Fractured Brotherhood (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 7)

Chapter Fifteen

Zag

“What in the fuck are you doing here?”

I spun around and glared at Zig. “I wondered when you were going to show your face,” I spat. “I figured you were hiding in one of Leo’s other houses.”

“Why are you here?” he demanded. “I’m keeping an eye out for Malcom. You don’t need to be here.”

I growled. “Do you even know her name?”

Zig curled his lip. “Does her name matter?”

I reared back. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means her name doesn’t matter. She’s related to Malcom.”

“She’s not fucking related to that psycho, you dumbass. He was her stepbrother for a short time.” What the hell was Zig’s problem?

“That’s supposed to make a difference? She has more connection to Malcom than she does to the club. I don’t even understand why we’re protecting her as much as we are. I’m here for Malcom, not her.”

“What the hell changed in you, brother? She’s an innocent woman who was kidnapped just like Luna, Greta, and I was. You think she’s somehow in on all of this?” If Zig even thought for a second that Tess was somehow in cahoots with Malcom, he was dead wrong.

“What changed in me is I have watched my world crumble around me with dead bodies strewn around because of one man.” He sneered and shook his head. “Two if you count his fucking minion that was working for him. His ass is at least in jail.”

“And you think that woman in the house is part to blame?”

“That woman is not part of my world. The only people I care about is my family. The club.” Zig nodded to the house. “I don’t get what you are doing here.”

“I care about her. All of this that is happening because of something we did years ago. She isn’t going to suffer because of some shit we pulled in high school.”

“And that is why you shouldn’t be here,” Zig hissed. “Your head is fucked by that woman. You’re not going to focus on what needs to be done. The same thing happened with Marco. He fucked up and almost got himself killed.”

“I’m not going to end up dead.”

Zig shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “You’re right; you’re not because I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen. You need to go back to the club and let me handle this.”

“Zig.”

I looked past Zig and saw dad standing in the driveway. What the hell was going on?

“All we need is Frost and mom, and this will be a family affair,” I growled.

“I’m just here to take your brother home,” dad called. “He wasn’t happy when I told him you were headed up this way.”

“He’s not thinking with his head,” Zig protested. “He barely managed to escape Malcom before, and now he’s just going to be a sitting duck with this woman.”

“We don’t even know if Malcom will come for Tess or me,” I pointed out.

“It’s a good fucking chance that he will,” Zig spat.

I glanced back at Tess’s front door. All I wanted was to see her face in the daylight and make sure she was okay.

Everyone kept saying I had feelings for Tess, but I didn’t even know how true that was because I couldn’t get to her. I was literally on her front step, and Zig was trying to stop me.

“Look, I’m going to do what I fucking want to do. I’m going to see Tess, and if you don’t like that, you can go across the street and watch me like a peeping fucking Tom, Zig.”

“You just almost died, and now you’re going to put yourself right back in danger?” Zig asked. “This is what I mean by you’re not thinking clearly when it comes to this woman.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t have anything else to say, Zig.” I wasn’t going to run back to the clubhouse like he wanted me to. He was right that I had escaped death, but that just showed me instead of cowering and running, I was going to stand and fight.

“You’re making a mistake, Zag,” Zig hissed.

“Then it’s my mistake to make, not yours.”

Zig turned to dad.

Dad shook his head. “I learned a few years ago you two may be twins, but you’re not the same person. This may not be the choice you would make, Zig, but it’s the one Zag is making.”

Zig stepped toward dad. “The club decided that­–.”

Dad shook his head. “Zag knows what the club decided, but that isn’t what he wants, Zig.

“Since when did we start disregarding what the club decides? Is that how the club is going to be with Hero in charge?” Zig shook his head and glared at me. “That isn’t the way of the Devil’s Knights. Why are any of us part of the club if we can all just do whatever the hell we want?” Zig stalked down the walk and brushed past dad.

I threw my hands up in the air. “I have no fucking idea what the hell I am doing that is so wrong.”

Dad walked toward me and nodded to the house. “We need to talk, but we have a bit of an audience right now.”

I turned and saw two eyes peeping out the top of the window on the door. A sigh escaped my lips, and I turned back to dad. “She has no fucking clue who the Devil’s Knights are, dad. I don’t think I have ever really met someone who hadn’t heard about me or about the Devil’s Knights.”

“That’s bothered you? People knowing who you are?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know it did until I met Tess.”

“You do know when you knock on that door; she could be a completely different person than you think she is. You didn’t meet under the best circumstances,” dad pointed out.

“Does anyone know what is going to happen? Hell,” I laughed. “Do you think all of those years ago when Meg walked into the Dollar Store that she was going to meet King? None of us would be here right now if that hadn't happened. I don’t know why everyone is so worried about me when all I’m doing is living.”

“Because we lost you, Zag.” Dad stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “When your cut was found in Malcom’s house, we thought you were gone. Until that phone call we got seven days ago, we thought you were dead, Zag. I understand what you’re doing, but you also have to understand where we are coming from. We lost you once. If it happens again, it’s going to destroy us all.” Dad squeezed my shoulder. “Just give your brother some time. I think he took almost losing you the worst.”

I understood what he was saying.

I truly did.

But I had to keep living.

Something was pulling me toward Tess, and I had to find out if it was just an obligation or if it was something more.