Page 17 of Defiant (American Street Kings 2)

“You need to tell her.”

Startled, I looked around and saw Onyx standing at the end of the hall. “You need to tell her, Granite.”

“No.” I stomped off in the other direction. Onyx followed.

“She’s going to kill herself over this. You know that, right?”

“She won’t. This will all be over soon.”

“How?” He grabbed my elbow, and this time I swung around, balling my fist, ready to punch him. But I managed to stop myself in time, biting my bottom lip.

“Stop,” I warned him. “Just…stop.”

“I’m sorry, brother. But this time I won’t stop until you do the right fucking thing.”

“Don’t.”

A threatening grin spread across his face. “Not this time. You tell her, or I will.”

I lost it. His threat pushed me over the edge, and I grabbed his throat, slamming his back into the wall, digging my fingers into his neck while pinning his shoulder with my other hand. “If you so much as breathe in her direction, I will kill you. I swear to God, I’ll drive my knife through your heart and feel nothing.” My jaw clenched, nostrils flared, anger resonating from every pore.

“Why the fuck won’t you tell her? She needs to know the truth. How in God’s name can you not see that?”

I let go of him with a jerk, snarling like a goddamn animal. Rage made it impossible for me to put words together. God knew it took every ounce of self-control I had to stop myself from beating my own brother.

“Granite, I don’t get it, man. Telling her will end all of this. Why the fuck—” He paused and narrowed his eyes, staring at me like he managed to catch a glimpse inside my head, hearing my every thought. “You’re afraid.” His eyebrows slanted inward. “You’re afraid she’ll forgive you.”

“What?”

“That’s it, isn’t it? You’re afraid if she knows the truth, she’ll forgive you. You can’t deal with that thought because you can’t forgive yourself.”

I wiped my beard with the back of my hand. “Fuck off, Onyx. Get out of my head and mind your own fucking business.”

“That’s the problem, Granite. It’s not just your fucking business. If it affects the club, it’s all of our business.”

“Not her,” I retaliated. “She’s no one’s fucking business except mine.” I took a step forward, holding a finger in his face. “Stay away from her. I mean it.”

I turned and saw Ink standing behind us. But I only glanced at him before brushing past. If I didn’t leave now, I’d end up smashing my brother’s jaw into pieces.

As I was about to exit the basement, Ink called out, “Onyx is right.”

I stopped but didn’t turn to face him.

“Onyx is right. She needs to know.”

I rolled my shoulders, moving my head side to side to loosen the strain in my neck. The thought of her knowing sent a crawling sensation up my spine that felt all kinds of wrong. “No.” One simple word, and I walked off. But when I got to the top of the stairs, Dutch was waiting for me.

“I think it’s time for a meeting, don’t you?”

“Dutch—”

“Granite. We need to talk about this.” He glanced over my shoulder to Onyx and Ink. “All of us do.”

My jaw clenched, and I bit my lip. Fuck. I didn’t need a goddamn degree to figure out they were about to vote against me. Even though my word was law, I’d never voted against my entire crew. Neither had my father. Would this be the first?

“Fine,” I conceded with a growl. “We wait for Manic, then we can have our meeting.” I brushed past Dutch, and Manic chose that exact fucking moment to walk through the front door.Jesus. Was the universethatdesperate to fuck me in the ass?

“What about a meeting?” Manic stared at me questioningly, and then at Dutch. “What’d I miss?”

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