Worth It

Face red, teeth bared and sweat gushing from his pores, Rock glared at me. “You...fucking traitor.”



“Felicity!” Aspen darted forward and yanked her away while Noel covered his wife and made sure both women were pulled to safety.



As all the other couples in the room reared backward from the confrontation, Asher hurried forward, lifting his hands. “Rock! What the fuck, man? How many different drugs are you high on?”



Rock ignored him as he pulled a knife from his pocket, flipped it open, and advanced on me. “You left us broke and starving...for that bitch?”



“You need to put the knife down,” I said in a calm, level voice.



“And you need to shut the fuck up, Knox! I should’ve known you were nothing but a Bainbridge lover. But you want to know the real kicker in all this? I’m the one who started the fire.”



I jerked to a stop, unable to believe my ears. “What?”



“But your goddamn precious Bainbridge family should’ve taken the blame for it. That’s how I planned it. But no…they always get away with everything.”



“You...” I stalked toward him. “You killed half our family?”



“Fuck, no. I didn’t know they were home. They were supposed to be in town. This is all those Bainbridge bastards’ fault. They were supposed to take the blame, and we were supposed to move away, to someplace better.”



I growled, unable to believe what I was hearing. “How could you?”



His eyes flared with hatred. “How could you, you goddamn traitor? Crawling into bed with a fucking Bainbridge. You dishonor the Parker name.”



“At least I still have the Parker name.”



“Not for long.” He launched himself at me, slashing his knife with a determined snarl.



“No!” City screamed, and about a dozen voices shouted a warning. But I was only focused on Rock.



Dodging and ducking, I whirled away, barely missing the blade as I felt it swish past my ear. He stumbled forward with the momentum from his swing, and I took advantage of the moment, chopping my forearm down over his, which made him lose his grip on the knife. It clattered to the floor, and I grabbed his throat, slamming his back into the closest wall.



“Oops,” I told him. “You missed.”



The red haze fell over me as I thought of Bentley and my mother. He’d killed them; he’d killed them all.



I wanted him to pay, to hurt, to scream.



But a familiar voice in my ear drew me back from the rage. City’s hand trembled against my back. I blinked and realized Rock’s face was going purple as I held his throat and his hands beat helplessly on my arms without any effect whatsoever.



“We all heard his confession, man, and we’ve already called the police. They’re on their way,” Pick was saying.



Releasing my brother’s throat, I backed away from him. City immediately curled into my side, so I wrapped my arm around her waist, tethering her to me as I kissed her hair. “Then we’ll let the authorities deal with him.”



Rock looked up at me from the floor where he’d collapsed. His face was still red and strained as he coughed for more oxygen.



“Hope prison treats you half as well as it treated me.”



“Yeah,” Asher added. “And you’re kicked out of the band too.”



Kissing my woman’s hair, I turned us away from my biological brother to a group of brothers I was slowly gaining.



They welcomed me, parting to let us into their circle as they made sure I was okay.



I nodded and tried to brush them off, but City seemed to lead the concern.



She leaned up and kissed my cheek. “Don’t lie. Are you really okay?”



The worry in her gaze had me immediately nodding, though fuck no, I wasn’t okay. I’d just found out my brother murdered half my family right before he tried to murder me too. Glancing to where Pick and Asher were keeping watch over him so he wouldn’t get away, I drew in a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.” Because I knew with my City around, I couldn’t help but eventually get over whatever life threw at me.



“Looks like my sessions are actually paying off.” She rested her cheek on my shoulder as she hooked her arm through mine. “You got your control back and pulled away before really hurting him. I’m so proud of you.”



I glanced at her, loving her with everything I had. “I think you’re the one who pulled me away. You drew me out of my black pit with all that brightness inside you.”



She shook her head. “No. I didn’t do any such thing. I think I was more like an annoying cattle prod with electrical ends poking at you, constantly badgering you until you remembered you already had your own brightness inside yourself.”