Page 5 of Unmask
That wasn’t exactly reassuring.
Unease twisted low in my stomach, but this was Rusty. Not a stranger. Not like when I had been thrown into the Corvos’ world, forced to navigate a house full of people who saw me as nothing more than a pawn in their twisted game.
That had been hell, but I had survived. I had to keep reminding myself. I was alive. I was lucky. I needed to keep living.
Forcing myself to my feet, I wiped my palms against my jeans before unlocking the door. Rusty stood there waiting in his oil-stained pants tucked into his dusty, untied, black combat boots. Behind his bushy beard, it was difficult to read what was going on, but that had always been Rusty.
“Can’t I just stay at my place?” I asked, my voice hoarse.
Rusty’s lips thinned behind his mustache, sympathy crossing his features. He was a bigger and bulkier guy than my father had been, but he’d always been this gentle giant to me. “It’s not yours anymore, kiddo. Donovan sold it.” Contempt weighed heavily in his admission. He didn’t like having to tell me any more than I liked hearing the hard truth.
My stomach bottomed out. “What?”
Rusty leaned a shoulder against the door, filling the entire entrance. “Some other family bought it and moved in about a week ago.”
The words barely registered. My house. The only thing I had left of my parents. Gone. Sold.
I swayed on my feet, my mind racing. How could Donovan do that?
And more importantly, why the hell hadn’t Kenny or Carson told me?
2
KREED
The cold night air did nothing to cool the fire burning through me. Nash, Maddox, and Mason followed as I left the warehouse, but I barely registered them as I pulled my keys from my pocket. Wordlessly, I tossed them to Nash and got into the passenger seat ofmycar, not even checking to see if he caught them. I didn’t give a shit, but when he didn’t climb in right away, I glanced over to see what the damn problem was.
Nash opened the driver’s door and hovered just outside, his chestnut brow lifting at me, my keys dangling from his middle finger. “You sure?”
No.
The last time I’d ridden shotgun in my SUV had been when I’d been too drunk to drive. That was nearly two years ago. No one drove my wheels. Not even my brothers. To hand over the control now only spoke volumes about the state of my mental health.
Not good wouldn’t even begin to cut it.
If I got behind the wheel, I’d kill us all. The surge of rage and pain brawling within me went beyond dangerous. It was fucking deadly.
That was how I felt. Like a weapon on the verge of slicing the throats of everyone in my path.
“Drive,” I muttered, shoving a hand through my hair as I slammed the door shut. The others climbed in, knowing it was best to keep their mouths shut when I was like this.
The ride was quiet, the tension thick, stifling. They were waiting for me to break the silence, watching me from the corners of their eyes, expecting me to snap at any second.
They weren’t wrong.
As we crossed back into the southern part of Elmwood, I took a deep breath. “Drop me at the club.” The last fucking place I wanted to be was the house. I didn’t care what my father had to say, not about us running out on the game or failing to bring Kaylor back.
Nash’s brown eyes flicked to me as his fingers adjusted on the wheel. “That’s a bad idea.”
I laughed, the sound empty. “No offense, but fuck off.”
In the back seat, Maddox swore under his breath, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “We should go home.”
“Can’t.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. My fingers curled against my thighs as I shook my head. It wasn’t just my father I was avoiding.
I couldn’t go home.
Not to the room across the hall. Not to the empty space where Kaylor had slept. Not tonight. Perhaps not tomorrow either, but all I could think about was now.
