Page 83 of The Puck Chase

I try to keep my words free of emotion, but it doesn’t work. “The time to make it right was when you left two defenseless boys to fend for themselves. So stop calling him, because I’m going to make it right now.” I take one last look at him and shake my head, knowing I will never forgive him, before rounding my car and preparing to leave.

“Why?” he calls out, and when I pause and look at him in question, he adds, “Why are you making it right for him?”

I brush a hand over my face, glancing between him and the discarded sheets of paper on the ground. “I need to tell your brother why, before I tell you,” I answer him honestly, and his eyes assess me closely, before he sees it.

“You love him,” he confirms, but I don’t say anything, and he sighs with a nod. “Look after him for me.”

“The only Forbes I’ll ever do anything for, is him,” I reply, before I climb in my car and drive away, not feeling any less angry than when I came, but at least I got my message across.

When I finally make it back to Daemon’s house, Hallie is in the kitchen making coffee, and offers me a tired smile as I enter.

“Is he okay?” I ask instantly, and she nods gently.

“He’s fine, still sleeping, and Josh is with him. Do you want a cup of coffee?” she asks, and I shake my head. I’m already too wired to even think straight, coffee won’t help, and as if sensing my peril, she rounds the counter and presses a hand on my arm. “Arch, are you okay?” Her question has tears burning at the back of my eyes, and all I can do is shake my head no.

Her arms are around me before I can stop her, and I can do nothing but accept the hug gratefully, telling myself not to fall apart, that it isn’t about me, but the tears are coming before I can stop them. “I just need him to be okay, Hals,” I choke out into her hair, and she rubs my back in comfort.

“He’s got you in his corner, Arch, he’s going to be more than okay,” she tells me, before pulling back and wiping my tears. “Now go, get in bed and look after him,” she breathes, and I swallow down the emotion in the back of my throat.

“You’re just saying that so you can get Peters back and ride his dick,” I reply with a weak smile, and she rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know how you even got Daemon to go out with you,” she scoffs, shoving me in the chest, and I grab her hand and pull her in, dropping a kiss to her head.

“He interrupted me getting my dick sucked when we were freshman, and I was smitten,” I reply, letting her loose, as I grab a couple of bottles of water from the fridge. “Then I stalked him for three years until he gave in,” I add, and she shakes her head, as if she doesn’t believe me.

Which is bullshit, because that is exactly how it happened.

When I reach his room, Josh meets my stare, and I can tell he’s tired, hell, I am too, but still I offer him a weak smile. “Thanks for staying with him, Peters.”

I hold open the door so he knows he can leave, and that I’m ready to take over, and he eyes me as he rises to his feet and crosses the room. “You gonna tell me what happened?” he asks, and I sigh with a shrug.

“Maybe tomorrow.” He nods, taking one last look at his best friend before leaving the room, gently tapping my shoulder on the way out.

Once he’s gone, I quickly wash up in the bathroom, getting undressed, before turning off the light and slipping into bed beside Daemon. His face still seems tense, even in his deep slumber, while my body relaxes as I curl up next to him. Checking my phone, I spy a message from David, telling me everything is done, and I’m not sure if he is referring to the restraining order, or the parole hearing, but it says he will callme in the morning, so I shut off my phone and put it on the bedside table.

No matter what happens, I won’t let Ellis Forbes get anywhere near his son again.

The papers in my hand hold information I already know, information that has been burned into my brain for weeks now. Ever since I saw my brother after his practice and he mentioned his body was covered in scars, something didn’t sit right with me. I grew up in that same house, with the same father he did, but it turns out we did not have the same childhood. I thought my father’s hatred was just aimed at me, that he hated the way I looked like my mother, or that I called him out about his drinking, or how I took drugs to numb the pain he inflicted. I was a disappointment, a shame to my mother, or at least that’s what he told me, and I believed him.

I took the hits, took the pain, and the second I turned eighteen, I fled. I knew I was leaving my brothers behind, but I thought they would be okay, that they were nothing like me.They were good, pure, but I was wrong. So fucking wrong. Daemon’s medical records only show a fraction of what he went through, and I think that’s the hardest pill for me to swallow. That I know he only sought help when he had to, but what about all the times he didn’t? How many times did he suffer? Or patch himself up and just carry on?

A thought I can’t even bear to think about, and don’t even get me started on Ryan, he was just a baby.

I turn to storm back inside the clubhouse, but pause when I find Caleb standing on the threshold. Caleb ‘Thorn’ Thornton, President of the Hades MC, and the only person willing to take a chance on a homeless kid with no money. He eyes me and the papers in my hand, knowing only some of my history, but it’s as if he can read my every thought, and honestly, he probably can.

“Graves just called, The King said it can happen tonight, she’s sending Ghost to help you,” he breathes, before taking a deep inhale of his cigarette.

“Tonight? How the fuck did she get it done so fast?” I question instantly, although I don’t even know why I ask that, Elle King can make anything happen, but Caleb only shrugs, already knowing the answer.

“Money can buy you anything,” he replies simply.

A fact only proven when not even one hour later I am sitting outside Fairfield Penitentiary, waiting for the guards to do a shift change so we can get inside. Apparently even the highest security prison in the state has a price, and once The King heard what I needed and why, she was more than happy to pay it.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” The man beside me asks, and I flick my stare to him in annoyance.

Ghost is a few years younger than me, but he seems older, like he’s seen some things in his short life, and they cling to him like a shadow. He’s technically a member of what used to be our rival club, the Hallowed Crows MC, but since their Prez gotmarried he’s been out on his own. He’s known to be able to get in and out of anywhere without leaving a trace, hence his name, and his reasoning for sitting beside me, but still I can’t help but scoff at his question.

“I’ve been ready for this since I was a child who took a grown man's fist to my face,” I spit, turning my focus back toward the door, but not before I see his slight cringe.

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