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The casino is filledwith people all making bad decisions. We sit at the blackjack table with our stacks of chips and topped-off glasses of beer, feeling like kings. It's been hell since I found out Kennedy plans on moving to Texas with our kid, so tonight is exactly what I need. Just one night to take my mind off everything.
“I have to admit, I'm surprised there are no strippers,” Zayn says as he looks around.
Knox snorts. “Have you met my fiancée? She'll sick her sister on me, and I don't think I could survive the wrath of Tessa. It's just booze and blackjack for you, bud.”
“Not to mention, my tolerance for watching you get a lap dance expired the second you started dating my sister,” I add.
Zayn chuckles but then his brows furrow. “Speak of the devil.”
Knox groans as Amelia storms over to our table. “Listen, Princess. It's adorable how much you miss him and all, but this is guys’ night.”
“Knox, shut it,” she demands.
His bottom lip juts out in a pout. “Oh, come on. It's bad enough you're stealing him from me for the rest of his life. Can't I at least have tonight? Goddamn.”
She flips him off before her other hand winds back and smacks me so hard in the head that I see stars. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
I wince at the pain. “No, but I might not have one if you hit me that hard again.”
“Kennedy is moving, Easton!”
And there goes my one night.”I know.”
My sister narrows her eyes at me. “And you're just okay with it? E, she's moving practically across the damn country!”
Knox looks around and leans toward Amelia. “Maybe keep your voice down a little bit. The whole casino is staring, and you're making a bit of a scene.”
“Do I look like I give a shit?”
“Okay,” I say, getting up and grabbing Amelia by the wrist.
I pull her down a long hallway and into an unoccupied room. Thankfully, she comes without putting up too much of a fight. But her mouth? That keeps on going the whole time.
“I can't believe you're just fine with this,” she rants. “That's your son. The girl you're fucking crazy about. You're really going to let the shit that happened with Alec ruin that for you two?”
At the mention of his name, a chill goes down my spine and the memories from that day play in my head. “You don't know what you're talking about.”
She scoffs. “Then why are you letting her go? She said you didn't even ask her to stay. Why are you so fucking okay with her just taking your son and leaving?”
I lean against the wall and don't meet her eyes. “She's better off without me. Honestly, they both are, but I won't leave my son without a dad.”
“That's bullshit and you know it,” she counters. “There isn't a thing you can say that would convince me that's true. Look at everything you've done for them. Everything you still continue to do. Stop with the poor pitiful me, I'm-the-villain act. Between you and Zayn, I want to pull all my hair out!”
“I am the villain, Amelia.”
“No, you're not! Look at what you did at that house. You literally saved her life and Kayn's when you took on Alec yourself.”
“I killed Alec!” I snap.
Her brows furrow and she shakes her head. “It was an accident.”
“No,” I say firmly. “I made them believe it was an accident, but it definitely wasn't. There was no threatening me after Kennedy left that room. There was no wrestling for the gun. I shot him in the chest with aim and accuracy, expelling the life from his body the same way he threatened to do to Kennedy.”
She takes a second to compose herself. At first she looks scared, but then I watch as her expression settles. She comes over to me and puts a hand on my arm.
“You did what anyone who wants to protect their family would do,” she tells me. “If Zayn killed Blade that day, would you have blamed him?”
“No.”
