Page 8 of Prince of Pain

I got dressed and walked down to the kitchen, not surprised to find Riley and Luna eating pancakes. Luna was here most mornings, and a sense of peace washed through me every time she smiled at me, reminding me that I was nailing this anti-drug thing.

The alcohol and pussy? Not so much, but small steps.

“Morning,” Luna smiled widely, pushing a plate towards me. “How did you sleep?”

Riley rolled her eyes at our usual morning conversation, acting like it was stupid, but deep down, she loved it.

“Like my balls are empty, Luney. How about you?” I drawled, her cheeks flushing.

“You’re a dick.”

“Noted,” I grinned, sitting down and shoveling a forkful of food into my mouth before speaking again. “Where is everyone?”

My family was huge. My twin sister, Beckett, was dating our adopted brother, Maddox, as well as my best friend, Jett Emerson. That had been weird at first, but I couldn’t see them apart now.

This year had been the second birthday I’d spent without Beckett, spending our twenty-first apart last year while she was in Fairview Prison, and this year for our twenty-second birthday since I’d been in rehab.

I’d missed our college graduation and everything in June, not that I actually graduated. I’d missed too much school and was supposed to go back to finish my final year next year, but I wasn’t too sure yet.

Then there was Riley who was a year younger than us, and she’d always been up to party with me over the past few years. Now that she was dating Luna though, she didn’t go to many.

I shouldn’t either if I wanted to stay clean.

My older siblings, Angel, Mikey, and Lloyd, were all adopted when our parents had saved them from the skin trade.

Lloyd had been caught up in crew wars with some of our family’s enemies when I was eighteen, ending up burning to death at the track after his car wrecked.

My family ran the Bloody Psychos and Devil’s Armada crews, and Lloyd had been a Psycho, so was Mikey. It was normal for bad things to happen to us, but that accident was a whole different level.

That had fucked me up, I couldn’t lie.

Holding Riley back while she screamed was one thing, but witnessing the entire thing with my own eyes?

A shiver ran through me at the memory, my throat clogging with emotion.

I had to stop thinking about shit like that when I was still trying to navigate life without drugs.

We had a baby sister, Marla, who’d graduated high school in June, and as much as we all knew her plans, it was hard when she announced she was going to Harvard and making a life for herself elsewhere.

She’d left before I’d gotten out of rehab, and it hurt that she hadn’t even stopped by to see me on her way to her fresh new life.

Our family was fucked up but we were close, so Marla leaving was hard.

“Mom and Slash are in Stoneleigh dealing with some kidnapping issue with the Shadow Kings, Hunter and Marco took a bunch of the Devils on a drug run, Caden, Lukas, and Jensen went to Grandma’s house, and Skeeter took Diesel and Tyler to handle some fucker who’s been grooming young girls. They think he’s connected to part of the skin trade,” Riley explained, annoyance on her face as the front door opened and voices reached my ears. “And Beckett’s brought Jett over for you to play with while she and Maddox scope something out with the Psychos.”

Jett’s arms went around me from behind as he started humping me, and I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Get off me, you prick. I’m eating.”

“Why? You love me having my way with you. You’ll be eating my dick in a minute,” he snickered, putting me in a headlock to ruffle my hair. “Hope you don’t have plans because we’re going to sit on the couch and play video games all day.”

“You’re on babysitting duty,” Beckett deadpanned as she met my gaze. “He’s driving me insane today, and it’s still early.”

Jett faked being offended, standing straight and crossing his arms as I finished my breakfast. “See how your sister treats me? Never leave me again, okay? I need at least one person to back me up when she’s mean to me.”

I got to my feet and dropped an arm around his shoulders, throwing Beckett a fake glare. “Leave my man alone. He’s sensitive.”

“Yeah! I’m fucking sensitive!”

She rolled her eyes but her lips kicked up in the corners, not being able to hide her amusement. “I’m aware he’s sensitive. You can have him for the night if you want to kiss his boo boo better.”