Page 57 of Anger

“Fuck off.” I wrench the beer from his hold.

Priest smirks and scratches at his beard. “There’s the Damon I know. So can we stop the bullshit now and drink while tinkering with cars? I thought that was the plan for the night.”

Shane shakes his head and pops the cap on his beer. Despite Priest attempting to lighten the mood, Shane stares at me with concern written across his face and refuses to drop the subject.

“Your dad still calling you?”

He’s plucking at every nerve in my body tonight, and I clench my teeth when the memories resurface again.

You call yourself a man?

Blood, so much blood…

Screaming and laughter.

My father’s face.

You look more like a pathetic bitch to me.

Forcing them back into that place in my brain where I don’t have to remember the past, I shake my head and pop the cap on my beer. “I haven’t talked to him.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s not calling,” Shane counters. He dead-stares me for a solid minute, the tension between us rising. He breaks it with another question I refuse to answer. “Have you told Ezra?”

“Man, fuck this shit,” Priest grumbles as he pulls a greasy wrench from the top of the desk and walks off to one of the cars they have up on a lift.

I move to follow him, but Shane blocks my path. We square up to each other, but it won’t lead to blows. While Shane and I have no problem fighting with other bastards, we’ve never fought each other.

His voice is low when he reminds me, “We don’t need a repeat of the past, Damon. That’s all I’m saying. The shit between you and Ezra after we left for college lasted a full year because of Emily. And she wasn’t even around at that point.”

Taking a sip of my beer, I swallow it down before dragging in a steadying breath.

“Your point?”

Shane’s jaw tics. “How much worse will the fight be between the two of you while she is here?”

Too much of the past is coming back to haunt me, everything colliding together to a point where I can’t separate Emily from Ezra and those damn fights.

Why did she have to come back now? Everything was good until that fucked-up engagement party. Now the storms are returning, and I can’t escape them no matter what direction I turn.

My thoughts go to Blue for a split second … the thought of how she stands in that storm like she’s somehow part of it.

“Everything is fine,” I lie. “Ezra and I aren’t fighting, and I don’t give a shit about Emily.”

Shane eyes me with suspicion. “And the shit with your dad?”

“I’ll block his number. Problem solved. Now can we get to working on the cars? I’m done with this interrogation.”

After a few seconds, Shane nods his head.

We both head over to where Priest is cussing at a seized bolt. But before we reach him, Shane nudges my shoulder with his.

“Where’d the swelling on your jaw come from?”

I laugh because the truth is funnier than what he assumes happened. “Some cage dancer kicked me in the face when I accused her of fucking for money.”

Shane stops in place, and I stop right beside him.

“You serious?”

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