Page 65 of Anger

Maybe I need to get away from everyone for a while so that none of them are damaged when I finally lose control.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like escaping is going to happen today.

Within a few hours of Ezra leaving the house after our last argument, I got a text demanding I head to Gabe’s house for another family meeting.

Now I’m stuck on a couch barely listening to all the problems everybody’s discussing, until Shane says something that draws my attention.

“Why me? Why not Taylor or one of the twins?”

I glance around the room in a feeble attempt to figure out what the hell Shane’s talking about.

First, I look to my brother because I can read Ezra better than everybody else in the group. He sits across the room from me slumped in a chair, his head hanging slightly back like the ceiling is more interesting than the conversation.

Unable to blame him for the boredom, it still pisses me off that he doesn’t react to Shane’s question. Ezra’s lack of a reaction fails to clue me in.

Until Shane brought Ezra and me up, I was struggling to understand why I’m even here. I get why Tanner and Gabe like forcing everyone to attend these damn meetings. It’s so we’re all caught up, but only half of us barely pay attention most of the time.

Like now, for instance …

Gabe’s standing near the alcohol as usual, slamming down drinks and refilling them so fast, the ice barely has time to melt.

Sawyer’s puffing on a joint, the smoke drifting to the top of the room like a white cloud hanging over our heads.

Tanner is standing in his usual spot at the front of the group while Taylor types furiously on his computer. Shane looks like he’s about to spontaneously combust. Mason looks as bored as Ezra, and Jase glares at all of us because nobody gives a flying fuck about his constant questions about Everly.

Beyond the group, Ivy is sitting primly on a couch near Ava and Luca, but her behavior is off to the point where you’d think she’s attempting to imitate a robot.

But again, I don’t give much of a shit about all of them right now. The only thing I care about is what task Shane is trying to offload onto Ezra and me.

“Because the twins are busy with Emily,” Gabe answers, his eyes targeting Ivy as he brushes off Shane’s bullshit question with a bullshit answer.

Now Ezra wants to pay attention, but only enough to drop his head down to glare across the room at me. And only because Emily’s name was mentioned.

Fucker.

For the second time, we’ve agreed to bedonewith Emily.

I have no doubt he’ll chase her down again as soon as he gets the chance.

After seeing them in bed together, I’ve given up on ever making her myhomeagain, but I love her enough not to sit back and watch Ezra shred her to pieces. And judging by the way he treats her when I’m there to witness, I assume that it’s much worse when it’s just the two of them alone.

Thankfully, Gabe’s response to Shane was enough to shut him up, and that means I’m not stuck with some stupid task Tanner wants to assign.

The meeting carries on, just as boring as ever until Gabe drags Ivy off to speak privately. A few minutes go by while the two of them argue in another room. But then that argument turns into fucking, and every single one of the Inferno groan to hear it.

Seriously, Gabe?

I’m wasting my time on this shit?

I’m about to haul ass and leave when Tanner storms out of the room to break up the fuckfest. Gabe and Ivy finally return to the meeting, and the boring words start again.

I get why they are so concerned about the servers.

But it’s not ameproblem; it’s athemproblem.

Ezra and I settle problems with our fists. There’s not a damn thing I can do about all the other intricacies of this war.

Why can’t Tanner and Gabe just call us when they need someone pounded down? Why force us to listen to all this other bullshit?

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