Madd gets like this before every fight.
A little wild, a little feral, and a lot stupid.
“No,” Stone scoffs. “That’s not what I’m saying. For one, you all know I’m pansexual, so you can fuck right off with your accusations. But regardless, I wouldn’t fuck Hunter, and that has nothing to do with you.” He shoves Madd away, making him stumble into me. “And everything to do with my father.”
He swallows, his eyes pleading.
“Hunter is my brother.”
Chapter 4
The parking lot ispacked with cars for tonight’s event. The Den’s walls rattle with noise from guests and the loud beat of music. The bass matches the tempo of my racing heart, heavy and painful, reverberating in my ears.
I open my mouth to say more, to elaborate on that statement, but before I can, Madd’s phone buzzes in his pocket.
He doesn’t move to stop it; he just stares at me, his face drawn in confusion. The same look mirrored on my brother’s faces.
Not my real brothers, my mind hisses.
No. They aren’t my real brothers. Not by blood, anyway. They are by everything else that counts. But the man in the car behind me, the one probably wrapped around my girl, Mi Cielo, he is.
Brother.
Brother.
Half-brother if the DNA tests are to be believed, and they are. I trust the source. It’s outside of our world, has nothing to do with us, and nothing to gain from lying.
But even without the tests, I’d know the truth.
Hunter and I look eerily similar. At first glance, one might think it’s our hair. Hair that falls to our shoulders in waves. Both in varied shades of blonde, his darker than mine, probably from his mom.
Our father, though, was blonde.
My mother was, too. She was also medium height, curvy, and had more plastic in her body than a grocery store, until she didn't.
And according to the report I received early this morning, Hunter’s mother was a brunette with a tall, willowy frame. Originally from Stockton, she moved to Oakland as a teen to escape a life lived in the foster system. Her rap sheet reads like a dictionary, every misdemeanor and petty crime telling a tale of heartbreak.
What the paperwork can’t tell me, unfortunately, is how foster care led to homelessness or homelessness led to her finding her way into my father’s demented claws, into his bed.
How it led to him having a child with another woman when he’d already been married to my mother for years.
“Uh,” Madd starts, clearing his throat and pulling me from my thoughts. He rubs the back of his neck, looking like he wishes the ground would swallow him whole. “As much as I want to talk about that, and Ido, I really fucking do—”
“We all do,” Gage interjects, his throat working like he’s swallowing rocks.
Nyx says nothing, his eyes locked on me with a rage I’ve never seen pointed in my direction, but I know him well enough to know it has nothing to do with me. He’s furious for me.
I bite my lip.
He hasn’t even heard the worst of it yet.
“Yeah,” Madd agrees, his head bobbing. “But it’s go time, and I have to…” he trails off, pointing to the SUV I’m using to hold me up.
Clearing my throat, I wave them away and toss them a smile that feels every bit as fake as it is. “It’s fine. No big deal.” I straighten my tux, shoving away from the car. “Let’s go.”
Maddox hesitates but wraps his hand around the door handle. With a deep breath, he swings it open, plastering a massive grin on his face.
“We gotta go, kids. It’s showtime.” He stiffens and, seconds later, releases a loud, menacing growl.
