Read Online Warlord (Anathema Book 1) by Lana Grayson - Free Book Online Page B

ripped the
door out of the wall. The hinge cracked and tumbled to the floor. The frame
splintered as well. My landlord would pitch a fit if I wasn’t so sure my
brothers’ would kill him for even mentioning the security deposit.
    “Where the hell
were you?” Brew asked. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m pretty
freaked out right now.” I edged away from the busted drywall.
    “No problem
getting home?”
    I glanced at
Keep. He shrugged.
    “You mean
besides the two prospects manhandling me out of Pixie, shoving me into the car,
and running two red lights to get me home?” I asked.
    “Everything in
order here?”
    I crossed my
arms. “I’m fine, aside from being thoroughly humiliated.”
    “Oh, you better
watch that smart-ass tone,” Keep warned. “Better humiliated than getting throttled
in front of the club.”
    “Really?” I
raised my chin. “You gonna hit me?”
    “Why the fuck is
she challenging me?” Keep tensed his jaw. His stare lasted only a minute before
he slapped Brew’s shoulder. “Straighten our sister out before she says
something she’ll regret.”
    Brew grunted. “She
sounds like she wants that frown smacked off her mouth.”
    “Then do it!” I stepped toward Brew before I realized what a horrible idea it was. Then again,
a Darnell never retreated. We just bruised easily. “Go ahead. Hit me. Just like
Dad. He’d do it. Why don’t you too?”
    Brew’s brow
threaded. He sucked in a breath. “Jesus.”
    “I’m waiting.”
    “I’m not going
to fucking hit you. Sit down before you cry.”
    “I’m not crying.”
The tears prickled my eyes. “What do you want?  Tell me so you can go.”
    “Now she’s
kicking us out?” Keep softened his voice at my first sniffle. “The hell is
wrong with you?  Pawning guitars. Storming over to Pixie. You’re not acting
right.”
    I still clutched
my cell. The excitement for the gig fizzled and popped without ever settling in
me. My stomach flipped, but throwing up would only delay the inevitable. I
collapsed on the couch.
    “I can’t do this
anymore,” I said.
    “This again.” Brew
claimed an easy chair I took from the house after Dad left. “Rose—”
    “I’m serious. This
life. The danger. The panic and the rules and the pawn shops I can’t go to and
the restaurants across the river I’m not allowed to eat at. I can’t do it. I
won’t.”
    My brothers silenced.
I looked at the broken door and turned to glance at the tumbled over suit-case
resting against my bed.
    “I want you guys
to leave me alone. Forget about me. Just let me live my life.”
    Keep curled his
hands behind his head. He shrugged at Brew.
    “You tell her,”
Keep said. “It was your idea.”
    “Wasn’t my
idea.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “I’m doing right
by her.”
    Keep grimaced. “You’re
putting her right in the middle.”
    “It’s the right
call,” he said.
    “It’s a fucking
mistake.”
    I tensed. Goosebumps
tickled my arms. They stared across the room, the blue of Keep’s eyes clashing
against the stoic darkness I shared with Brew. Arguments were nothing new to
the Darnell family. Dad yelled all the time.
    But not my
brothers.
    Nothing
separated my brothers.
    Getting sick
sounded better and better, if only to avoid the smothering tension. I swallowed
the bile.
    “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t know who to ask. “What happened?”
    “You happened,”
Brew said. Keep swore and turned away. “We don’t trust Exorcist. That’s a given.
You know how dangerous it is now.”
    “Okay.”
    “You need to
come with us.”
    I hid behind a
throw pillow, but unless the decorative cushion was made of Kevlar, it didn’t
offer the protection I wanted.
    “Come where ?”
    Keep sighed. “Pixie.”
    “You’re kidding!”
I sucked in a deep breath, but even my singer’s lungs couldn’t hold enough. “I just came from there!  You nearly wrecked the place because I was there!  You
insulted me, dragged me around, and kicked me out!”
    “Time to