Page 47 of Ruin (Hell’s Mayhem MC: Maine Chapter #2)

Chapter Forty-Six

Kolton

“What the fuck happened to your face?” Kaison asks the moment I walk into the clubhouse.

“None of your business.”

“Where the fuck were you yesterday?” he then asks.

I stop and look at him. “None of your business,” I repeat, this time more slowly.

“Fuck you, Snapper,” he grunts, getting up from his seat to toss his paper plate into the grey trash bin. Every morning we come in, breakfast is made. Usually it’s Spam who makes it because the guy loves cooking. I don’t usually eat it.

My brother moves to go down the hall, but stops and gives me a weird look. He walks to me slowly. Grizz looks up from his plate of food, brow raised. He’s still, almost like he’s about to jump up and start a fight. There may be one if Kaison doesn’t fuck off.

“Did he hit you?” he asks in a low tone .

I bark out a laugh. “Is that a fucking joke?”

My brother holds my stare, and I know he’s dead serious.

“No, he fucking didn’t, and you better never assume that shit about him again.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Grizz’s face turn even more shocked. I’m not sure if it’s over Kaison’s audacious assumption or the fact he’s being so bold to bring it up here, in public.

Coyote comes down the hall and says, “Snapper and Shark, I need you two to come with me.”

“Where?” Shark asks, gaze still on me.

I scoff, and pull my gaze from him. I want to punch him, but it’s not worth it.

“We need to go to New York to meet with my buddy over the guys he’s sending over for us.”

“Uh…”

“Is there a problem with that?” Coyote snaps, giving my brother a look that says there better not be a fucking problem.

“Yeah, actually, there is. My girl is pregnant, and I don’t want to leave her.”

My brows shoot skyward, and I glare at Shark.

“You fucking serious?” I hiss.

He shrugs. “Wanted to tell you sooner, but you know…”

It hurts that he didn’t tell me that sooner, and I hate that it does. I should have been one of the first people he told, privately , not in a room full of these assholes. But yet again, I’m no one's priority.

“Well, this is club shit,” Coyote says .

“And family comes first,” I say, repeating words that would set my father off.

I remember my mother and him fighting over it all the time.

The club is family , he’d argue.

“This is your family,” Coyote says, staring me dead in the eye, and I wonder if somehow him and I were switched at birth.

“Shitty fucking family,” Grizz says under his breath.

“If you all got a problem with how I’m running this club, you can get the fuck out,” Coyote shouts, then walks toward the door. “We’re leaving tonight.”

The door slams behind him, and for the first time, I don’t hold back. I am in no mood to deal with anyone’s bullshit today. I’m tired, and Lucian is gone. My brother is assuming he abused me, and I just found out I’m going to be an uncle in the most un-private way possible.

Yeah, fuck all of this.

I look at my brother, then at Grizz. “I say we kill him.”

Grizz bursts out laughing, but my brother is looking at me like he doesn’t disagree.

It wouldn’t be hard. We’ve done it before.

Coyote doesn’t have a loyal following, no family to speak of, and none of these guys are up his ass.

I don’t think anyone would look for him, and I truly don’t think anyone here would miss him.

Something passes between my brother and me then. We know what we need to do because there is more on the line here than just the club. All worry of the tiff we just had are gone. There’s something here that takes precedence .

Coyote hasn’t been in charge long, but shit has already gone south since he’s been Prez. It’s time he doesn’t have it anymore. He never deserved it in the first place.

Shark looks at Grizz over his shoulder, who stops chewing, brows furrowing. His eyes widen slightly, and he holds his hands up before swallowing and saying, “I didn’t hear a goddamn thing.”

He grabs his plate and gets to his feet.

Shark’s attention comes back to me. I nod, then head toward the door.

Kaison follows me to my bike. I throw my leg over and start her up, needing the sound of the engine to drown out our conversation.

“You serious?” Kaison asks.

I shrug a shoulder. “He’s causing a lot of problems for a lot of people. He doesn’t belong here.” Kaison says nothing, just keeps staring. “It’s the perfect opportunity,” I add, grabbing my helmet and putting it on my head.

Kaison nods, glancing at the clubhouse, then back at me. “We’ll figure it out,” I say, knowing what he’s thinking.

He’s the VP. If Coyote is gone, he has to take over. We can handle that.

“Are you good?” I ask, when he still says nothing. I thought we were on the same page, but now that he isn’t saying anything, I’m wondering if I was wrong.

“Yeah, all good.” He nods. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. ”

“Are you sure your house is good?” I ask. “For a pregnant girl? It’ll be done by the time the baby comes?”

Kaison sucks, he’s too caring and in my business, but he is my brother.

“We’ll manage,” he says, but that doesn’t sound good enough to me.

“What’s the problem?” I ask.

“Just some shit with the contractors. They said it may take longer than they first thought.”

“So where have you been staying?” I ask, pissed at myself for not knowing any of this sooner. I should know everything going on in his life. We’re brothers, family. We’re all each other has, really. Why the hell do I keep missing so much stuff going on in his life?

“Kaison,’ I say when he doesn’t answer.

“It’s fine, Kolton. I’m fine.”

“Don’t give me that shit. Stay at my house.”

“With you?” he barks out a laugh.

“I’m staying with Lucian.”

His brow furrows, and I realize then how much I’m putting on this relationship.

If I let Kaison and Cora stay at my place, I have no choice but to stay with Lucian.

I want to mend things with my brother, but living with him isn’t the way to do that.

Even the thought of him being in my house while I’m not there is stressful, but he needs help and I can help him.

I can put my shit aside. I spent a lot of time at Lucian’s anyway, so as long as I don’t think too hard about this, it’ll all work out.

“Kolton—”

“I expect all your shit to be at my house within the next couple hours. Get the prospect on it.”

I drive off, not letting him answer me. If I do, he’ll argue more. I’m not sure about any of this, but if I want to let go of all the bullshit I’ve been holding onto, I have to start somewhere, and with Lucian gone, it’s the perfect opportunity to work on things with my brother.

I stare at my phone, waiting for a text back. He must have landed by now. So why isn’t he answering me? Why hasn’t he texted at all?

All the bad thoughts go through my head.

He doesn’t plan on coming back at all.

His plane crashed.

The car that was bringing him to the hotel crashed.

He’s too busy fucking someone else to answer me. Maybe Beth. Maybe some younger, hotter guy that isn’t as much of a pain in the ass as I am—someone who’s nicer to him.

So much shit—too much.

Finally, the bubbles start, and I can breathe.

Lucian : Of course that’s fine. You know where the spare key is.

I stare at the text, glad he’s okay with it, but not feeling any better. Why isn’t his answer good enough? He answered what I asked. What more do I want from the guy?

I respond with thanks, then shove the phone into my pocket, not sure what I’m expecting or what is going to make me feel better other than having him here, which isn’t a possibility.

Why am I so goddamn needy?

My phone buzzes and I pull it out.

Lucian : I miss you.

The weight on my chest loosens, and I find myself smiling at the phone. Was that it? Is this what I needed? A little reassurance without indirectly asking for it?

Me : I miss you too.

I put my phone in my pocket, then head up the steps to my house.

Kaison and Cora are already here, all their stuff is inside, thanks to the prospect figuring shit out.

Noah is a good kid. Kaison and I are supposed to leave in a couple hours with Coyote.

We told him we’d meet him at the clubhouse, but we don’t plan on letting him leave.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized this is what we have to do.

The town needs this club, and Coyote isn’t the right guy to run it. There are better ways to go about this, but that won’t work this time around.

I can trust my brother, and we can trust Grizz, probably Rhino too, but what about the other guys?

It’s better we do this on our own and deal with the shit after, rather than spilling our plan and one of them running to Coyote.

They could have Coyote’s back just because he’s the Prez. Loyalty is funny like that.

“This is your house, you don’t have to knock,” Kaison says when he pulls open the door.

“I don’t know what I’m walking in on.”

Kaison rolls his eyes.

“Everything good?” I ask.

“I’m great,” he says.

“Oh, hey, Snapper,” Cora says with a smile.

“Hi, Cora,” I respond.

“Thank you for letting us stay here, and I’m really sorry about your parents’ house.”

I raise a brow at Kaison, who gives an innocent shrug. Obviously, he didn’t tell her anything, which is fine by me. The less people who know, the better.

“Thanks,” I say. “I just need to grab some things.”

I head up to my room and grab a duffel from my closet to put clothes in. I find an old backpack in my closet and use that for my toiletries.

“So, things are serious?” Kaison asks as he leans against the door frame.

“I guess,” I answer.

“Come on, Kolton. You wouldn’t be staying with him if it wasn’t. I know you better than that.”

“I’m staying with him so you and Cora can stay here, since she’s pregnant and all,” I say sharply, still pissed he didn’t tell me sooner. I’m trying not to overreact about it, but it still hurts.

He’s smirking. “Or you’re using that as an excuse.”

“Excuse for what?” I snap.

“It’s easier to stay with him for me than it is for you.”

“What are you trying to say?” I ask, zipping up the bag.

“That you care about him, want to be with him, but are afraid to admit it.”

“I’m not afraid to admit it,” I say quickly.

“Okay, then. Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” I ask, getting annoyed. Why does he always do this shit to me? Why does he need me to say things out loud if he already knows what I’m going to say?

“Tell me what he means to you.” He’s smirking, and I want to slap it off his stupid face.

“What? Why?”

“If you aren’t afraid. ”

“I’m not.”

“Then tell me.”

I scoff. “Fuck you, Kaison. I don’t need to say it.”

“I know it can’t be easy,” he calls after me as I go into the bathroom.

There’s nothing in here I need; I grabbed it all.

He’s blocking my escape from the bedroom though, so this is the only place I can go, outside of the closet, to get away from him.

But of course, he follows me into the bathroom, blocking that door next.

“I’m sorry so much time went by with me thinking you were a dick.

I never thought it was more than that, Kolton, and I’m sorry. ”

I press my hands to the sink counter and let my head fall forward. “Stop it, Kaison.”

“I need to say this.”

“You’ve said enough.”

“Well, I’m saying it again, okay? I’m sorry.”

“Stop being sorry!” I shout, whirling to face him. “I don’t need your pity!”

He looks like I slapped him. I wish I would have.

“Is that what you think?”

This conversation sounds so familiar…

“This isn’t pity, Kolton, it’s guilt.”

Fuck, I am so tired of talking about all of this shit.

“What the fuck do you have to feel guilty for? You didn’t do anything!

” “Exactly!” he shouts. “That’s exactly what I have to be guilty for.

I was in that house while it happened, and though it’s nothing compared to what you went through or how you feel now, can you imagine how it makes me feel?

Maybe you wouldn’t care if it had happened to me but—”

“Of course I would have cared!”

Kaison stops talking and just stares at me. Then a slow smile creeps up along his face. Now that he’s well and truly pissed me off, he’s going to smile like everything is fine.

“Okay, I’ll stop with the emotional shit. I just want you to know that I plan on being the best big brother for the foreseeable future, so you should get used to it.”

I roll my eyes and go to shove past him, knowing it’s the only opportunity I’ll have, but he grabs me and pulls me to him, hugging me.

“I love you, Kolt.”

Tears sting my eyes. I can hardly handle this from Lucian, now I get all this emotional shit from Kaison, too?

I hug him back, though, because maybe I need this too…

“If Cora gets pregnant again, and I’m not the first person you tell, I will kill you.”

He huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. I deserve that.”

He gives me a tight squeeze, then lets me go.

“Thank you,” he says, eyes shining with humor.

I hold up my middle finger right to his face and he slaps it away.

I grab my bags and head outside to my truck.

I wait for him to say goodbye to Cora, because even she doesn’t know what’s going on.

He told her we were going to New York with Coyote.

Only when we get to the clubhouse, he’s never going to show…

at least, that’s what we’re going to tell people.