Page 64 of They Break Beauty

With that, he pulled back, then did something we hadn’t seen from him in years.

He lost his temper.

Snatching up his mug, he let out a roar as he tossed it across the kitchen, wherein it smashed against the wall and shattered to pieces, coffee spraying everywhere.

And then he stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door shut with such force it shook the entire fucking room.

I cursed and rounded on Mason. “What the shit are you playing at? Why did you provoke him like that?”

“I needed to test a theory.”

“And what theory was that? The damage he’ll do if he loses his temper? You remember the last time, yes?” I gestured at his right shoulder. It was covered by the gray henley tee he currently had on and his skull with wings tattoo beneath that, but it was never really out of sight to me. “You got shot. And so did Lev.” I lowered my voice. “The two of you murdered five guys. Your dad put you on a leash.”

“I’m well aware,” he gritted out. “Well fucking aware, Colt.”

“Then why do this now? I mean, shit, didn’t you see how happy he was when he first walked in here?”

“I did and you know as well as I do how worrying that is with him. All the signs are there like they were five years ago. You haven’t been looking as closely at it as I have, namely because you’ve been caught up in helping him here and there with the bits and pieces of a much bigger picture he hasn’t let either of us in on. That’s why I did what I did, to see exactly where he’s at. Last time, neither of us acted it time to stop all that hell from breaking loose. I’m not gonna make that mistake again.”

“I get that, but you need to get that there are other ways to approach this.” I rose to my feet. “And your way, the brutal way you just attacked and threatened somebody he clearly cares about… all it’s gonna do is risk driving him away again. For good this time. I don’t want that. And as much as the two of you butt heads, I know you don’t actually really want that either. He’s our brother, come what may.”

“I’ll do what I have to do to protect us, Colt.”

I shook my head at him.

“Shit, Mason.”

With that, I walked out without another word.

There was no point.

He was clearly in one of his hardheaded moods right now.

Any pushing would just further entrench him in his current position.

I’d have to try again when he wasn’t so worked up, come at it another way.

I found Levi in his workshop.

He was staring at an intricate carving in front of him on one of his workbenches.

Holy shit. It was incredible.

He’d carved a one-foot butterfly, the wings with some amazing detailing and patterns etched into them.

“Wow,” I uttered, approaching it. “This is some of your finest work. Maybe the finest.”

As I came within reach, I went to touch it, but he snapped his fingers a fraction of a second before I made a move. “Uh uh, no touching works in progress.”

I pulled my hand back. “Right. My bad. I forgot. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around you doing your woodworking—or carving, in this case.”

He was now dressed in his black cargo pants instead of just his boxers, but still shirtless, and I took note of his hoodie thrown over his laptop bag by the opposite door that led out through the side entrance to the mansion. There was a small garage out there too where he parked his Harley, separate from Mason’s Porsche and my dark-blue Mercedes. Lev liked to come and go without notice, so he set things like that up where he wouldn’t disturb us when he did. The same with him having control of the security system here. From Mason’s pessimistic view of it, he believed it was Lev looking to keep whatever troublesome things he got up to off our radar.

I got that it could be worrying with Lev. Of course I did. But Mason often forgot—or didn’t like to think about—what Lev had suffered through six years ago. Something that had completely changed him, shattered him. And when he’d tried to put the pieces back together they hadn’t fit together the same way. I guess, he hadn’t really wanted them to.

He’d become volatile and malicious.

Well, that was what people saw from him. All they really saw.

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