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Chapter Twenty-One

Lucas

“Smith?” Fuzz asks, flipping on the light over the bar and I squint as I glance over my shoulder at him. “It’s two in the morning. What the hell are you doing, man?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

“You drinking?” His gaze falls to the full glass of whiskey on the bar in front of me and I shake my head.

“Thought about it but no.”

He sits on the stool next to me and claps my shoulder. “What’s going on, brother?”

“Oh, you know, just my whole world falling apart.”

“Quinn?” he asks and I nod. “What happened at the station?”

“She went over her statement from two years ago and I gave them my DNA to match my brother’s in the rape kit and then we left.”

His eyes narrow, years of being a cop engrained in everything he does. “Okay, what happened after that?”

“I drove her home and she decided to try and break up with me.”

“Why?”

I throw my hands up in the air. “Fuck if I know. Something about how there being no future for us because of my brother.”

“Shit, man. I’m sorry.”

Shaking my head, I turn to him. “No. Don’t do that. She may think this is over but it isn’t. I just gotta figure out a way to fix things.”

“Dude, I know you care about her but you have to see things from her perspective. This whole situation is beyond fucked up. What is she supposed to do?”

“Are you on her side?” I snarl and he sighs.

“Do you plan on cutting your brother out of your life entirely?”

“Maybe.”

He scoffs. “Don’t give me that shit. We’ve all watched you rip yourself apart for the last few years for him and now you’re just going to walk away? I don’t think so.”

“See, that’s what I’ve been thinking about all night long. Yeah, Clay is my brother but besides a shared past, what do I get out of our relationship? What would my life look like if he was clean and is it enough to make giving up the only woman I’ve ever loved worth it? I don’t know… but I can see my future without her and it looks like fucking shit.”

“So,” he muses. “That’s it, then.”

I blow out a breath. “No, that’s not fucking it because I still feel guilty as hell for even thinking about turning my back on him.”

“Look, I will say that if you decide to cut ties with your brother, you never once turned your back on him. In fact, you’ve taken metaphorical beating after beating from him for years but the simple truth is this - you have to choose. It’s either Quinn or Clay. You can’t have both.”

“Yeah,” I mutter as my phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket. “I know.”

Quinn’s name flashes on the screen and my heart jumps into my throat as I answer it.

“Babe?”

“Lucas, it’s Alice…”

My gaze flicks to Fuzz’s as my stomach sinks. “Alice, why do you have Quinn’s phone?”