Page 58 of Knox

Adrian wasn’t sure he believed that, but he didn’t have the time to argue either. They needed to get going and find Caelen and put an end to him before hopeless idiots like Daniel could empower him.

Adrian was about to go and grab a hall plan when he saw something that made him freeze. There, close to the entrance to hall 1 stood someone who had absolutely no business being here.

His brother, Grant.

Adrian wanted to vanish into the crowd, but he’d already been spotted.

Fuck.

Grant was coming toward him, and he would be nothing but annoying, even more so if Knox and the others entered the conversation. "Be right back," Adrian said to Daniel, and then he turned and walked toward hall 2 as quickly as he could.

He knew he wasn’t going to shake his brother, but he could at least deal with him somewhere away from the center of insanity.

"Adrian! Wait!" Grant called.

Adrian ducked into hall 2 and stopped near a vendor booth selling dragon figurines. He spun around, catching his breath just as Grant reached him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Adrian demanded, voice sharp.

Seriously, Grant was the last person Adrian wanted to see today.

His brother raised his hands in mock surrender. "I live in this town, remember?"

Adrian’s jaw clenched. "I meant what are you doing at this convention? This isn’t your scene."

Grant sighed. He was two years younger than Adrian, but that moment, he looked older, weary. Adrian didn’t feel pity for him, though. If their meeting stressed him out, it wasn’t because of anything Adrian had done.

Grant had caused his stress for himself because ever since they were little, he always needed to have what Adrian had.

"I read on your blog that you were going to be here," Grant explained. "Thought maybe we could talk."

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. "What made you think I want to talk to you? Did I not delete your emails quickly enough?"

Grant winced at the accusation. "Look, I know I’ve been an ass. But I wanted to make things right. I thought I could apologize."

Adrian didn’t want to hear it. His brother had been trying to apologize to him for months, but Adrian couldn’t bear to even think about what Grant had done.

"I never meant to hurt you," Grant said. "You’ve got to believe me. I wasn’t thinking."

Adrian looked away, biting his lower lip. "You didn’t meant to sleep with my boyfriend? You don’t mean to marry him now?"

Silence.

By the guilty look on his brother’s face, Adrian knew the wedding was still on. Of course it was.

Chris hadn’t just lost his mind for one night. He’d actively chosen Grant over Adrian.

Walking in on them had been the worst punch in the gut Adrian had ever experienced.

"It just happened," Grant said. "We didn’t mean for it to go this far. It was a mistake at first, but then…" he trailed off. Maybe he realized how stupid he was sounding.

Adrian’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. How was he supposed to handle this situation when he couldn’t look at Grant without being reminded of his own inadequacy? Obviously, Grant did not have all the issues Adrian had, or Chris would not have picked him.

His little brother was better than him, and Adrian hated him for it, hated himself too.

Grant spoke up again. "At least let Grandma come to the wedding."

Adrian shook his head. He hadn’t told their grandmother not to attend. That was a decision Evelyn had made all by herself."If I went, I’d tell everyone what he did,"she’d said. Adrian didn’t want that.