Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, #1)(41)

Trenton was completely confused, but instead of sticking around to explain, I pushed up on the hinged piece of the bar, let it slam down behind me, and followed Kody across the room. “Hey. Hey!” I yelled a second time, jogging to catch up to him.

Kody stopped, but he didn’t turn around.

I tugged on his shirt, forcing him to face me. “I’m not Raegan, so stop taking your anger out on me! I have tried to talk to her. I was rooting for you, damn it! But now you’re being a whiny, pouty, intolerable *!”

Kody’s eyes softened, and he began to say something.

I held up my hand, not interested in what was likely going to be an apology. I pointed at his broad chest. “You don’t know dick about my personal life, so don’t ever talk to me like you do. Do we understand each other?”

Kody nodded, and I left him standing in the middle of the room to return to my post.

“Fuckity squared,” Blia said, her eyes wide. “Remind me to never piss you off. Even the bouncer is scared of you.”

“Camille!” a voice said from the other side of the bar.

“Oh, hell,” I said under my breath. Out of habit, I tried to make myself small, tried not to be noticed, but it was too late. Clark and Colin were waiting patiently for me on Blia’s end of the bar. I walked over to them and faked a smile. “Sam Adams?”

“Yes, please,” Clark said. He was the least offensive of my brothers, and most of the time I wished we were closer. But on the average day, being around one meant being around all of them, and that wasn’t an environment I wanted to tolerate anymore.

“Uncle Felix is still pissed at you,” Colin said.

“Christ, Colin. I’m at work.”

“I just thought you should know,” he said, a smug look on his face.

“He’s always pissed at me,” I said, pulling two bottles out of the cooler and popping the tops. I slid them across the bar.

Clark’s face fell. “No, but Mom’s had to stop him from taking off for your apartment every time he and Coby get into it.”

“Jesus, he’s still on Coby’s ass?” I asked.

“It’s been pretty . . . unstable at their house lately.”

“Don’t tell me,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t listen to it.”

“He’s not,” Colin said, frowning. “My dad said Felix swore he’d never do that again.”

“Not that it would matter if he did,” I grumbled. “She’d still stay.”

“Hey, that’s their business,” Colin said.

I glared at him. “That was my childhood. She’s my mother. It’s my business.”

Clark took a swig of his beer. “He’s mad because you missed family lunch again today.”

“I wasn’t invited,” I said.

“You’re always invited. Mom was disappointed, too.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t deal with him. I have other things I’d rather do.”

Clark’s brows pulled together. “That’s harsh. We’re still your family. We’d all still take a bullet for you, Camille.”

“What about Mom?” I asked. “Would you take a bullet for her?”

“Damn it, Cami. Can you just let it go?” Colin asked.

I raised an eyebrow. “No, and Chase, Clark, and Coby shouldn’t, either. I have to work,” I said, returning to my side of the bar.

A large hand wrapped around my arm. Trenton stood when he saw Clark grab me, but I shook my head and turned.

Clark sighed. “We’ve never been the type of family to gush about our feelings, but we’re still family. You’re still family. I know he’s a lot to take sometimes, but we still have to keep it together. We have to try.”

“You’re not in his crosshairs, Clark. You don’t know what it’s like.”

Clark’s jaw worked under the skin. “I know you’re the oldest, Cami. But you’ve been gone for three years. If you think I don’t know what it’s like to take the brunt of his anger, you’re wrong.”

“Then why pretend? We’re hanging on by a thread. I’m not even sure what’s keeping us together anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s all we’ve got,” Clark said.

I watched him for a while, and then pulled them both another beer. “Here. These are on me.”

“Thanks, sis,” Clark said.

“You okay?” Trenton asked when I walked back to my station.

I nodded. “They said Dad’s still pissed about Coby. I guess Dad and Coby have been fighting a lot. Dad’s been threatening to come over and set me straight.”

“Set you straight how, exactly?”

I shrugged. “When my brothers fall out of line, it somehow always falls back on me.”

“How does that play out? When he comes over pissed off?”

“He’s never come to my apartment before. But, I suppose if he’s mad enough, one of these days he will.”

Trenton didn’t respond, but he shifted in his chair, seeming very unsettled.

Blia came over and showed me the display on her cell phone. “Just got a text from Laney. She said the fight is over and most of them are headed this way.”