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Ares
The kid walked off after he said it. He left the room, and right away, our parents and Sloane started after him. Right away, they started freaking out, but before they could go full-blown crazy, I stepped in. I ended up cutting off the group at the door and got more than one look.
“Let me go,” I said, and unlike everyone else, I wasn’t freaking out. What the kid had said had been alarming, but I wasn’t freaking out.
I probably should be like the rest of them, but for some reason, I shut down all those feelings. I was completely one hundred percent concerned for the kid. Especially after the guys and I did hear about that fight last night. It’d been brutal from our understanding and resulted in a dude being taken away in an ambulance.
This was all concerning, and I was concerned, but I also related. I got anger. I got rage, and I needed to be there for my brother in ways I clearly hadn’t been lately. I had no idea he’d been going through so much stuff.
No one had.
I saw that on all of our family members’ faces. My parents and Sloane seemed to swap confusion and dismay, and Dad shook his head. “Ares…”
“Let me go, Dad. I’ll bring him back.” I doubted Bru went far and probably just needed some space. All of his family going after him wouldn’t help anyway. “I’ll bring him right back. I swear.”
My parents consulted each other with a look, but in the end, they did nod. I started to go, but Sloane grabbed my arm. She had her necklace on. It was identical to mine, and it was rare either one of us took them off. It was our thing, a twin thing.
My sister and I had been so disconnected lately. This had been my fault, and I didn’t blame her. I put her through a lot of shit and was about to put her through more.
I kept that to myself, nothing else priority now but the kid. I missed my sister, and I was sure she missed me just as much. Back at the cabin, we hadn’t really talked, but I didn’t think that was because she was mad at me anymore. If anything, she probably felt sorry for me, which was why no one had talked to me. They’d all given me my space, and I assumed it was because of that same reason.
“Are you sure it should be you?” She spoke the words under her breath, and the kid and I did have a fight this morning. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
Hell, I didn’t either, but I was going to try. Like stated, I hadn’t done right by my brother. “Just trust me. I’ll bring him back.”
I was pretty sure I could after I talked to him, and before I left, Sloane squeezed my hand. It said a lot, and I was starting to feel like we’d gotten over our hump. I was glad. I didn’t like her mad at me, and that went for any of the people I cared about.
“So how freaked out is everyone?”
The kid was out back behind the house, a blunt between his lips.
I strode over to him following what he said, my hands in my pockets. He leaned back against the house, his arms crossed over his beefy chest. I supposed now I knew why he’d come home jacked. He’d been fighting. I folded my arms. “I’m sure as well as you can imagine.”
Bru shook his head. He pulled the blunt from his lips, then immediately pressed palms to his eyes. “Shit, how did everything get so fucked?”
I knew the feeling. God, did I know it. “What happened?”
He removed his hands from his eyes, frowning. “I think you’ve got enough to worry about.”
He didn’t sound angry when he said it, or even sarcastic. If anything, it accompanied a look all my friends had given me back at the cabin today. It’d been looks of sympathy.
Sadness.
The people in my life definitely felt sorry for me. They saw me bleed my heart out, and they felt sorry, but they shouldn’t. I deserved every bit of what happened at that cabin today between Fawn and me.
No matter how shitty it felt.
I fucked that girl over so bad, and my latest sin had been telling her the truth. I swallowed. “I’m asking about you.”
“Of course, you are,” he said, being sarcastic now. He took a hit off his blunt before forcing the smoke through his nose. “Better than dealing with everything that happened and your own feelings.”
It was kind of crazy that I didn’t always know this guy. Because he was getting me in ways just like the guys did.
Bru sat on the ground, and I did too, right next to him.
“So how long you been kicked out?” I asked him. Like he said, it was easier than dealing with my own stuff.
“Right before break.” He smirked, but it didn’t look like he found anything funny. “I was on a hot streak, and I think some people were losing too much money. I’m assuming somebody found out I was in school and called it in.”
