Page 24 of Sins of a Rebel

We claim one of the high-top tables, and the crowd parts as Brix makes his way toward where Madden and I are sitting, shooting the shit before we hit the stage. He’s like fucking royalty around here. People bow down to him, giving him space to get through until he reaches us. Maybe because he is around this town. His dad is loaded, and he's never had to want for anything his whole life.

“Things are getting serious between the two of you, huh?” Madden asks, nodding toward the bar where Brix came from. He lifts his beer and takes a drink to put off answering the question.

His voice comes out hoarse and grumbly. Brix shrugs, climbing onto the barstool across from us.

“I hate to break it to you, but it looks like it’s her who has you eating out of the palm of her hand!” I holler over the music, chuckling.

“Shut the fuck up,” Brix grits out.

“Well, looks like you’ve won part of the bet. You fucked her.” Madden elbows me at the mention of the bet, glancing around for any sign of Ivy. I clutch my side, gritting my teeth. “I’m waiting for the part where you send her ass heartbroken back to wherever the hell she came from, though.”

“I said shut the fuck up, you stupid motherfucker. You hear me?” Brix seethes. “You have a lot of room to talk when you’ve been keeping secrets of your own.”

He bores his eyes into me, clenching his jaw as if signaling to test him on it.

“Hey guys, you ready to rock this place or what?” Kyla’s sweet voice yells over the music.

My eyes stay glued on Brix.

“Will you two knock it the fuck off?” Madden shouts. “I’m sick of you constantly bickering like teenage girls. We have a show to play, and we don’t need you at each other’s throats, all right?”

“I’m gonna go warm up,” I growl, swallowing the rest of my beer and slamming the bottle down on the table.

I don’t doubt for a second that Brix would spill my secret about seeing Kyla behind Madden’s back, but he wouldn’t do it right before we have a show to play.

“Wait, Tysin, what’s wrong?” Kyla asks under her breath. Her eyes flick over to Madden, not wanting to cause a scene.

“Listen, I can’t talk to you right now. I don’t want to deal with your brother and Brix and their shit-ass mood.”

She clenches her jaw and nods, taking a step back.

There’s a glimmer in her eyes, looking an awful lot like tears, but she blinks through them, not letting it show.

I hate the thought of hurting her. It’s the last thing I want. I’m no better than Brix, which is precisely why Madden would never condone me dating his sister.

He knows all about my sordid past and the long list of women I’ve taken home before her. She’s nothing like them, though, but it doesn’t matter. He’d never see it that way.

Madden is protective over Kyla. I’d never want a girl to get between the band and me, and the future we’ve mapped out for us.

I stalk away from her, unable to bear the look in her eyes anymore.

A line of women forms along the stage, and as soon as they see me approaching, their attention is on me.

I recognize one of them right away.

Victoria.

We hooked up once months ago. She knew the score and was up for a good time with no strings attached.

“Hey,” she coos when I approach, dragging her hand over my chest.

I stare down at her long nails, recalling the way she dragged them over my back, digging into my skin.

It was the most delicious pain.

“You want another beer before you go on?” Oaklyn, one of the bartenders, interrupts to ask. She flicks her eyes over to Victoria, curling her lip in disgust before looking back at me.

Oaklyn smirks.

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