. “Tell me what the fuck you were thinking before I kick your ass so badly you won’t play the rest of this season. Either of you.”
“You don’t—”
“Don’t!” He was on his feet, and I could feel his rage as he strode toward me. “Make me understand. Make me understand why you would throw everything away for that little tramp.” Grabbing my chin, Onyx forced me to look up at him. “Tell me why you would risk it all for her.”
“Because it was his baby.”
Three heads swiveled to the door where Ash stood in the open doorway. With a single step, he was in the room and closing the door behind him.
Onyx looked down at me and squeezed tighter. “Is it true?”
I couldn’t take my eyes off Ash, who held my stare with a shuttered one of his own.
“It was.” Jett rose from the bed and looked at Ash.
Onyx flung my head away from him as he gave a disgruntled growl and started to pace the room, ignoring the tension between us all. “Why do you three boys fall over yourself for this fucking girl? What hold does she have on you that makes you behave like mindless fucking fools?”
“I know you don’t like her,” I said to him as I rubbed my jaw, “but you don’t need to speak about her like that.”
“Why? She’s poison.”
“Stop it,” Ash murmured as he sat on the armrest of the couch. He was still watching me, and I was watching him. “She’s been a part of us since we were ten. She’s as close as family.”
“She cheated on you,” Onyx reminded him as he turned his glare onto him.
“Did she?” Ash gave me a considering look. “I think she lied.”
Onyx snorted and threw his hands in the air in disbelief. “And how long have you thought this?” he snarked at Ash.
“About five seconds ago.” Ash tilted his head in question as he looked at me. “I think she was told to break it off, am I right?”
I nodded once, and with a slight shake of his head, he looked away from me.
“You’re both fucking clowns.” Onyx looked between us both. “Fix this shit later. For tonight, tell me what I need to know about the house, the fire and the doctor I knocked unconscious in my basement.”
“What?” Ash was on his feet, looking at Jett and me.
Quickly, Jett retold the night, and I filled in the bits none of them knew.
“Why the hell would you take Quinn?” Ash asked Jett when he was finished.
“Because I knew if I needed to bring him back from the edge, she was the only one who would be able to,” Jett replied with a heavy sigh.
“Seriously, has she got a fucking diamond-encrusted pussy?” Onyx spat, and for the third time that night, I busted my hand open when I smashed my fist into my brother’s jaw.