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Silas nods. “I know. I did.”
12
BANE
Not many thingsin life shock me. Sure, shit still surprises me—pleasantly and otherwise—but my ability to remain composed in the face of chaos is one of my best traits. Just ask any brother in the Reapers. They'll all tell you how I'm the eye of a storm, forever calm and unflappable.
Until today.
First, Nova actually fucked Evangeline in my motherfucking bathroom while I stood in the kitchen with my cousin like some fucking dumbass. I should've stormed up there and . . . I don't fucking know what. Demanded they stop? Watched her face as he finds her pleasure and then mentally compare it to the visions permanently etched into my soul? Neither of those sound like particularly good ideas.
Fuck, maybe I should've just punched him. It would've gotten some pent-up energy out, and then maybe it would be easier to weather this shitstorm that I can feel brewing.
“You did what?” I keep my words measured and clear, even though the inside of me is rioting. Silas killed someone and didn't have help from us or ask us for cleanup afterward.
He shakes his head, his gaze going somewhere over my shoulder as he dives into the past. “He wasn't going to stop. He didn't care that Richard was a casualty of the all-out war. That it wasn't even a bullet from our side that took Richard out. He was livid, on a warpath to destroy anything and anyone in his place.”
“So, you just what—took him out?” Nova asks a few seconds into Silas's long pause.
“It was us or them. And I chose us. I'll continue to choose us. Every single time,” Silas says. He's all casual like we're discussing what to make for family dinner and not the premeditated murder of a rival.
I nod my head slowly in understanding. “I get that. But why didn't you clue us in? That's the kind of shit you tell your second.”
It feels like a lifetime ago, but it wasn't. In the club's history, it's been a blink of relative peace in a lifetime of chaos. The club's always been one step away from war. One wrong move or one dirty cop with a conscience or one rival who gets tired of maintaining peace, and then it all goes to shit. And it did—often.
But Silas taking a guy out without telling me? That shit is unprecedented.
“We had bigger things to worry about at the time. I handled the problem, and then I didn't think about it again,” Silas says, glancing toward the staircase.
I follow his gaze, making sure she's not there. Some things are better left a mystery. The last thing I want is for Evangeline to overhear that Silas killed some guy and take it the wrong way.
There's definitely more to the story, but I'm not sure if it's worth my digging into it further. Some shit deserves to be buried in our past.
Nova makes a tsking noise and shakes his head once. “Little ironic coming from a guy who preaches about brotherhood and bonding and shit at the clubhouse, don't ya think? I don't know, man, this kind of secret seems like the kind you share with your family.”
“What do you want me to do about it now?” Silas presses.
Nova shrugs, and it's anything but casual. “I don't know, man, maybe start by cleaning the slate. The secrets are piling up faster than you can bury them.”
Silas tenses, holding his brother's gaze. “What's that supposed to mean?”
Nova taps his fingers on the kitchen table. “How many secrets you got?”
“Everyone's entitled to their secrets, brother.”
Nova scoffs. “Right. What's another family secret added to the pile, yeah?”
“It wasn't afamilysecret. It was club business,” Silas says.
I run my hand over my face at Silas's tone. He's not wrong. That kind of shit is club business, which means he should've brought me in on it. But I don't need to point that out, not when Nova's riding the razor's edge right now.
“And I'm not included in club business? Is that what you're saying?” Nova asks, his tone deceptively calm.
Silas crosses his arms slowly, staring at his younger brother. “Not then you weren't.”
Nova glances toward the ceiling with a sarcastic laugh. “Nah, man, see that's where you're wrong. Club business has always been my business, which is something that you somehow forget.”
“Don't worry, brother. You'd never let anyone forget it,” Silas says.
