Page 35 of Sins of a King

I halted.

He turned and saw me.

We stared at each other, like two wild animals in the jungle, waiting to see which one would pounce first. I approached slowly, hesitantly. Though my heart was pounding, I managed to school my face into a blank mask of indifference.

“Barrett,” he said finally when I was standing in front of him.

“What are you doing here?”

The cool air dried my sweat-dampened temples, and I shivered. My brother noticed and asked gruffly, “Do you want to go inside?”

“You mean do I want to invite you up to my home? No. Whatever you have to say you can say it down here.”

“On the street? We have no privacy.”

I shrugged and made a move to go around him, but he stepped in front of me. “What?” I demanded, suddenly angry. “What do you want?”

“Are you okay? Is Campbell—”

“Now? You’re doing the concerned brother thing now? Go to hell!”

His face registered shock. I’d never really lost my temper with him before. I’d always been supplicating and pleading, trying to bring us closer, but I never understood why he loathed me so much.

I shoved past him, eager to get inside and shut him out. Shut everything out.

“Barrett!” he called after me.

“We’re not family, Andrew. You used me to pay a debt. You don’t get to show up here and expect anything from me. We’re done. Don’t contact me. Ever again.”

“Can you tell?” Alia asked, turning her face to the side to show me her cheek.

“No,” I said truthfully.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ve been icing it for two days. It still hurts a bit.”

“That guy really whacked you, huh?” I looked in the vanity mirror and reached for my eyeshadow.

Alia tested her curling iron as she nodded. “Yeah, it was really scary. And it happened so fast.”

“Anything like this happen before?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I mean, there are times when the crowd gets kind of rowdy, but I’ve never had someone yank me down from the stage. Do you know what happened to him? The guy?”

“I don’t,” I admitted. I hadn’t thought about much of anything since Andrew had popped up at my apartment earlier that day.

“You ever feel like life is just putting out fire after fire?” She wrapped a strand of hair around her curling iron, her dark eyes finding mine.

“Starting to,” I said with a laugh.

“What are you thinking about?” Alia asked.

“Choices. The ones we make, the ones we don’t. Where we wind up. Who we love.”

“Oh, you’re one of those deep-thinkers, aren’t you?” she teased.

I chuckled.

“Why did you come to work here?”