CHAPTER 31
JONATHAN
Sean walks into the club just as I walk out. He slams into me, his palms shoving into my shoulders. "What have you done?" He glares at me with his condescending glare, as I stumble back from him.
"I'm not fighting with you." I shoulder past him, heading toward my car.
"Jonny," Sean says, grabbing my shoulder. "You'll talk now. Mom doesn't know yet, but she will by the time your ass hits her doorstep. Talk to me. What the hell are you doing? She's going to skin you, and run your carcass up the flagpole for this."
I glare at him. Sean and all his power, the way he's always two steps ahead, and every bit smarter than everyone else. I looked up to him once, but not anymore. "Thanks, I had no idea." My voice is flat and the words come out deadpan. I resist the urge to roll my eyes and turn to walk away, but Sean grabs my arm. "Don't fuck with me now, Sean."
My brother leans into my face and hisses, "Someone has to."
The way he says it makes my stomach sink. It's like he knows what I've done with Dad's mistresses, there's something in his voice—his eyes—that says so. "What do you want, Sean?"
He slips his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans and laughs, like something is funny. "I want what you want, little brother."
"Somehow I doubt that." An annoyed look crosses his features, but it's gone in a flash.
Leave it to Sean, he's the master of deception. I suppose he has to be that way or he'd hurl himself off a roof top. Still, when it's me and him, he can drop the act, but he never does. He's always Sean the omnipotent, the all-powerful Ferro brother. Screw that shit. The way I see it, he left me here to rot. If Peter hadn't come home, I wouldn't have seen Sean again. Never mind the fact that Sean had been in the city for weeks and didn't bother to visit me. I hadn't heard a word from him since he left here after Amanda died. I left Sean to wallow in his grief, and now he can leave me to stew in mine.
It's dusk and she'll be here soon, which is why I don't have time for Sean and his PMS. He follows behind me, talking, jabbing words at my back like harpoons. "You think you have to defy everyone. Does it make you feel like a man to piss all over the family name? Does it make you feel like you're worth something? Like you have power that the rest of us don't? Because, I wouldn't make that mistake, Jonny. Heir or not, you can be slammed back down into your quiet little place with one of Dad's bitches attached to your dick before sunset."
Sean's an asshole, but he usually means well. This time he doesn't. This time he's not testing, guiding, or doing any of that big brother shit he's pulled on me over the years. This time he sounds jealous and spiteful. My muscles tense and I keep walking, ignoring him until those last few words fall out of his mouth. They hit the ground like bombs and I explode. The satchel I have clutched under my arm is flung to the ground, and papers fly out as I ram into him, shoulder first.
Sean catches my arm and tries to pin it to my back, but I break free. Before he can speak, my fist collides with his mouth. The bastard is still talking, but I can't hear anything except the roaring of my pulse in my ears. We pound each other, twisting around on the ground, covered in dirt, until Trystan and Bryan pull us apart.
"What the fuck?" Bryan hisses at Sean, before smacking him in the back of the head. "Have you guys totally lost it?"
Sean swats at Bryan, but doesn't hit him. Instead, he glares at me as he bats the dust off his clothes. "Get rid of this. Now."
"So you can save face? Yeah, sure. Why not?" My voice is dripping with sarcasm that clearly conveys a different message—suck it.
Trystan is standing next to me. He tilts his chin up and asks Sean, "What's he looking at for something like this?"
"Disowned, if he's lucky." Sean looks over Trystan once, like he's no longer certain about the guy. When his gaze lands on me, he adds, "Peter will come by later with papers. Wait here for him, and sign the damn thing. Don't show your face until you do." Sean crosses the parking lot and glares at two girls who are headed toward the front door.
When I see who they are, my heart drops to my shoes. Trystan leans in and shoulders me, "Decide."
"What?" Blinking rapidly, I rub my temple and wipe away a bit of blood from where Sean's ring ripped open my skin. I avoid Cassie's gaze as she passes quickly. It's almost like she's running away from me.
"You see what's happening here, right?" Trystan hunches his shoulders forward and leans in. Bryan does the same thing, and places his hand on his chin, listening. "They're drawing lines, but they have no fucking clue why you're standing on this side."
"And they don't care, Jonny," Bryan adds quickly. "You're going to lose everything if you don't fix this. I mean, if Sean is trying to step in—"
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I shake my head. "He's not trying to fix anything. Sean's after whatever Sean wants. He doesn't give a shit about me."
Trystan laughs and wraps his arm over my shoulder. "You're so amazingly wrong. I know what it looks like when people don't give a shit about you, and that wasn't it. Sean is trying to change your mind, although he's doing it wrong."
Bryan laughs like this whole mess is hysterical. Trystan and I stop walking and I look at him like he's gone nuts. Bryan holds his hand to his stomach, nearly doubled over. When he can breathe, he says, "I'm sorry, I just can't believe that I'm going to be the Ferro heir because you pissed off your mother and bought a strip club. Dude, you named it Club Ferro? You have a death wish. You have to. No one would be that mental, not around our family. Even this asshole knows that." He jabs his thumb at Trystan.
I glance at my car, and back at my newly acquired strip shack. I don't want to go back in there. I wonder if Cassie feels like that every time she steps into the place. Glancing at the guys out of the corner of my eye, I say, "Come on. Drinks are on me until Peter shows his face."