Page 54 of Ruin (Hell’s Mayhem MC: Maine Chapter #2)

Chapter Fifty-Four

Kolton

“What does he want?” I ask the moment Kaison shuts the door.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear the whole thing. You’re standing right there.”

I cross my arms, waiting for him to answer me.

“That man loves you,” Kaison says firmly. “And I don’t know what the fuck is going on, whether you’re wrong or he’s wrong, but Kolton—“ He steps closer, putting his hands on my shoulders. “If it isn’t important, then fucking forget it. Just let yourself be happy.”

“He lied!” I shout, shrugging him off me.

Kaison grimaces. “I’m not calling you a liar, Kolton, but… did he? Or are you letting your past bullshit ruin your future?”

“He did,” I grit out.

Kaison shrugs. “Then fuck him.” He gives me a long look, then moves past me and into the living room.

Like that’s it. Like it’s so simple to just forget.

I stand there, staring at the door, knowing he’s probably still on the other side.

I didn’t hear his car start up or drive off.

Maybe he’s planning to break in or maybe he’s—

I narrow my eyes, glancing over my shoulder. I head for the stairs and hurry up them, then dash into my room. I go right to the window, fling it open and stick my head out.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growl, spotting Lucian trying to reach the fire escape ladder. His eyes lock with mine, and he doesn’t even look sorry for it.

When I was younger, he snuck into my room all the time.

Sometimes he used the front door, but most of the time he used the tree that was right out of my window.

I chopped that tree down after he left me because I never wanted him sneaking up on me again.

Yet, here we are again. If he thinks I won’t tear the fire escape off the house with my bare hands, he’s out of his mind.

“Talk to me, Kolton,” he calls out. “Please.”

“Get off my property, Lucian. Go home!” I slam the window shut, leave my room and slam the door behind me and hurry downstairs.

Kaison is already looking at me when I enter the room.

“Get him off the property before I kill him.”

“I thought he left?” Kaison says, getting up from the couch.

“He’s trying to break in.”

“That’s kind of sweet,” Cora says.

“It’s creepy!”

“So is the age gap,” Kaison mutters as he heads for the door .

I scoff. “He’s in the back!”

Kaison waves me off and goes out the front door. I head toward the front window in the dining room to wait and watch. Eventually, Lucian walks to his car with his tail between his legs. He gets in and drives off.

Just like that, he’s gone again.

He just fucking leaves.

“I’m telling you right now, if you give him shit for leaving, I’ll smack you myself,” Kaison barks.

I give Kaison the middle finger, then head upstairs to take a shower, refusing to give in to the disappointment I feel over knowing he’s gone. I did this.

No, fuck that. He did this.

He lied to me. He fucking lied to me again.

When I get out of the shower, I throw on fresh clothes and pull the door open. Kaison is standing there and it startles me.

“What the fuck do you want? There’s another bathroom downstairs.”

“We need to talk.”

“No.” I go to squeeze by him, but he steps in front of me, stopping me.

“We need to talk,” he repeats, this time more sternly. It’s a deep voice that reminds me too much of our father, and my stomach sours. I think of raising my fist to knock him out, but my body is frozen in fear.

Fuck him so fucking hard for what he did to me .

I close my eyes and take a slow breath. Kaison isn’t doing this on purpose; he probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.

“Kolton,” Kaison says, this time in a much softer tone. I blink a few times, and he comes into view. “You okay?”

I wipe at my eyes, feeling tears and hating it.

“I’m fine,” I say, clearing my throat.

He’s staring at me like he doesn’t believe me, which he shouldn’t. I’m not okay. Not even close.

“Let’s talk.” His voice is the softest it’s been yet, and it causes emotion to swirl in my chest. There’s something about a soft, calm voice that makes me feel safe. So much like Lucian’s.

I can trust my brother. I don’t have to keep my distance from him. He’s family. He’s a good man. I know he is. He didn’t know what was going on when we were younger, and if he did, he wouldn’t have stood for it. I’m certain of that. My brother is not a dick.

It’s okay to trust him.

It’s okay.

“Okay,” I say. “But I need a drink.”

He huffs a laugh. “Fine by me.”

We head downstairs, and I don’t see Cora anywhere, and since Kaison doesn’t seem concerned over it, I assume she went to bed. She’s been sleeping a lot, I hear.

Kaison goes to the kitchen, pulls a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and heads toward the front door. I follow after him, not bothering to argue. It’s a nice day, and I haven’t used the porch swing ever. Not sure why I bought it at all, honestly .

Kaison takes the wicker chair, so I sit on the swing across from it, hoping it won’t give out beneath my weight.

It creaks, but nothing snaps. I find my brother watching me with a weird look.

He shakes his head and offers me the bottle as I get comfortable.

I take a mouthful and pass it to him, then whip the cap out into the yard.

“So it’s going to be one of those nights,” he says.

Night is hardly here, but it will be soon. It was supposed to be a good day. The meeting went decently at the club. I left early to spend the day with Lucian. Now, here I am, fighting with him again.

“You wanted to talk.”

“Because you need to.”

“No one needs to talk, Kaison.”

“It’ll make you feel better.”

“What the fuck are you? Some kind of therapist?”

“Nah,” he says, reaching for the bottle. “Just a big brother doing his brotherly duties.”

I roll my eyes and kick the swing, then throw my feet up to spread out. I’m entirely too long for the seat, and my feet hang off the edge. Conveniently, I can reach the posts to kick off to keep moving.

“Tell me what happened,” he says, not wasting any time.

I sigh, listening to the creak of the swing as it rocks me back and forth. If this were more comfortable, it would lull me to sleep .

“He lied.” I hold my hand out, and when I feel the bottle against it, I close my fingers around it and bring it to my lips to take two big swigs. It burns all the way down, settling heavily in my stomach. I hate how much I miss him. “Again.”

“When did he lie the first time?” he asks, tapping my arm. I hand him the bottle.

“Nine years ago, when he said he’d come back for me and never did.

” I grab the post by my head and push so I swing more.

It creaks, the crickets chirp, the wind blows.

My brother doesn’t say a word, he just sits and waits for me to finish talking.

So I do. “We were going to leave together, but he didn’t come back. I never knew why until recently.”

“It must have been a good reason,” Kaison says.

I see the bottle from the corner of my eye, so I take it, bringing it to my lips. I nod slowly. “It was.” I take a sip, handing the bottle back. “Lucas. He got into an accident. Was in a coma.”

“Fuck,” Kaison says under his breath.

“They took him off life support, and that’s why he came back here.

He said that he and Beth—“ I pause, taking another sip and thinking over my words. Did he say they were divorced or separated? I can’t remember now.

All I remember thinking is that they were no longer together.

That’s all that mattered to me. “He stayed with her because he couldn’t bear letting her deal with Lucas alone. ”

“What changed?”

“I don’t know,” I answer. “We didn’t really talk about it.”

“Don’t you think you should have?”

I huff a laugh. “Yeah, probably. But… that’s us, I guess.”

“So what happened tonight?”

I purse my lips, staring at the green bottle in my hand. It’s half gone already and will be empty before the night is through. Maybe we’ll work on a second bottle. A third, if I’m lucky.

I could so easily put this behind me. What was said doesn’t really matter, does it? What matters is he’s here, with me, and there are divorce papers in his house. But are his actions more important than his words? I was working on trusting him, and this is a set back, right?

He came back to me.

But he lied.

“I found out he isn’t divorced yet.”

“Okay,” Kaison says carefully.

Make a wise choice, Kolton. This could all be over. You can make it better.

What did he say? Just remember what he said!

I let out a heavy sigh, staring down at the bottle. The conversation is fuzzy. Mostly I recall how I felt and not so much what he said. But I have to tell Kaison something.

“He’d told me they were already divorced.”