4
XANDER
Ifucked up. I knew it. I know it—but how do I fix it? Can it be fixed?
“What the fuck just happened?” Kennedy asks, dumbstruck. He walked up the stairs to see Linc smash his ham-sized fist into my face. I’m pretty sure my nose is broken, but I don’t care. All I care about is Tera.
I shake my head. “That look on her face. I’ve seen it before.”
“Fuck,” Ben mutters.
I run my bloody fingers through my hair and tug.
“I fucked up so bad. I knew better. I knew and I partied anyway.”
“Dude, you didn’t fuck anyone. What’s the big deal?” Jesse asks.
“You broke your promise to her, you motherfucker!” Linc yells and gives Jesse a shove.
Jesse doesn’t break a sweat. “You may be bigger. You may be able to kick my ass, but I’ll get a couple good ones in. Push me again, Fucker. See what happens.”
Jesse’s a scrapper. He’s been known to fight with the toughest of them. He’s also been known to get down and dirty. It’s no surprise he’s not afraid of Linc—even if the guy can pound him into a pile of mush.
“How the fuck long have we been standing out here?” Ben asks.
“Who cares? We’ll stand here as long as it takes,” Kennedy replies.
Finally, after what feels like hours, Dad opens the door, but he doesn’t let us inside.
“There will be no fist fighting—no physical fighting of any kind in this house. Do you understand?”
Everyone mumbles.
Dad leans forward. “Do. You. Understand?”
Now everyone is quick with their “Yes, Sir”. My dad demands respect. He deserves it. He raised us all—hell, he still is.
“Jesus. Who’s the worst of you?” Dad asks as he takes in our battered appearances.
“Xan,” Ethan answers.
Dad shakes his head. “Christ. You’re worse than when you were teenagers. Are you ever going to grow up and realize there are better ways to deal with things than with your fists?”
Damn. Not a place to go while Linc is pissed off, but Lincoln doesn’t even blink.
“No, Sir. I’ll fight and get all the aggression out in the ring—unless someone fucks with my family. That’s what happened today.”
Linc paces back and forth.
“Seeing her like that, on the floor, so broken. The light in her eyes is gone again. It’s fucking gone and if you fuckers had done what you promised her you’d do, it’d still be there,” he accuses, accentuating it with a pound of his fist against the table.
“You’re not wrong,” Kennedy agrees.
“No, I’m not. I hate that I’m not—forhersake. You’re my brothers, but she’s my sister. My twin. I will protect her with my last breath. She’ll always be standing next to me—even if it means you aren’t,” Lincoln tells us flatly. “It’s not how I want it, but it’s how it is.”
“This is bullshit,” Ben growls. “All we did was have one night of fun without worrying about all the shit. Wedeservedthat! We hit number one, for fuck’s sake. That’shuge!”
Ethan sighs. “Yeah, it’s huge, man; but at what cost? Tera—our sister? Xander’swife?We didn’t think that through—shit, we weren’t thinking at all.”
