Asher (Inked Brotherhood 1)

No, it can’t be. I fist my hands in the blanket. The rest of him may look like me, but those amber eyes... Tyler.

No. I’m going crazy.

His lips flatten. “You don’t know who I am?”

“Sure I do,” I say, surprised my voice is steady. “Tyler. The brother who got up one day and left me with a dying mother and a father who decided that beating the crap out of me on a regular basis was healthy upbringing. That’s who you are. How about you turn around now and go back the way you came?”

His eyes widen, and I want to yell at him to go, but I’m short of breath and dizzy, so I lay my head back and close my eyes.

I hate the weakness and pain pinning me to the bed. And I hate the way my life keeps spiraling out of control without any signs of stopping. What the hell is Tyler doing here?

“Ash. We need to talk.”

“I’m done talking,” I mutter. “Go away.”

“Fucker,” Zane says, “let him say his piece.”

I open my eyes, my pulse a little calmer. “Don’t wanna hear.”

“Ash.” Tyler pushes his hand through his short hair. He’s as pale as Zane, and his gaze is haunted, full of shadows. The black lines of a tattoo travel up his neck. “I left because I had to. I thought Dad wouldn’t touch you.”

Well, duh. I clench my jaw. “How much you wanna bet you were wrong?”

He winces.

Do I care? Hell, no.

“What made you so sure he wouldn’t hurt me?” I suddenly want to know.

“Because.” Tyler sighs. “He kept saying he beat me because I’m a bastard. He said he’d never touch you.”

“Bastard as in...?” Zane lifts his pierced brow, the three silver rings glinting.

“As in Jake Devlin wasn’t my real father, and he found out. So he took his rage out on me until I ran away.”

I’m dizzy again. Tyler is my half brother. Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

Is this a nightmare? I want to go back to the dream where Audrey held my hand. I groan and roll my head away.

“Ash, you okay?” Zane appears in my line of sight. “Should I call the nurse?”

I shake my head, and that makes me grit my teeth as the pain ricochets in my skull. I try to see Tyler who’s walking across the room, toward the window. “Why? Why did you leave? Why didn’t you write or call?”

Zane moves aside, letting me see Tyler again. Tyler shakes his head. “I watched you sometimes from a distance. At school. You seemed okay.”

“Right. That’s not creepy or anything,” I say. Watching me from a distance? What the hell? “Why didn’t you come back?”

“I figured you’d be okay. Dad loved you.”

Yeah. My eyes burn. “Loved me so much he said I was a worthless piece of shit.” The words still sting. “Said it was all my fault, his anger, his drinking. Do you know he almost killed me a couple of times?”

There comes that wince again. It only serves to fuel my anger.

“I’m sorry, Ash,” he says.

“Yeah.” I am, too, because knowing Dad beat him like he beat me isn’t enough to make me forgive him. Not even close.

“I didn’t know.”