“Dad …” I sniff.
“You’re seventeen. Not five! Turn it fucking off, Kyle! It’s just an emotion. You have control of your mind to overcome something so insignificant,” he finishes and then straightens. He doesn’t even look back at my mother as he grabs my arm and drags me to our seats in the front row.
I lift my head to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. “I will feel nothing for you,” I say to myself. A sick part of me hopes he can fucking hear me as he burns in hell. All he cared about was Kingdom. His precious fucking club that was there for him day in and day out. It gave him life. Money. Women.
I yank open the doors to find Lucy standing naked at the end of her bed with my phone in her hand. She can turn it back on if she chooses, but she doesn’t know the code, so she can’t unlock it. I grab her arm and push her onto the mattress.
“Grave, what are you …?”
Gripping the back of her neck with my hand, I shove her face into the bed. “You.”
Her body relaxes, and she gives in to what is about to come. I never did get the concept of feeling no emotions like my brother did. He was already pretty dead inside, but after Mom passed, he was a walking, talking zombie. I thought it was a shame, but my father praised him for it.
CHAPTER FOUR
GRAVE
“WHERE ARE YOU going?” Lucy asks, sitting up in her bed.
“I have somewhere to be,” I lie, yanking my jeans up my legs.
She frowns but doesn’t say anything else. She knows when I’m done, I’m done, and there’s nothing she can do to make me stay.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asks.
“I don’t know.” I grab my shirt off the floor and slide it on. Fuck, I really need a shower and some clean clothes.
“Grave—”
“I’ll call you,” I interrupt her and exit her room. I make my way out of her penthouse and into her private elevator. As the doors close, I pull out my cell and press call.
“Hello?” Luca answers on the first ring.
“Hey, I’m out. You have anything?” I ask, leaning my head back against the wall. I get most of my shit from Luca Bianchi. My brother hates that he’s my main supplier, but there’s nothing he can do about it.
“Yeah, I’ll swing by Kingdom later and drop some off.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
We hang up as the door slides open, and I step off into the parking garage. I fall into my car, not really sure where I’m going but knowing I can’t stay here any longer.
I’m not in love with Lucy and she’s aware of that. Regardless of what she feels for me, she knows where she stands. And you have to respect a bitch who doesn’t push something that she knows won’t ever happen.
I drive through town, my radio blaring “Mansion” by NF on max volume to drown out all my thoughts. I haven’t called my brother back, but he sent me a message an hour ago to call him. I didn’t respond.
He’s probably getting his morning wood sucked now. Since Titan is up for sharing his woman with him, he’s probably drowning himself in Emilee. They have some fucked-up threesome thing going on.
I come up to a stoplight and sit there while a car with two girls pulls up next to me. They barely look sixteen. The driver smiles at me, and then her eyes run over my neck tattoo and sleeve, and her smile grows. I look away from her, staring straight ahead, not having the time to deal with a girl who has daddy issues. Most women who want to fuck me do it to piss off their fathers. The only flaw in their plans is that I don’t ever stay around long enough to meet their dads.
The song changes to “MONSTERS” by Shinedown, and I rev my engine, waiting for the light to change as well. I look to my left and see a flower shop. It’s got a blood-red awning and glass storefront. A red rose is painted on one of the windows. It reminds me of my mother.
Seventeen years old
The service is about to come to an end. We’ve only been to one other funeral before, and they had a picture of Aunt Beth and the front of the church was full of flowers.
My brother sits to my right, back ramrod straight. Emilee’s hand in his on her lap. “Where are Mom’s flowers?” I ask him.
He leans into me but keeps his eyes facing ahead. “Dad said no flowers. He didn’t want them cluttering the house afterward.”
I fist my hands. Dad hates them. Always said it’s a waste of money to pay so much for something that is just going to die within a matter of days. “Mom loved flowers,” I tell him.